July 6 & 7

Under Cathy’s guidance we took an overnight tour to visit the Hindu monuments of Vrindavan (ISCOM Temple [new modern Hari Krishna temple], the 16th century Govind Dev temple, and Banke Bihari with its ecstatic devotees], an important Hindu pilgrimage site, and the Muslim Mughal monuments of Agra including Akbar’s tomb, the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort, and Akbar’s palace and shrine complex at Fatehpur Sikri. This gave us insight into India’s dominant religious traditions as well as to the important historical developments under the Mughals during their height in the 16th and 17th centuries. During part of this particular trip it rained very heavily and to reach some of the monuments the group had to walk through narrow streets with knee high water. Rather than being horrified at this, everyone found it to be great fun and felt they were experiencing what they called the “real India.” This positive attitude lasted the entire workshop.

~Cathy