KALIYUGA-The Age of the Hindu Temples
Did Gods leave the world in Kali Yuga?
Dr UDAY DOKRAS Phd Stockholm,
SWEDEN
Indo Nordic Author’s Collective, Tampere FINLAND.Stockholm SWEDEN. Nagpur INDIA
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Did Gods leave the world in Kali Yuga? The Age of the Hindu Temples
Dr UDAY DOKRAS Phd Stockholm, SWEDEN
B.Sc., B.A. (managerial economics) LL.B. Nagpur University, INDIA
Graduate Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, CANADA
MBA CALSATATE USA
Graduate Diploma in Law, Stockholm University, SWEDEN
Ph.D. Stockholm University, SWEDEN
Consulting Astrologer and Vastu Shastra ExpertLtd
Architect SRISHTI DOKRAS CO-AUTHOR
Assisted by
Kinjal Shah
Research Associate, Indo Nordic Author’s Collective
Indo Nordic Author’s Collective, Tampere FINLAND.Stockholm
SWEDEN. Nagpur INDIA © UDAY GROUP-Uday Dokras & Associates
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“I am the beginning, middle, and end of creation.”
“I am death, which overcomes all, and the source of all beings still to be born.” “However
men try to reach me, I return their love with my love; whatever path they may travel, it
leads to me in the end.” Krishna on Himself
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CONTENTS 5
Introduction 6
Did the Gods walk the Earth 8
CHAPTER I-EARLY HINDU RELIGION
The prehistoric period (3rd and 2nd millennia BCE) 17
PART I VAIKUNTH 28
CHAPTER II-The Abode of the Gods 29
PART II- Hindu Cosmology and the position of the Gods 40
Chapter III Hindu Universe 41
CHAPTER IV-Hindu Cosmology 45
Chapter V Time 61
CHAPTER VI -Hinduism's 4 yugas, or Ages-A Staggering Time Scale 73
PART III Tracing the evolution of temples in India 100
Chapter VII Temple Time Line 101
The Hindu Temple - Where Man Becomes God 107
CHAPTER VIII-EMERGENCE OF TEMPLES 113
Shaktism
Agamas 130
CHAPTER IX-The SATAPATI or ARCHITECT 149
CHAPTER X- SOIL TESTING158
CHAPTER XI Bhakti Movement and Shaiva Tradition 167
Chapter XII Ancient Temples 174
CHAPTER VI-The History of Hindu Temples
CHAPTER XIII Aesthetics Vs. Meaning: - Importance of Hindu Architecture 186
CHAPTER XIV-Continual and Continuing Loss of
Hindu Physical Spaces 201
CHAPTER XV The History of Hindu Temples 206
CHAPTER XVI-Tracing the evolution of temples Abroad-Trade and Transcendentalism
of Hinduism in America 213
some of the most beautiful Hindu temples outside India 233
CHAPTER XVII-10 Mosques in India that were built over
Hindu Temples 256
Hindu Gods and Goddesses 268
ABOUT THE AUTHORS- Srishti
Dokras 279
Uday Dokras
Kinjal Shah
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Itroduction
In many ereligions God visits Earth. In Christianity, that moment is the birth of Christ.” On that
first Christmas night the Bible tells us about the angel coming to those fearful shepherds and
saying, “Fear not, I bring you good news.” What is the real meaning of that good news?
The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was a visitor from Heaven itself. He was God Incarnate.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at
night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good
news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” — Luke 2:8–12
The term Theophany (from Ancient Greek (ἡ) θεοφάνεια theophaneia,[1] meaning "appearance
of a deity") is the manifestation of a deity in an observable way.This term has been used to refer
to appearances of the gods in ancient Greek and Near Eastern religions. While the Iliad is the
earliest source for descriptions of theophanies in classical antiquity (which occur
throughout Greek mythology), probably the earliest description appears in the Epic of
Gilgamesh. A specific usage for Christians and Jews, with respect to the Bible: theophany refers
to a manifestation of the Abrahamic God, a revealed presence sensed by a person. In Hinduism,
the manifestations of Vishnu on earth are referred to as Vishnu's avatars. The most popular
avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism is Krishna. The most well-known theophany is contained within
the Bhagavad-Gita, itself one chapter of the larger epic the Mahabharata. On the battlefield of
Kurukshetra, Krishna gives the famed warrior Arjuna a series of teachings, and Arjuna begs for
Krishna to reveal his "universal form." Krishna complies and gives Arjuna the spiritual vision
which enables him to see Krishna in that form, a magnificent and awe-inspiring manifestation,
containing everything in the universe. A description of this theophany forms the main part of
Chapter X. Human religious lore includes ancient literary recordings of deities appearing to
animals, usually with the animals able to relate the experience to humans using human speech:
In numerous creation stories, a deity or deities speak with many kinds of animals, often prior
to the formation of dry land on earth.
In the Hindu Ramayana, the monkey leader Hanuman is informed by deities, and usually
consciously addressed by them.
In Chinese mythology, the Monkey King speaks with bodhisattvas, buddhas, and a host of
heavenly characters.
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In Hindu mythology, the gods and their avatars travel from place to place in flying vehicles
called Vimana. There are many mentions of these flying objects in the Ramayana, which used by
the Lankan king Ravana from Sri Lanka dates to the 5th or 4th century BCE. Below are some
examples:
From Book 6, Canto CXXIII: The Magic Car
Is not the wondrous chariot mine,
Named Pushpak, wrought by hands divine.
…
This chariot, kept with utmost care,
Will waft thee through the fields of air,
And thou shalt light unwearied down
In fair Ayodhyá's royal town.
From Book 6, Canto CXXIV: The Departure:[45]
Swift through the air, as Ráma chose,
The wondrous car from earth arose.
And decked with swans and silver wings
Bore through the clouds its freight of kings.
Erich von Däniken discusses the Ramayana and the vimanas in Chapter 6 of Chariots of the
Gods? suggesting that they were "space vehicles". To support his hypothesis, he offers a
quotation which he says is from an 1889 translation of the Mahabharata by C. Roy: "Bhima flew
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with his Vimana on an enormous ray which was as brilliant as the sun and made a noise like the
thunder of a storm". "Ancient astronauts" (or "ancient aliens") refers to the idea, often
presented in a pseudoscientific[1] way, that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and
made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times.[2] Proponents suggest that this
contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, religions, and human
biology. A common position is that deities from most, if not all, religions are extraterrestrial in
origin, and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as
evidence of divine status by early humans.
The idea that ancient astronauts existed is not taken seriously by most academics, and has
received no credible attention in peer reviewed studies. When proponents of the idea present
evidence in favor of their beliefs, it is often distorted or fabricated.
Well-known proponents in the latter half of the 20th century who have written numerous books
or appear regularly in mass media include Erich von Däniken, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Zecharia
Sitchin, Robert K. G. Temple, Giorgio A. Tsoukalos and David Hatcher Childress. Kalkin, also
called Kalki, final avatar (incarnation) of the Hindu god Vishnu, who is yet to appear.
Did the Gods walk the Earth
There is no reference in any Hindu literature that Gods had Earth as their abode.
According to the scriptures, gods have their own worlds. Only some Gods are powerful enough
or interested in taking Avatars on Earth for the benefit of humanity.
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Humans have been known to travel to those worlds. But need to have great mental control (read
meditative ability) to just visit and have a glimpse. But some worlds are out of bounds and needs
permission from the GOD of that worldThey were never on the Earth in the first place. They
resided in heaven or some other heavenly places. Only one God is supposed to live on EarthLord Shiva on mount Kailasha.
Only when need arises they would take human forms(avatars) and come to earth to cleanse the
Earth of its sins.
All stories related to Lord Shiva I have read till now seem to be in the Satyayuga, Treta or
Dwapara. The last one I heard is I think in Dwapara, when Lord Shiva was testing Arjuna. I want
to know whether there are any stories related to Lord Shiva from the Kaliyuga also.Considering
that most of our scriptures were composed or compiled by Vyasa at the end of the Dwapara
Yuga or beginning of the Kali Yuga, any description of Shiva's activities in the Kali Yuga would
come in the form of prophecies. Now in my question here, I discuss an incarnation of Shiva
called Lakulisha, who was the founder of the Pashupata sect of Shaivism: But I'm not sure
whether Lakulisha lived in the Dwapara Yuga or the Kali Yuga. Also, some people consider Adi
Shankaracharya to be an incarnation of Shiva.Another thing worth noting is that just as the
Alwars, the 12 Vaishnava poet-saints I discuss in my questions here, are said to have
encountered Vishnu on various occasions, I expect that if you looked at the life stories of the
Nayanars, Shaivite poets living at about the same time, you may find stories of various run-ins
with Shiva.
