Temple
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Chanakya’s Temple Economics
The political treatise Arthashastra, attributed to Chanakya (Kautilya), dated to 300 AD, does not romanticise the role of the temple in ancient India. Image of the romantic Hindu temple as a sacred space, untainted by politics and money, does not…
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The Rise of Marble Temples
Marble has never been a traditional material in Hindu sacred architecture. In Tamil Nadu, the great storied temples were built in granite. In Odisha, the material was khondalite. In Karnataka, soapstone. Across North India, red and yellow sandstone. Marble was,…
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The Tale of Two Somnaths
Loud discussions on how Muslim raiders from Ghazni plundered Somnath temple, on the Gujarat coast a thousand years ago, ignore how Jain ‘basadi’ in Karnataka were replaced by Somanatha Shiva temples around the same time. This is also the time…
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Temple Gopurams As Royal Defiance
Most of the tall gopurams we see in South India today were built by Nayaka kings of Telugu origin. Most are three to four centuries old, built during and after the Vijayangar period. Nayaka rulers reimagined Ram and Krishna as…
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जानें मंदिरों को रथ और विमान कहने के पीछे क्या रहस्य है
पशुपालक जहाँ भी जाते वहाँ वे इन मंदिरों को ले जाते थे। यही कारण है कि कई सदियों बाद पत्थर से बने विशाल मंदिरों को रथ कहा गया।
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The History of the Hindu Temple
It was only around 2,000 years ago that we began to see the first sculptures of Hindu gods in Mathura. Interestingly, images of Shiva, Vishnu, and the Goddess also appear on Kushan coins from the same period, though scholars debate…
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The Head On the Temple
On the top of many Hindu temples, one finds the image of a head looking down on the people below — his eyes protruding from its sockets, his mouth wide open, his tongue out. This is called the Kirtimukha, the…
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The Hindu Idea of Pilgrimage
Temples are becoming tourist spots. Festivals are becoming experience centres. Local priests are eager to provide customer delight. Politicians are figuring out ways to make profit by ensuring their people get lucrative contracts for hotels and restaurants.
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How to Visit a Temple
A visit to a Hindu temple can be a lesson in history and geography, politics and economics, along with spiritual upliftment. If we allow it, the structure, to speak to us.
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Feet Of Fortune
After the devotee pays obeisance to the deity (darshan), the priest places a crown on his head. But it is not quite a crown. On top are the footprints of the deity.
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The Turtle In Shiva’s Temple
Between the Nandi Bull and the Shiva Linga is a turtle. No one quite knows the significance of this turtle, though many interpretations have been offered.
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The Return of Idolatry
As Hindu Rashtra prepares to establish itself with the grand inauguration of the Ram temple of Ayodhya on January 22, it is good to remind ourselves that 200 years ago, the Hindu elite was defensive and apologetic about Hindu idolatry.
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Why Stories of Floating Idols Crashing Ships Continues to Endure
The idea of a temple or a deity attracting ships, forcing them to move off course and causing shipwrecks by their magnetic power is also found on the western coast of India.
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How Gujarat Got Temples That Are Upside-down Or Topped With Mountain Peaks
Internet alien hunters have concluded that in Gujarat there is an underground upside-down temple, despite the fact that the ‘upside-down’ temple has upright images of Vishnu and his avatars.
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Tales From the Land of Jagannatha
There are 30 short essays in this book. They were written by renowned mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik over a ten-year period and published in various publications.
