We had only a morning's stop in Mangalore. Clodagh and Chris opted for a tour of Mangalore and the Jesuit church and a cashew nut factory. The rest of us took the tour out to two Jain Temples and to a farm, which prides itself as a centre for innovative diversity.
We first travelled to a temple at Karkala. Another excellent guide, Rashmi, told us about life in Kerala and also of Jainism whose temples we were visiting today. The Jains do not believe in endangering life of any form and go to extraordinary lengths to avoid doing so. There are two branches of Jainism, Chandranatha and Bahubala. The latter goes completely naked. At the temple grounds we had to climb up more than 200 steps. Rashmi is seen here
At the top we reached the 13 metre high Bahubali statue representing that sect of Jainism that forgoes clothing. We had to remove our shoes to enter the sacred area of the Temple.
From here there were superb views and one across to another temple set peacefully in the countryside.
Then on to the Soans family farm. They have been associated with the farm since the young Alfred Soans was employed there, in 1928, as an agriculturalist to assist with a project of cultivating non forested grasslands dependent only on the seasonal monsoon rains for water supply. He brought in many innovations and later took charge of the project and was granted a lease. Now his two sons run the 100 acre farm, one a botanist and the other a fruit technologist by training. One of them took us on a tour.
He told us they continue to experiment with trees and plants from all round the world. If they succeed, they develop it further to suit the land, climate and market. They have developed there many different types of bamboo...
...including this giant type, which can grow 1 1/2 feet in a day at the height of the season.
There is a large plantation of mangos and many have pepper plants climbing up them.
As we walked, Mr Soans pointed out the wide variety of plants they grow, including coconut, banana, cocoa, mulberry, cinnamon, cashews and many others.
Pineapples grow extensively and we were offered pineapple juice such as I've never tasted before - exquisite!
After leaving the farm we journeyed to the 15th C Chandranatha Temple at Moodabidri.
The Temple is described as having a 1,000 pillared hall.
In fact many of the pillars are carved into sub-pillars to make up the count.
Leaving the temple we travelled back to Mangalore and to Minerva for a late lunch and ready to depart for our next port of call at Kochi.
Robert Cole
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