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Since most of our scriptures were composed or compiled by Vyasa at the end of the Dwapara
Yuga or the beginning of the Kali Yuga, most descriptions of Shiva's activities in the Kali Yuga
would be in the form of prophecies. But here are at least some potential activities that Shiva may
have done in the Kali Yuga:
1. One thing we know for sure that Shiva did in the Kali Yuga was attend the wedding of
Venkateshwara (the Vishnu deity in Tirupati, aka Balaji or Srinivasa. Here is what this
excerpt from the Venkatachala Mahatmya of the Skanda Purana says:
Then [Venkateshwara] proceeded towards Narayanapuri accompanied by Brahma, Isha
[Shiva], Varuna, Yama, Yakshesha, Vasishta and other eminent sages, Sanaka and other
Yogins as well as devotees and loyal followers of the Lord. The chieftains of Gandharvas
sang. The groups of celestial damsels danced.
And when Vishnu took a loan from Kubera to pay for the wedding expenses, Shiva was
one of the witnesses, as described in this excerpt from the Sthala Purana (temple scripture)
of Tirupati (which you can read here):
"The entire Universe is at your beck and call. All my money is yours. I have no control
over it. You are its master" said Kubera [to Vishnu]. Finally, Kubera agreed to lend the
money required if the necessary document was executed by the debtor. Brahma then
dictated a promissory note. The note was executed.
"This, the 7th day of the bright-fortnight of the month of Vysakha in Kaliyuga, The debtor
is Srinivasa, the creditor is Dhaneswara. Purpose: marriage of the loanee. Amount of loan
fourteen lakhs in Ramamudra coins. The loanee should repay it with interest in one
thousand years after the loanee's marriage." Brahma and Siva attested as witnesses. The
scribe was the loanee himself. After accepting the promissory note, Kubera paid the
amount in cash.The loan was handled by another incarnation of Vishnu named
Govindaraja, as I discuss here. By the way, The "one thousand years" means years of the
gods, which I discuss here; it basically means that the period of the loan would be the
entire Kali Yuga. That is why the Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple in Tirupati created the
custom of having an Hundi, a box where people could donate money in order to pay off the
interest on Kubera's loan. Of course, other temples realized that it was a valuable way to
fund temple operations, and nowadays Hundia are a standard feature in Hindu temples.
2. Many people believe that Adi Shankaracharya, the famous proponent of Advaita Vedanta,
was an incarnation of Shiva. Some people dispute this because of the story of Shiva
appearing before Adi Shankaracharya as a Chandala. But in any case, there are three quotes
from Hindu scripture that various people cite as prophecies of Adi Shankaracharya. The
first is from this excerpt from the Kurma Purana, which describes the Kali Yuga:
Shankara, Nilalohita, will take up incarnations for the purpose of establishing the Shrauta
(Vedic) and Smarta (belonging to the Smritis) rites, with a desire for the welfare of his
devotees. He will teach his disiciples the knowledge pertaining to the Brahman.
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And then there are two quotes from the Padma Purana, which if genuine and if correctly
identified with Adi Shankaracharya, would paint Advaita Vedanta in a negative light. The
first is from this excerpt from the Uttara Kanda of the Padma Purana, where Vishnu says
this to Shiva:
Being born in the ages like Dvapara and among men in the Kali Yuga make the people
averse to me with the sacred texts prepared by you. So also censure me so that the world
become better and better. I shall produce this delusion which will delude people. You too,
O mighty-armed Rudra, produce sacred texts that would delude people. O you of great
arms, produce (the texts) that are false and spurious. Manifest thyself and keep me hidden.
Genuine or not, I think it's possible that this verse is referring to Shiva's incarnation
Lakukisha, whom I discuss below, rather than Adi Shankaracharya. But in any case, by far
the most famous quote that people claim to be a prophecy of Adi Shankaracharya is
from this excerpt from the Uttara Kanda of the Padma Purana, where Shiva says this:
Vishnu of the form of Buddha proclaimed the false Buddhist doctrine and those of the
naked and wearing dark blue garments for the destruction of demons. The doctrine of
Maya (illusion) is a wicked doctrine and said to be pseudo-Buddhist. I myself, of the form
of a brAhmana, proclaimed it in Kali (age).
It shows the meaninglessness of the words of the holy texts and is condemned in the world.
In this (doctrine) only the giving up of one's own duties is expounded. And that is said to
be religiousness by those who have fallen from all duties. I have propounded the identity of
the Highest Lord and the (individual) soul. I stated this Brahman's nature to be
qualityless. O goddess, I myself have conceived, for the destruction of the worlds, and for
deluding the world in this Kali age, the great doctrine resembling the purport of the Vedas,
(but) non-Vedic due to the principle of Maya (illusion) (present in it).
Of course, Advaitins would dispute the authenticity of these verses, and I'm inclined to
agree with them. Still, there's an interesting analytical point here, which is that Advaita
bears some similarity to Buddhist thought. In fact, some scholars believe that Adi
Shankaracharya's guru's guru Gaudapada was originally a Yogachara Buddhist, although as
I discuss here Advaita tradition identifies Gaudapada's guru as Vyasa's son Shuka. In any
case, for more information on how Vaishnavism views Advaita, see my answer here.
3. In this excerpt from the Shatarudra Samhita of the Shiva Purana, Shiva tells Brahma about
his various Yogeshwara incarnations, which he takes once every Mahayuga. Here is what
he says about the present Mahayuga:
In the twenty-eighth aeon of Dvapara, there will be Dvaipayana Vyasa, the son of
Parashara ,and the most excellent of Purushas [Vishnu] shall be born as Krishna with his
one-sixth part, as the foremost of the sons of Vasudeva. Then I too shall be born with the
body of a Brahmachari and the soul of a Yogi by means of Yogic Maya to the great
surprise of the worlds. On seeing a dead body forsaken in the cremation ground I shall
enter into it and make it free from ailments by means of Yogic Maya for the welfare or
Brahmins. Then I will enter the holy divine cavern of Meru along with you and Vishnu. O
Brahma, I shall then be known as Lakulin.
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Lakulin, also known as Lakulisha, was a famous Shaivite thinker who introduced Pashupata, an
ancient sect of Shaivism which among other things involves smearing ash all over your body;
Shiva is described as the originator of the Pashupati vow in this chapter and this chapter of the
Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata.
Just as the Alwars, the 12 Vaishnava poet-saints encountered Vishnu on various occasions, I
expect that if you looked at the life stories of the 63 Nayanars, Shaivite poets living at about the
same time, you may find stories of various run-ins with Shiva. But I'm not sure if Hindu scripture
contains any prophecies of the Nayanars.
Mahatmya of the Skanda Purana:
I.One story is of Temple of Baijnath Mahadev, Agar Malwa (MP): The Only Hindu Temple of
Lord Shiva Built (Renovated) by a British Couple. It goes like follows:The British ruled Indian subcontinent for hundreds of years, and built many churches and
cathedrals. But in the 1880s, a Shiva temple in Agar Malwa, Madhya Pradesh, was renovated
and almost rebuilt by Lt. Col. Martin as per the wish o her wife — the only Shiva temple ever
made by an Englishman in India.In 1879, when there was British were ruling in India, Lt. Col.
Martin of Agar Malwa was leading the British army in the war against Afghanistan.
Col. Martin used to regularly send messages of his well-being to his wife. The war continued for
long & Lady Martin stopped getting messages. She was very upset in the vicinity of Malwa far
away from Kabul or Afghanistan.Once riding on her horse, she was to pass by the temple of
Baijnath Mahadev. She was quite attracted to the sound of Conch & Mantra. She went inside the
Temple and came to know that the Brahmanas were worshipping Lord Shiva. They saw her sad
face and asked her problem. She explained everything to them. They told her that Lord Shiva
listens to the prayers of devotees and takes them out of difficult situations in no time. With the
advice of the Brahmanas she started the “Laghurudri Anushtthan” of the Mantra: “Om Namah
Shivaya” for 11 days. She prayed to Lord Shiva that if her husband reaches home safely, then
she would get the temple renovated.
On the last of the “Laghurudri” a messenger came and gave a letter to her. Her husband had
written: “I was regularly sending messages to you from the battle grounds but suddenly the
Pathan Muslims surrounded us from all sides. We were entrapped in a situation where there was
no scope of escaping death. Suddenly, I saw a Yogi of India with long hair, carrying a Trident
(weapon with three pointers- Trishul). His personality was amazing and he was manoeuvring his
weapon with a magnificent style. Seeing this great man, the Pathans started running back. With
his grace our bad times turned into moments of victory. This was possible only because of that
man of India wearing a lion skin & carrying a three-pointer weapon. That great Yogi told me that
I should not worry and that he had come to rescue me because he was very pleased with my
wife’s prayers.”
