Harini goes to the temple!

This is my first attempt at writing an illustrated children’s book, which I am planning to publish as an iBook for the iPad. The story is below. I am looking for an illustrator to collaborate with, who can create a colourful drawing for each of the bulletin points. The final version will probably be 15 pages. I will also be doing the same text in Tamil so the same illustrations can be used for the Tamil version as well. Since this will be self-published I cannot make any upfront payment to the illustrator but I’m hoping to share the profits 🙂 It’s more of a labour of love, so I am looking for some one with the same approach.

Thanks and please share this post with any illustrator who may be interested. My email id is sushima18@gmail.com.

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Harini goes to the temple.

1. Three year old Harini walks to the temple every day morning holding her grandfather’s hand.  She always looks pretty in her dress, fresh after her early morning bath.
2. The temple is just a few houses away at the end of the street. Devotees come from from other neighbourhoods to pray at this temple.
3. Harini and her grandfather buy sweet smelling jasmine flowers and an archana basket from the flower vendor. Can you identify all the items in the archana basket?
4. They leave the slippers at the entrance of the temple and go wash their feet in the tap water. Harini likes the feeling of the cool water on her feet.
5. She runs to the first altar, that of Lord Ganesha. He is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. He is the remover of all obstacles in life.
6. She knocks on her temples with her knuckles as taught by her grandfather.She then does a few sit-ups (thoppukaranam). Both these actions make the brain cells active and increase the power of the brain.
7. The priest does archana to Lord Ganesha by chanting the hundred and eight names of the Lord. He then breaks the coconut and offers it to God along with the bananas. He decorates the idol with flowers and moves the lamp in a circular motion around the idol.
   
8. The priest then hands over the “prasadham,” that is the coconut and bananas offered to God, to Harini’s grandfather. He gives “Vibhuti” or holy ash to all those standing there and praying.
9. Harini and her grandfather then visit all the other altars in the temple, and pray to all the different Gods. Can you identify these Gods?
   1. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi
   2. Lord Subramanya, the brother of Lord Ganesha
   3. Swami Iyyappa, who was born to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu in Mohini Avatar.
   4. Goddess Durga
   5. Lord Dakshinamurthy.
10. After praying to each deity, Harini and her grandfather do ‘Pradakshanam’, which is walking around the deity with reverence.
11. Under a peepul tree, a devotee is doing puja to Nagar by herself without the help of the priest.  She is doing “abhishekam” to Nagar by bathing him with milk and water. She applies turmeric and then vermilion on Nagar, offers fruits and then does “Harathi” with lighted camphor.
12. Harini and her grandfather then move on to worship the Navagrahas or the nine Gods denoting the nine planets. She prays to them asking for success in all her endeavours, and then does nine pradakshanam around the nine Gods.
13. Now Harini and her grandfather sit for a few minutes in silence on the stone seats in the temple. It is important to always sit in silence for a few minutes before leaving the temple.
14. Harini loves to visit the temple everyday with her grandfather. When walking to the temple and back home she always asks questions about everything she sees around and her grandfather always gave her a proper reply.
15. Harini notices a temple volunteer distributing “prasadham”, which is “sundal” (cooked beans) that day. Harini loves to eat “prasadham” and gets her share.
16. Everyone in the temple loves Harini as she is very cheerful like a ray of sunlight. As they walk out of the temple the flower vendor gives her a red rose which she accepts with a smile and carries it home.

Photo credits:

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2008/03/global-eye-batu-caves-malaysia.html

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/intelligenttravel/2008/03/global-eye-batu-caves-malaysia.html

http://wodumedia.com/diwali-the-festival-of-lights/a-girl-lights-earthen-lamps-in-a-formation-to-form-the-shape-of-hindu-god-ganesh-the-deity-of-prosperity-on-the-eve-of

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