Tears of joy were falling down to the eyes of Lady Martin while reading the letter. Her heart was
overwhelmed with joy and reverence. She fell beneath the stone symbol (Lingam) of Lord Shiva
and burst in tears.
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After a few weeks Col. Martin returned. Lady Martin narrated the whole incident to him. Now
both husband & wife became devotees of Lord Shiva. In 1883 they donated Rs. 15,000 for
renovating the temple. The information engraved slab for the same is still there in the Baijnath
Mahadev Temple of Agar Malwa. This is the only Hindu temple built by the British.
And it is not difficult to meet Lord Shiva.
Let no one be deceived! Twelve hundred long Divine Years lasting three hundred and
sixty earth-years each, shall pass before I Manifest again and bring to the World a New
Cosmic Cycle and a New Golden Age. Meanwhile, I shall appear only to My devotees.
Verily, know this to be a matter a million times true: to My faithful devotees I shall
appear any time they sincerely call upon Me, but not to the others. For, the others even if
they saw Me, would fail to recognise Me - as even now they see Me but know Me not.
11 chapter SR
II. The origin of the Maheshwari community in Northern part of India is an example of one
such story. The story is as follows:
Authentic historical literature about the origin of the Maheshwari community is not available.
The sole source of information available is in the form of a book "Itihas Kalpdrum Maheshwari
Kulbhushan" authored by late Shivkaranji Darak of Mundwa. Based on the book, following is
the description of the origins of the Maheshwari community:
Suryawanshi King Khadgalsen of Chauhan dynasty was ruling over Khandelanagar state. He was
very kind and just king. People lived happily and peacefully in his kingdom. He was always
worried of not having a son.One day the king had invited Brahmins and paid great honour to
them. The Brahmins were very happy with the king's courtesy and asked him for a boon. The
king then expressed his desire for a son. Brahmins said, ``if you worship Lord Shiva, you will be
blessed with a very brave and adventurous son, but do not allow him to go towards the north and
take bath in the Surya-kund there until he turns 16 years old". If the prince respects Brahmins, he
will become a great king else will be reborn in the same kingdom. Hence being blessed by the
Brahmins, the king rewarded them with fine clothes and jewelry and respectfully saw them off.
The king worshipped God Shiva and was blessed with the boon.
King Khadgalsen had 24 queens. After some time, one of the queens, Champawati gave birth to
a baby boy. The king was very happy and named the prince as Sujan Kunwar. The prince learned
horse-riding, weaponry etc. by the age of 7 years. When he reached the age of 12, enemies were
afraid of him. The king was quite satisfied with his work. He was careful not to let the prince go
towards the North.
Once a Jain sadhu arrived and preached the prince about Jain religion luring him into anti-Shiva
beliefs and showed the faults of Brahmins. At the age of 14, the prince opposed Shiva and started
practicing Jain religion. He campaigned the Jain religion in East, West and South and banished
idol worshipping. He harassed Brahmins and broke their sacred threads (janoi). He forbade all
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religious activities including yajna and hawan (holy fire). Out of the King's fear, he never went
towards the North direction, but who can stop the destiny.
Once he went towards the North to the Suryakund with his 72 officers. There he grew angry
when he saw 6 Rishis performing a yajna. He ordered his officers to destroy the yajna and
harassed the rishis. Seeing this the rishis cursed them to become stone. So, the prince including
all his officers and horses became stone. This news spread very quickly in all directions.The
King and citizens became worried after hearing this news. King Khadgalsen died of the shock.
16 of his queens became sati (self-immolated) with him. With no protector of the kingdom,
neighbouring enemies attacked the state. They divided the state into many regions and merged
them into their own states.
Even as this happened, the prince's widow and 72 officer's widows cried and went to the rishis.
They humbly requested and begged for the lives of their husbands. Seeing this rishi had mercy
upon them. However, they said they are not capable enough of revert the curse. They advised the
ladies to go to a nearby cave and worship lord Shiva so that the curse can be taken off. All the
ladies went to a cage and religiously meditated for appeasement of lord Shiva.
After some time, lord Shiva and Parvatiji (lord Shiva's consort) came around the place where the
prince and officers were lying in the form of stones. Parvatiji asked what happened and lord
Shiva told the whole history.
At this time the prince's wife and the officer's wives fell on the feet of Parvatiji and expressed
their plight. Seeing this, Parvatiji requested lord Shiva of taking off the curse. Lord took off the
curse and freed them of the stone-like state giving them a new life. Everybody fell on lord's feet
in reverance.As the prince became conscious, his mind filled with lust seeing Parvatiji's beauty.
Seeing this Parvatiji cursed the prince like this: ``O evil man! you will always beg for food and
all your coming generations shall beg for food!" These people were called "jaaga" (bhat) later on.
The 72 officers said: ``O God! Now we do not have a place to live. What should we do''? So
Shivji informed them, that they quit their Kshatriya caste in a previous birth so now they are
liable to accept the Vaishya caste. Go to the Suryakund and have a bath. As they bathed, their
sword became pen, sword-case became stick and shields became weighing balance. All officers
became Vaishya. As lord Mahesh (aka Shiva) gave them this lesson, they were called
Maheshwari Vaishya.
When rishis came to know that everybody has been freed of curse, they asked God: ``O God!
how will our incomplete Yajna will be completed''? Hence God preached to the officers that now
onwards these rishis are your guru and you accept them as such. God told the rishis that they do
not have anything as of now but when they have some occasion in their home they will give you
material things to the best of their capabilities. You should teach them to follow their religion.
Rishi accepted them as their pupils and each rishi accepted 12 pupils. Following is their
description: (1) Parik from Parashar rishi (2) Dadma from Dadhichi rishi (3) Adigol from
Gautam rishi (4) Khandelwal from Kharik rishi (5) Sukuwal from Sukumarg rishi (6) Saraswat
brahmin/purohit from Sarasur rishi.
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After some time of leaving Khandela all settled in Didwana. From these 72 officers, 72 nukh
(clans) came into existence and from these nukh, depending upon the business, peta-nukh (subclan) came into existence.
This day was the ninth day of Jeth-sud month. This day is celebrated as "Mahesh Navami'' by
Maheshwaris. In Kali-yuga Lord Siva appeared in the 8th Century as Sankaracharya.In the
Padma Purāṇa Vedic text it is stated that the Personality of Godhead ordered His Lordship Śiva
to deviate the human race from Him (the Personality of Godhead).The Personality of Godhead
was to be so covered so that people would be encouraged to generate more and more population.
His Lordship Śiva said to Devī:
"In the Kali-yuga, I shall preach the Māyāvāda philosophy, which is nothing but
clouded Buddhism, in the garb of a brāhmaṇa."
Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 3 Srimmad Bhagavatam Canto 3.14.24, Purport:
Māyāvādī philosophers are mostly worshipers of Lord Śiva, and Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya is
considered to be the incarnation of Lord Śiva for preaching godlessness to the Māyāvādī
philosophers.
Lord Śiva, or Rudra, is the king of the ghosts. Ghostly characters worship Lord Śiva to be
gradually guided toward a path of self-realization.Māyāvādī philosophers are mostly worshipers
of Lord Śiva, and Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya is considered to be the incarnation of Lord Śiva for
preaching godlessness to the Māyāvādī philosophers.Ghosts are bereft of a physical body
because of their grievously sinful acts, such as suicide. The last resort of the ghostly characters in
human society is to take shelter of suicide, either material or spiritual.
Material suicide causes loss of the physical body, and spiritual suicide causes loss of the
individual identity. Māyāvādī philosophers desire to lose their individuality and merge into the
impersonal spiritual brahmajyoti existence. Lord Śiva, being very kind to the ghosts, sees that
although they are condemned, they get physical bodies. He places them into the wombs of
women who indulge in sexual intercourse regardless of the restrictions on time and circumstance.
Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4
Lord Śiva, speaking to Pārvatī-devī, foretold that he would spread the Māyāvāda
philosophy in the guise of a sannyāsī brāhmaṇa just to eradicate Buddhist
philosophy. This sannyāsī was Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya.
Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 4.24.17, Purport:
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Since Lord Śiva does not incarnate himself unless there is some special reason, it is very difficult
for an ordinary person to contact him. However, Lord Śiva does descend on a special occasion
when he is ordered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In this regard, it is stated in the Padma Purāṇa that Lord Śiva appeared as a brāhmaṇa in the age
of Kali to preach the Māyāvāda philosophy, which is nothing but a type of Buddhist philosophy.
It is stated in Padma Purāṇa:
māyāvādam asac-chāstraṁpracchannaṁ bauddham ucyatemayaiva vihitaṁ devikalau brāhmaṇamūrtinā
Lord Śiva, speaking to Pārvatī-devī, foretold that he would spread the Māyāvāda philosophy in
the guise of a sannyāsī brāhmaṇa just to eradicate Buddhist philosophy.This sannyāsī was
Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya.In order to overcome the effects of Buddhist philosophy and spread
Vedānta philosophy, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya had to make some compromise with the Buddhist
philosophy, and as such he preached the philosophy of monism, for it was required at that time.
Otherwise there was no need for his preaching Māyāvāda philosophy. At the present moment
there is no need for Māyāvāda philosophy or Buddhist philosophy, and Lord Caitanya rejected
both of them.
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is spreading the philosophy of Lord Caitanya and rejecting
the philosophy of both classes of Māyāvādī. Strictly speaking, both Buddhist philosophy and
Śaṅkara's philosophy are but different types of Māyāvāda impersonalism dealing on the platform
of material existence.Neither of these philosophies has spiritual significance. There is spiritual
significance only after one accepts the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā, which culminates in
surrendering unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Even though Lord Śiva appeared to preach Māyāvāda philosophy, at the end of his pastime in the
form of Śaṅkarācārya, he preached the Vaiṣṇava philosophy: bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ
bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate.He stressed worshiping Lord Kṛṣṇa, or Govinda, three times in this
verse and especially warned his followers that they could not possibly achieve deliverance, or
mukti, simply by word jugglery and grammatical puzzles.I recently heard the below. Kali yuga is
dominated by evil . At the end Kaliyuga when good and evil go against each other and one will
come out as a winner. To conquer evil Shiva comes up with shiva tandavam and crushes the evil.
After destruction next cycle starts. While dancing shiva turns/rotates and you could see the back
of Shiva's head.what do you find there ? None other than Brahma's face and shiva is smiling.
Asura and deva gods are a concept for manu wadi sanathan dharma people following caste
system ..all devas have died ..only an asura is alive ..till lord vishnu is protectiing all life forms in
universe ..god cannot die on planet earth and ancient hindu civilization
16
CHAPTER I
EARLY HINDU RELIGION
The prehistoric period (3rd and 2nd millennia BCE)
The term Hinduism as a religious label refers to the indigenous religious philosophy of the
peoples living in modern day India and the rest of the Indian subcontinent. It is a synthesis of
many spiritual traditions of the region and does not have a clearly defined set of beliefs in the
same way that other religions do. It is widely accepted that Hinduism is the oldest of the world's
religions, but there is no known historical figure credited with being its founder. Hinduism's
roots are diverse and are likely a synthesis of various regional tribal beliefs. According to
historians, the origin of Hinduism dates back to 5,000 years or more.
The term Hindu is derived from the name of River Indus, which flows through northern India. In
ancient times the river was called the Sindhu, but the pre-Islamic Persians who migrated to India
called the river Hindu knew the land asHindustan and called its inhabitants Hindus. The first
known use of the term Hindu is from the 6th century BCE, used by the Persians. Originally,
then, Hinduism was mostly a cultural and geographic label, and only later was it applied to
17
describe the religious practices of the Hindus. Hinduism as a term to define a set of religious
beliefs first appeared in a 7th century CE Chinese text.
The prehistoric culture of the Indus valley arose in the latter centuries of the 3rd
millennium BCE from the metal-using village cultures of the region. There is considerable
evidence of the material life of the Indus people, but its interpretation remains a matter of
speculation until their writing is deciphered. Enough evidence exists, however, to show that
several features of later Hinduism may have had prehistoric origins.
In most of the village cultures, small terra-cotta figurines of women, found in large quantities,
have been interpreted as icons of a fertility deity whose cult was widespread in the
Mediterranean area and in western Asia from Neolithic times (c. 5000 BCE) onward.
This hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that the goddess was apparently associated with
the bull—a feature also found in the ancient religions farther west.
Religion in the Indus valley civilization
The Harappa culture, located in what is now Pakistan, has produced much evidence of what may
have been a cult of a goddess and a bull. Figurines of both occur, female figures being more
common, while the bull appears more frequently on the many steatite seals. A horned
figure, possibly with three faces, occurs on a few seals, and on one seal he is surrounded by
animals. A few male figurines, one apparently in a dancing posture, may represent deities. No
building has been discovered at any Harappan site that can be positively identified as a temple,
but the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro may have been used for ritual purposes, as were the ghats
(bathing steps on riverbanks) attached to later Hindu temples. The presence of bathrooms in most
of the houses and the remarkable system of covered drains indicate a strong concern for
cleanliness that may have been related to concepts of ritual purity but perhaps merely to ideas of
hygiene.
The Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro.
Many seals show what may be religious and legendary themes that cannot be interpreted with
certainty, such as seals depicting trees next to figures who may be divinities believed to reside in
18
them. The bull is often depicted standing before a sort of altar, and the horned figure has been
interpreted overconfidently as a prototype of the Hindu god Shiva. Small conical objects have
been interpreted by some scholars as phallic emblems, though they may have been pieces used in
board games. Other interpretations of the remains of the Harappa culture are even more
speculative and, if accepted, would indicate that many features of later Hinduism were already in
existence 4,000 years ago.
Survival of archaic religious practices
Some elements of the religious life of current and past folk religions—notably sacred animals,
sacred trees (especially the pipal, Ficus religiosa), and the use of small figurines for worship—
are found in all parts of India and may have been borrowed from pre-Vedic civilizations. On the
other hand, these things are also commonly encountered outside India, and therefore they may
have originated independently in Hinduism as well.
The Vedic period (2nd millennium–7th century BCE)
The people of the early Vedic period left few material remains, but they did leave a very
important literary record called the Rigveda. Its 1,028 hymns are distributed throughout 10
books, of which the first and the last are the most recent. A hymn usually consists of three
sections: an exhortation; a main part comprising praise of the deity, prayers, and petition, with
frequent references to the deity’s mythology; and a specific request.
The Rigveda is not a unitary work, and its composition may have taken several centuries. In its
form at the time of its final edition, it reflected a well-developed religious system. The date
commonly given for the final recension of the Rigveda is 1200 BCE. During the next two or
three centuries it was supplemented by three other Vedas and still later by Vedic texts called
the Brahmanas and the Upanishads (see below Vedas).
Challenges to Brahmanism (6th–2nd century BCE)
Indian religious life underwent great changes during the period 550–450 BCE. This century was
marked by the rise of breakaway sects of ascetics who rejected traditional religion, denying the
authority of the Vedas and of the Brahmans and following teachers who claimed to have
discovered the secret of obtaining release from transmigration. By far the most important of
these figures were Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, and Vardhamana,
called Mahavira (“Great Hero”), the founder of Jainism. There were many other heterodox
teachers who organized bands of ascetic followers, and each group adopted a specific code of
conduct. They gained considerable support from ruling families and merchants. The latter were
growing in wealth and influence, and many of them were searching for alternative forms of
religious activity that would give them a more significant role than did orthodox Brahmanism or
that would be less expensive to support.
The scriptures of the new religious movements throw some light on the popular religious life of
the period. The god Prajapati was widely believed to be the highest god and the creator of the
universe; Indra, known chiefly as Shakra (“The Mighty One”), was second to him in importance.
The Brahmans were very influential, but there was opposition to their large-scale animal
sacrifices—on moral, philosophical, and economic grounds—and to their pretensions to
superiority by virtue of their birth. The doctrine of transmigration was by then generally
accepted, though a group of outright materialists—the Charvakas, or Lokayatas—denied the
19
survival of the soul after death. The ancestor cult, part of the Indo-European heritage, was
retained almost universally, at least by the higher castes. Popular religious life largely centred
around the worship of local fertility divinities (yakshas), cobra spirits (nagas), and other minor
spirits in sacred places such as groves. Although these sacred places were the main centres of
popular religious life, there is no evidence of any buildings or images associated with them, and
it appears that neither temples nor large icons existed at the time.
About 500 BCE asceticism became widespread, and increasing numbers of intelligent young
men “gave up the world” to search for release from transmigration by achieving a state of
psychic security. The orthodox Brahmanical teachers reacted to these tendencies by devising the
doctrine of the four ashramas, which divided the life of the twice-born after initiation into four
stages: the brahmacharin (celibate religious student); the grihastha (married householder);
the vanaprastha (forest dweller); and the sannyasin (wandering ascetic). This attempt to keep
asceticism in check by confining it to men of late middle age was not wholly successful.
Thereafter Hindu social theory centred on the concept of varnashrama dharma, or the duties of
the four classes (varnas) and the four ashramas, which constituted the ideal that Hindus were
encouraged to follow.
The first great empire of India, the Mauryan empire, arose in the 3rd century BCE. Its early
rulers were non-Brahmanic; Ashoka (reigned c. 265–238 BCE), the third and most famous of the
Mauryan emperors, was a professed Buddhist. Although there is no doubt that Ashoka’s
patronage of Buddhism did much to spread that religion, his inscriptions recognize the Brahmans
as worthy of respect. Sentiments in favour of nonviolence (ahimsa) and vegetarianism, much
encouraged by the non-Brahmanic sects, spread during the Mauryan period and were greatly
encouraged by Ashoka. A Brahmanic revival appears to have occurred with the fall of the
Mauryas. The orthodox religion itself, however, was undergoing change at this time, as theistic
tendencies developed around the gods Vishnu and Shiva.
Inscriptions, iconographic evidence, and literary references reveal the emergence of
devotional theism in the 2nd century BCE. Several brief votive inscriptions refer to the
god Vasudeva, who by this time was widely worshipped in western India. At the end of the 2nd
century, Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of King Antialcidas of Taxila (in Pakistan), erected a
large column in honour of Vasudeva at Besnagar in Madhya Pradesh and recorded that he was
a Bhagavata, a term used specifically for the devotees of Vishnu. The identification of Vasudeva
with the old Vedic god Vishnu and, later, with Vishnu’s incarnation, Krishna, was quickly
accepted.
Near the end of the Mauryan period, the first surviving stone images of Hinduism appear.
Several large, simply carved figures survive, representing not any of the great gods but rather
yakshas, or local chthonic divinities connected with water, fertility, and magic. The original
locations of these images are uncertain, but they were probably erected in the open air in sacred
enclosures. Temples are not clearly attested in this period by either archaeology or literature. A
few fragmentary images thought to be those of Vasudeva and Shiva, the latter
in anthropomorphic form and in the form of a lingam, are found on coins of the 2nd and 1st
centuries BCE.
Early Hinduism (2nd century BCE–4th century CE)
20
The centuries immediately preceding and following the dawn of the Common Era were marked
by the recension of the two great Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (the latter
incorporating into it the Bhagavadgita). The worship of Vishnu, incarnate as Krishna in
the Mahabharata and as Rama in the Ramayana, developed significantly during this period (see
below Epics and Puranas), as did the cult of Shiva, who plays an active role in the Mahabharata.
The rise of the major sects: Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism
The Vedic god Rudra gained importance from the end of the Rigvedic period. In the
Svetashvatara Upanishad, Rudra is for the first time called Shiva and is described as the creator,
preserver, and destroyer of the universe. His followers are called on to worship him with
devotion (bhakti). The tendency for the laity to form themselves into religious guilds or
societies—evident in the case of the yaksha cults, Buddhism, and Jainism—promoted the growth
of devotional Vaishnavism and Shaivism. These local associations of worshipers appear to have
been a principal factor in the spread of the new cults. Theistic ascetics are less in evidence at this
time, though a community of Shaivite monks, the Pashupatas, existed by the 2nd or 3rd
century CE.
The period between the fall of the Mauryan empire (c. 185 BCE) and the rise of the Gupta
dynasty (c. 320 CE) was one of great change, including the conquest of most of the area of
Pakistan and parts of western India by a succession of invaders. India was opened to influence
from the West as never before, not only by invaders but also through flourishing maritime trade
with the Roman Empire. The effects of the new contacts were most obvious in art and
architecture. One of the oldest freestanding stone temples in the subcontinent has been excavated
at Taxila, near Rawalpindi, Pakistan. During the 1st century BCE the Gandhara school of
sculpture arose in the same region and made use of Hellenistic and Roman prototypes, mainly in
the service of Buddhism. Hindu temples of the period probably were made of wood, because no
remains of them have survived; however, literary evidence shows that they must have existed.
By the time of the early Gupta empire the new theism had been harmonized with the old Vedic
religion, and two of the main branches of Hinduism were fully recognized. The Vaishnavas had
the support of the Gupta emperors, who took the title paramabhagavata (“supreme devotee of
Vishnu”). Vishnu temples were numerous, and the doctrine of Vishnu’s avatars (incarnations)
was widely accepted. Of the 10 incarnations of later Vaishnavism, however, only two seem to
have been much worshipped in the Gupta period (4th–6th century). These were Krishna, the hero
of the Mahabharata, who also begins to appear in his pastoral aspect as the cowherd and flute
player, and Varaha, the divine boar, of whom several impressive images survive from the Gupta
period. A spectacular carving in Udayagiri (Madhya Pradesh) dating from about 400 CE depicts
Varaha rescuing the earth goddess, Vasudha. Temples in Udayagiri (c. 400) and Deogarh
(c. 500) also portray Vishnu reclining on the serpent Ananta (“Without End”).
The Shaivites were also a growing force in the religious life of India. The sect
of Pashupata ascetics, founded by Lakulisha (or Nahulisha), who lived in the 2nd century CE, is
attested by inscriptions from the 5th century; it is among the earliest of the sectarian religious
orders of Hinduism. Representations of the son of Shiva, Skanda (also called Karttikeya, the war
god), appeared as early as 100 BCE on coins from the Kushan dynasty, which ruled northern
India, Afghanistan, and Central Asia in the first three centuries of the Common Era. Shiva’s
other son, the elephant-headed Ganesha, patron deity of commercial and literary enterprises, did
not appear until the 5th century. Very important in this period was Surya, the sun god, in whose
21
honour temples were built, though in modern times he is little regarded by most Hindus. The
solar cult had Vedic roots but later may have expanded under Iranian influence.
Several goddesses gained importance in this period. Although goddesses had always been
worshipped in local and popular cults, they play comparatively minor roles in Vedic
religion. Lakshmi, or Shri, goddess of fortune and consort of Vishnu, was worshipped before the
beginning of the Common Era, and several lesser goddesses are attested from the Gupta period.
But the cult of Durga, the consort of Shiva, began to gain importance only in the 4th century, and
the large-scale development of Shaktism (devotion to the active, creative principle personified as
the mother goddess) did not take place until medieval times.
Vishnu with his consort Lakshmi, from the temple dedicated to Parsvanatha in the eastern temple
complex at Khajraho, Madhya Pradesh, India, c. 950–970.
© Anthony Cassidy
The development of temples
The Gupta period was marked by the rapid development of temple architecture. Earlier temples
were made of wood, but freestanding stone and brick temples soon appeared in many parts of
India. By the 7th century, stone temples, some of considerable dimensions, were found in many
parts of the country. Originally, the design of the Hindu temples may have borrowed from the
Buddhist precedent, for in some of the oldest temples the image was placed in the centre of the
shrine, which was surrounded by an ambulatory path resembling the path around a stupa (a
religious building containing a Buddhist relic). Nearly all surviving Gupta temples are
comparatively small; they consist of a small cella (central chamber), constructed of thick and
solid masonry, with a veranda either at the entrance or on all sides of the building. The earliest
Gupta temples, such as the Buddhist temples at Sanchi, have flat roofs; however,
the sikhara (spire), typical of the north Indian temple, was developed in this period and with time
was
steadily
made
taller. Tamil
literature mentions
several
temples.
The
22
epic Silappatikaram (c. 3rd–4th centuries), for instance, refers to the temples of Srirangam, near
Tiruchchirappalli, and of Tirumala-Tirupati (known locally as Tiruvenkatam).
The Buddhists and Jains had made use of artificial caves for religious purposes, and these were
adapted by the Hindus. Hindu cave shrines, however, are comparatively rare, and none have been
discovered from earlier than the Gupta period. The Udayagiri complex has cave shrines, but
some of the best examples are in Badami (c. 570), the capital of the Chalukya dynasty in the 6th
century. The Badami caves contain several carvings of Vishnu, Shiva, and Harihara (an
amalgamation of Vishnu and Shiva), as well as depictions of stories connected with Vishnu’s
incarnation, Krishna. Near the Badami caves are the sites of Aihole and Pattadakal, which
contain some of the oldest temples in the south; some temples in Aihole, for example, date to
approximately 450. For this reason these sites are sometimes referred to as the “laboratory” of
Hindu temples. Pattadakal, another capital of the Chalukya empire, was a major site of temple
building by Chalukyan monarchs in the 7th and 8th centuries. These temples incorporated styles
that eventually became distinctive of north and south Indian architecture.
In the Pallava site of Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), south of Chennai, a number of small
temples were carved in the 7th century from outcroppings of rock; they represent some of the
best-known religious buildings in the Tamil country. Mamallapuram and Kanchipuram, near
Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, were major cities in the Pallava empire (4th–9th centuries).
Kanchipuram, the Pallava capital, is sometimes called the “city of a thousand temples.” Some of
its temples date to the 5th century, and many feature magnificent architecture. Dedicated to
local manifestations of Shiva, Vishnu, and various forms of the Great Goddess, the temples
were patronized by royalty and aristocrats but also received donations and endowments from the
larger population.
Evidence for contact between the Pallava empire and Southeast Asia is provided by some of the
earliest inscriptions (c. 6th–7th centuries) of the Khmer empire, which are written in “Pallava
style” characters. There are also several visual connections between temple styles in India and in
Southeast Asia, including similarities in architecture (e.g., the design of temple towers) and
iconography (e.g., the depiction of Hindu deities, epic narratives, and dancers in carvings on
temple walls). Yet there are also differences between them. For example, the Cambodian Shiva
temples in Phnom Bakheng, Bakong, and Koh Ker resemble mountain pyramids in the
architectural idiom of Hindu and Buddhist temples in Borobudur and Prambanan on the island of
Java in present-day Indonesia.
Hinduism and Buddhism exerted an enormous influence on the civilizations of Southeast Asia
and contributed greatly to the development of a written tradition in that area. About the
beginning of the Common Era, Indian merchants may have settled there, bringing Brahmans and
Buddhist monks with them. These religious men were patronized by rulers who converted to
Hinduism or Buddhism. The earliest material evidence of Hinduism in Southeast Asia comes
from Borneo, where late 4th-century Sanskrit inscriptions testify to the performance of Vedic
sacrifices by Brahmans at the behest of local chiefs. Chinese chronicles attest an Indianized
kingdom in Vietnam two centuries earlier. The dominant form of Hinduism exported to
Southeast Asia was Shaivism, though some Vaishnavism was also known there. Later, from the
9th century onward, Tantrism, both Hindu and Buddhist, spread throughout the region.
Beginning in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, many of the early kingdoms in Southeast
Asia adopted and adapted specific Hindu texts, theologies, rituals, architectural styles, and forms
of social organization that suited their historical and social conditions. It is not clear whether this
presence came about primarily through slow immigration and settlement by key personnel
23
from India or through visits to India by Southeast Asians who took elements of
Indian culture back home. Hindu and Buddhist traders, priests, and, occasionally, princes
traveled to Southeast Asia from India in the first few centuries of the Common Era and
eventually settled there. Enormous temples to Shiva and Vishnu were built in the ancient Khmer
empire, attesting to the power and prestige of Hindu traditions in the region. Angkor Wat, built
in the 12th century in what is now Cambodia, was originally consecrated to Vishnu, although it
was soon converted to (and is still in use as) a Buddhist temple. One of the largest Hindu temples
ever built, it contains the largest bas-relief in the world, depicting the churning of the ocean of
milk, a minor theme of Indian architecture but one of the dominant narratives in Khmer temples.
Despite the existence in Southeast Asia of Hindu temples and iconography as well as Sanskrit
inscriptions, the nature and extent of Hindu influence upon the civilizations of the region is
fiercely debated by contemporary scholars. Whereas early 20th-century scholars wrote about the
Indianization of Southeast Asia, those of the late 20th and early 21st centuries argued that this
influence was very limited and affected only a small cross section of the elite. It is nevertheless
certain that divinity and royalty were closely connected in Southeast Asian civilizations and that
several Hindu rituals were used to valorize the powers of the monarch.
The civilizations of Southeast Asia developed forms of Hinduism and Buddhism that
incorporated distinctive local features and in other respects reflected local cultures, but the
framework of their religious life, at least in the upper classes, was largely Indian. Stories from
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata became widely known in Southeast Asia and are still
popular there in local versions. In Indonesia the people of Bali still follow a form of Hinduism
adapted to their own genius. Versions of the Manu-smriti were taken to Southeast Asia and were
translated and adapted to indigenous cultures until they lost most of their original content.
Claims of early Hindu contacts farther east are more doubtful. There is little evidence of direct
influence of Hinduism on China or Japan, which were primarily affected by Buddhism.
Questions of influence on the Mediterranean world
There is no clear evidence to attest to the influence of Hinduism in the ancient Mediterranean
world. The Greek philosopher Pythagoras (c. 580–c. 500 BCE) may have obtained his doctrine
of metempsychosis (transmigration, or passage of the soul from one body to
another; see reincarnation) from India, mediated by Achaemenian (6th–4th century BCE) Persia,
but similar ideas were known in Egypt and were certainly present in Greece before the time of
Pythagoras. The Pythagorean doctrine of a cyclic universe may also be derived from India, but
the Indian theory of cosmic cycles is not attested in the 6th century BCE.
It is known that Hindu ascetics occasionally visited Greece. Furthermore, Greece and India
conducted not only trade but also cultural, educational, and philosophical exchanges. The most
striking similarity between Greek and Indian thought is the resemblance between the system of
mystical gnosis (esoteric knowledge) described in the Enneads of the Neoplatonic
philosopher Plotinus (205–270) and that of the Yoga-sutra attributed to Patanjali, an Indian
religious teacher sometimes dated in the 2nd century CE. The Patanjali text is the older, and
influence is probable, though the problem of mediation remains difficult because Plotinus gives
no direct evidence of having known anything about Indian mysticism. Several Greek and Latin
writers (an example of the former being Clement of Alexandria) show considerable knowledge
of the externals of Indian religions, but none gives any intimation of understanding their
more recondite aspects.
The rise of devotional Hinduism (4th–11th century)
24
The medieval period was characterized by the growth of new devotional religious movements
centred on hymnodists who taught in the popular languages of the time. The new movements
probably began with the appearance of hymns in Tamil associated with two groups of poets:
the Nayanars, worshipers of Shiva, and the Alvars, devotees of Vishnu. The oldest of these date
from the early 7th century, though passages of devotional character can be found in earlier Tamil
literature.
The term bhakti, in the sense of devotion to a personal god, appears in the Bhagavadgita and the
Shvetashvatara Upanishad. In these early sources it represents a devotion still somewhat
restrained and unemotional. The new form of bhakti, associated with singing in the languages of
the common people, was highly charged with emotion and mystical fervour, and the relationship
between worshiper and divinity was often described as analogous to that between lover and
beloved. The Tamil saints, south Indian devotees of Vishnu or Shiva from the 6th to the 9th
century, felt an intense love (Tamil: anbu) toward their god. They experienced overwhelming joy
in his presence and deep sorrow when he did not reveal himself. Some of them felt a profound
sense of guilt or inadequacy in the face of the divine. In Tamil poems the supreme being is
addressed as a lover, a parent, or a master. The poets traveled to many temples, many of them
located in southern India, singing the praises of the enshrined deity. The poems have a
strong ethical content and encourage the virtues of love, humility, and brotherhood. The ideas of
these poets, spreading northward, probably were the origin of bhakti in northern India.
The devotional cults further weakened Buddhism, which had long been on the decline. The
philosophers Kumarila and Shankara were strongly opposed to Buddhism. In their journeys
throughout India, their biographies claim, they vehemently debated with Buddhists and tried to
persuade kings and other influential people to withdraw their support from Buddhist monasteries.
Only in Bihar and Bengal, because of the patronage of the Pala dynasty and some lesser kings
and chiefs, did Buddhist monasteries continue to flourish. Buddhism in eastern India, however,
was well on the way to being absorbed into Hinduism when the Muslims invaded the Ganges
valley in the 12th century. The great Buddhist shrine of Bodh Gaya, the site of the Buddha’s
enlightenment, became a Hindu temple and remained as such until recent times.
At the end of its existence in India, Buddhism exhibited certain philosophical and
cultural affinities with Hinduism. Among the Buddhist Tantrists appeared a new school of
preachers, often known as Siddhas (“Those Who Have Achieved”), who sang their verses in the
contemporary languages—early Maithili and Bengali. They taught that giving up the world was
not necessary for release from transmigration and that one could achieve the highest state by
living a life of simplicity in one’s own home. This system, known as Sahajayana (“Vehicle of the
Natural” or “Easy Vehicle”), influenced both Bengali devotional Vaishnavism, which produced a
sect called Vaishnava-Sahajiya with similar doctrines, and the Natha yogis (mentioned below),
whose teachings influenced Kabir and other later bhakti masters.
25
PART I
Vaikunth
26
CHAPTER II
The Abode of the Gods
tā vāṁ vāstūny uśmasi gamadhyai
yatra gāvo bhūri-śṛṅgā ayāsaḥ
atrāha tad urugāyasya vṛṣṇaḥ
paramaṁ padam avabhāti bhūri
Ṛig Veda 1.154.6:
“We wish to go to your beautiful home O Radha and Krishna, around which cows with large, excellent
horns are wandering. Yet distinctly shining on this earth is that supreme abode of Yours that showers joy
on all, O Urugaya -Kṛṣṇa, who is much praised.”
The Rigveda states:
tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ
(The gods are always looking to that supreme abode of Lord Vishnu) referring to Vaikuntha.
27
The Abode of the Gods was never EARTH, It wsas VAIKUNTH or Heaven. The Gods Visited earth time
and again but lived up there in the Heavens. There are two places where Gods reside: The Golaka and the
Vaikuntha. Param dham which means the abode of the supreme one could mean any of the two depending
on the context. It is the supreme abode which may be referring to the spiritual world in general or it may
be referring to Goloka in particular. Goloka is situated within Vaikuntha, but often Vaikuntha is used to
refer to the planets on which Narayana resides with Laxmi Devi in His four-armed form, and Goloka is
where Krishna resides in His two-armed form with Radha. According to the sage Jagadacharya Ramanuja
of Sri Vaishanva sampradaya, param dham is only Vaikuntham not karya vaikuntham where
kshirabdhinatha (Sriman Narayana reclining on adi shesha) is present but parama padam vaikuntham
where para vasudevan is present.
Even madhvacharya and adi Shankaracharya believed parama padam or param dham is only Vaikuntham.
Goloka is an iskcon concept arising out of the translations of Sri Prabhupada, Founder of ISKCON
devotees.
Residence of the soul: The soul, it is said, upon our death escapes from sushumna nadi inside our heart
and from top of the head escapes the body travels at the speed of light and attains Vaikuntham.
But some believe that goloka and vaikuntham are same.
It really depends whom you are asking the question.
1. For Maha Vishnu devotees Param Dham is Vaikuntha
2. For Krishna devotees Param Dham is Goloka
3. For Shiva devotees Param Dham is Mount Kailash
4. For Brahma devotees Param Dham is Brahmaloka on Mount Meru
5. For Indra devotees Param Dham is Swargaloka
6. For Swaminarayan devotees Param Dham is Akshar Dham
7. For Yama devotees Param Dham is Naraka
Vaikuntha: It is the name of spiritual world within which there is a small portion of material world called
‘Mahat tattva’. Therefore, the entire space can be divided into two type of world, one is spiritual world
named as 'Vaikuntha' with billions and trillions of spiritual planets and another one is material world
named as 'Mahat tattva' with billions and trillions of universes. The entire existence of space is a
'Vaikuntha'. Vaikuntha is not a planet.
Material world is a small part of spiritual world. The capital planet or prime planet of Vaikuntha is
‘Goloka Vrindavan’ and the capital planet of each material universe is the satyaloka of that particular
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universe where Brahma of each universe resides. The size of the whole material world is one fourth of the
spiritual world. The total population of the material world is one tenth of the spiritual world. In Vaikuntha
the living entities are sat-cid-ananda (eternal-intelligent and blissful) while in material world called
'Mahat tattva' living entities are asat-acid-nirananda (temporary-foolish and sorrowful). Any living entity
once reached in Viakuntha does not come back to this material world again.
All of these are varying types of Moksha- attainments by the soul after death:
1. Salokya - Attaining the world of the deity. For example, Shiva has so many ganas in Kailasa.
Being one among them can count as salokya.
2. Sameepya - Attaining proximity to the deity. For instance, garuda, adisesha, lakshmi share
proximity to Lord Vishnu in different ways. One serves the Lord with various kinds of
emotions, with the attitude of love, service, et al and maintains close proximity.
3. Saarupya - Attaining the form of the deity. For instance, there are eleven Rudras who are all
forms of Mahadeva. Becoming a Rudra in this case means attaining Saarupya mukti of
Mahadeva.
4. Saayujya - Absolute oneness with the deity. It denotes being the deity in all its complete
essence.
Some believe that each of these kinds of moksha is higher than the preceding one but according to Lord
Dattatreya's words in Sreepadavallabha Charithamrutham, these are only minor differences of the same
state of existence that become evident solely based on the mental attitude of the aspirant. Even after
attaining the highest and experiencing the state of brahmam, some like Prahlada and Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa consciously choose to preserve the state of duality to retain the bliss of serving the Lord in
their chosen form.
Moksh or liberation from the shackles of birth and death is the goal of every being. The
Mahamrtiyunjaya mantra is praying for that state of permanent settlement in immortality (
amritatwa) after crossing the chains of birth and death. Yajurveda also tells the same thing अविद्यया मृत्युंतीर्त्ाा विद्यया अमृतमश्नयते । ( यजयिेद ४०/ १४)
-May we cross the barriers of death by knowledge and stay for ever in immortality by selfrealization.
This is Gyan marg, the path of knowledge.
But the Bhakti marg, the path of devotion has some additions to it. According to the devotees,
the worship and devotion of the Supreme Godhood is the right objective. If the individual soul is
only merging into the cosmic one, what is left for it to enjoy or be happy with? It has been
29
therefore said that the devotees decline the peace and tranquility of becoming one with God.
They want to remain in duality so that they are in eternal grace and compassion of the Almighty.
Great Gyani and gurus have only sought these boons from incarnations like Rama and Krishna.
Baikunth is the eternal place of Vishnu, Golok of Krishna and Saket of Rama. A devotee worshipping any
of these as his 'ishtdev' is destined to reach their abode at the completion of his worldly sojourn.
According to these devotees these gods are Sureme Brahm and are Saguna as well as Nirguna - '
Vishishthadwait'.
Attaining Moksha is like taking a seed and frying it with heat.
Attaining Vaikunta is like drying a seed in Sunlight.
In first case, the seed is no more useful for plantation. In second case, though the seed looks dry
and dead, when it is planted and watered - a plant will sprout from it.
In Moksha - no more cycles of birth & death.
In Vaikunta - though looks moksha temporarily, but has to go re-birth again after a time.
Realization of God is just a feeling. It’s happens with analysis of one’s own life, nature and
around.
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"Parama padam" with Vishnu,
Goloka Vrindavana is mentioned in the various vedic scriptures. Let us look into few of the following
In this way, the Rig Veda describes the paramam padam of Lord Vishnu as Golaka Vrndavana.
The Goloka is also mentioned in Harivamsa, Vishnu parva, chapter 19 as follows: (Indra says as
follows)
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apAmadhastAlloko vai tasyopari mahIdharAH |
nAgAnAmupariShTAdbhUH pR^ithivyupari mAnuShAH ||2-19-26
Water is at the lowest level. Above water, there are mountains. Earth is on mountains and people live on
earth.
manuShyalokAdUrdhvaM tu khagANAM gatiruchyate |
AkAshasyopari ravirdvAraM svargasya bhAnumAn ||2-19-27
The world of birds (sky) is above the world of people. Above the sky is the sun. The rays of the sun are
the entrance to the heaven.
devalokaH parastasmAdvimAnagamano mahAn |
yatrAhaM kR^iShNa devAnAmaindre vinihitaH pade ||2-19-28
Above this, is the great world of demigods, which can be reached by vimana. Oh Lord Krishna, I am
installed there at the position of Indra among devas.
svargAdUrdhvaM brahmaloko brahmarShigaNasevitaH |
tatra somagatishchaiva jyotiShAM cha mahAtmanAm ||2-19-29
Above heaven, is the world of Lord Brahma, served by the group of brahmarshis. The moon and the
planets move there.
tasyopari gavAM lokaH sAdhyAstaM pAlayanti hi |
sa hi sarvagataH kR^iShNa mahAkAshagato mahAn ||2-19-30
Above this, is the goloka, governed by sadhyas. That great world of Lord Krishna, pervades the great sky
all over,it is above all the worlds.
uparyupari tatrApi gatistava tapomayI |
yAM na vidmo vayaM sarve pR^ichChanto.api pitAmaham ||2-19-31
Over and above all is this world of your penance. Even after asking Pitamaha (Lord Brahma), we are
unable to understand that world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Brahma Vaivarta purana ,prakriti khanda,chapter 54.15–16 also states as follows:
urdhvam vaikunta loka ca pancasata koti yojanat
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goloka vartulakaro varistha sa sarvalokatah
" The highest abode of Goloka is situated fifty crore yojanas(1 yojana-8km) above the abode of
Vaikuntha. It is the best of all the places."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Further ,the superior position of Goloka vrndavana is also described in Brahma vaivarta purana, Krsna
janma khanda,chapter 4.188 as follows:
brahmanda bahir urdhvam ca na asti lokasta urdhvakah
urdhvam sunyamayam sarvam tadanta srstir eva ca
" This abode of Goloka is situated outside the Brahmanda(universe).It is the topmost abode.There is no
other abode higher than this. Beyond this,nothing exist, only void remains(infinite emptiness and
darkness). Indeed,this Goloka is the end of all the creation."
Brihat Brahma samhita 3.1.122,one of the important pancaratra samhita also says as follows:
urdhvam tu sarvalokebhyo goloke prakriteh pare
“The abode of Goloka is situated above all the places. It is completely beyond matter(transcendental)."
Vayu Purana 104.52–55 also describes the supreme abode of Goloka, wherein Lord Krishna and Devi
Radha resides eternally. It is stated as follows:
radhavilasa rasikam krsna akhyam purusam param
shrutvan asti vedebhyo yatas tat gocaro abhavat
evam brahmani cinmatre nirgune bhedavarjite
goloka sangyake krsno divyatiti srutam maya
goloka vasi bhagavan aksarat parah ucyate
“ Lord Krishna, who is the lover of Srimati Radha is the supreme purusha described in the vedas. By him,
all this world is manifested. He indeed is the Non dual Nirguna Brahman described by the vedas, who
resides in the eternal abode of Goloka. “
Brahmanda purana 2.3.22 also mentions about Goloka as the Lord Krishna's abode.
Vasudeva Mahatmya of Skanda Purana also mention the abode of Goloka.
Thus the abode of Goloka is described variously in the Vedic scriptures. Above statements from the
puranas ,pancaratra and Mahabharata is consistent with the statements of the Vedas (tad visnoh paramam
padam).
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Golak in in Valmiki Ramayana.
दे िगन्धिागोलोकान् ब्रह्मलोकम् तथापरान् |
प्राप्नयिन्ति महात्मानो मातावपतृपरायणााः || २-३०-३७
"High souled men, wholly devoted to their parents obtain the regions of gods and the gandharvas, the
seventh heaven presided the gandharvas, the seventh heaven presided by Brahma (the creator) and Goloka
(the highest heaven abiding in cows and presided over by Sri Radha and Sri Krishna the first couple). Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand.
The celestial abode of Vishnu - the principal deity of the Universes and known to be Godhead. Vaikuntha
is an abode presided over on high exclusively by him, accompanied always by his feminine partner,
consort and goddess Lakshmi, According to Ramanuja, Parama padam or Nitya Vibhuti is an eternal
heavenly realm and is the divine imperishable world that is the God's abode. It is the highest state beyond
all worlds and nothing else beyond it. It is guarded by the twin deities, Jaya and Vijaya (guardians of
Vishnu's realm).
The Vaikuṇṭha planets begin 26,200,000 yojanas (209,600,000 miles) above SatyalokaIn most of the
extant Puranas and Vaishnava traditions, Vaikuntha is located in the direction of the Makara Rashi which
coincides with the constellation of Capricorn. One version of the cosmology states that Vishnu's eye is at
the South Celestial Pole from where he watches the cosmos.[6]
Bhagavata Purana
In the Bhagavata, the text speaks of Vaikuntha, adorable to all the worlds (X.12.26), as the highest realm
where Vishnu resides (XII.24.14). This, too, is the highest region (IV.12.26); beyond the world of
darkness and samsāra (the cycle of birth and death) (IV.24.29; X.88.25); the destination of those who
have transcended the three Gunas even while they are still alive (XI.25.22); and beyond which there is no
higher place (II.2.18, II.9.9). The peaceful ascetics who reach that place never return (IV.9.29; X.88.25-
Picture of Vaikunda 34
Spiritual bodies: The residents of Vaikuntha do not have material bodies, but have pure forms
(VII.1.34). These forms are like that of Vishnu (III.15.14ff.), also known as Narayana. Vishnu/Narayana
resides in Vaikuntha with Sri, the goddess of fortune, in palaces with crystal walls. The parks there shine
like final liberation itself, and contain wish-fulfilling trees, which blossom all the year round. There are
fragrant winds, and creepers dripping with honey near bodies of water. Cries of exotic birds mingle with
the humming of bees, and magnificent flowers bloom everywhere. Devotees of Vishnu along with their
beautiful wives travel in aerial vehicles made of jewels, emeralds and gold, but the beautiful smiling
residents of this realm cannot distract the minds of the opposite sex, since everyone is absorbed in
Krishna (III.15.14-25).
The Lord, being thus very much satisfied with the penance of Lord Brahma, was pleased to manifest His
personal abode, Vaikuntha, the supreme planet above all others. This transcendental abode of the Lord is
adored by all self-realized persons freed from all kinds of miseries and fear of illusory existence. (BP
2.9.9)
Dispassionate existence: In that personal abode of the Lord, the material modes of ignorance and passion
do not prevail, nor is there any of their influence in goodness. There is no predominance of the influence
of time, so what to speak of the illusory, external energy; it cannot enter that region. Without
discrimination, both the demigods and the demons worship the Supreme Lord as devotees. (BP 2.9.10)
Inhabitants: The inhabitants of the Vaikuntha planets are described as having a glowing sky-bluish
complexion. Their eyes resemble lotus flowers, their dress is of yellowish color, and their bodily features
very attractive. They are just the age of growing youths, they all have four hands, they are all nicely
decorated with pearl necklaces with ornamental medallions, and they all appear to be effulgent. (BP
2.9.11) Some of them are effulgent like coral and diamonds in complexion and have garlands on their
heads, blooming like lotus flowers, and some wear earrings. (BP 2.9.12) The living entities in spiritual
world are in their actual eternal form, in other words they are immortal. Further, they are full of
knowledge and bliss. They know that each & every living being is part of same God & they live
peacefully together.
The extraordinary atmosphere of spiritual world is such that the trees as well as many non-living things
are conscious there. It is described that the soil of spiritual world is made of wish-stone, the trees are
wish-fulfilling trees, the words are songs and each step is a dance there. It is the ultimate concept of
afterlife that is found in Hinduism.
Vimana: The Vaikuntha planets are also surrounded by various airplanes, all glowing and brilliantly
situated. These airplanes belong to the great mahatmas or devotees of the Lord. The ladies are as beautiful
as lightning because of their celestial complexions, and all these combined together appear just like the
sky decorated with both clouds and lightning. (BP 2.9.13)
The goddess of fortune, Lakshmi in her transcendental form is engaged in the loving service of the Lord's
lotus feet, and being moved by the black bees, followers of spring, she is not only engaged in variegated
35
pleasure—service to the Lord, along with her constant companions—but is also engaged in singing the
glories of the Lord's activities. (BP 2.9.14)
Lord Brahma saw in the Vaikuntha, Narayana, who is the Lord of the entire devotee community, the Lord
of the goddess of fortune, the Lord of all sacrifices, and the Lord of the universe, and who is served by the
foremost servitors like Nanda, Sunanda, Prabala and Arhana, His immediate associates. (BP 2.9.15)
The Lord, seen leaning favorably towards His loving servitors, His very sight intoxicating and attractive,
appeared to be very much satisfied. He had a smiling face decorated with an enchanting reddish hue. He
was dressed in yellow robes and wore earrings and a helmet on his head. He had four hands, and His chest
was marked with the lines of the goddess of fortune. (BP 2.9.16)
The Lord was seated on His throne and was surrounded by different energies like the four, the sixteen, the
five, and the six natural opulence, along with other insignificant energies of the temporary character. But
He was the factual Supreme Lord, enjoying his own abode. (BP 2.9.17) The literal meaning of the word
Vaikuntha can be understood by dissecting the word itself. Vaikuntha can be divided into Vai (meaning
without) & Kuntha (meaning anxiety). Thus, Vaikuntha means a place where there is no anxiety.
Now the concept of Vaikuntha is generally associated with Lord Vishnu in Hinduism. It is believed that
Vaikuntha is the realm where Lord Vishnu resides. There are detailed descriptions of the wonderful realm
called Vaikuntha & the religious Hindus aspire to go there. The Swarg (heaven) on the other hand is a
temporary concept in Hinduism & is not recommended as final resting place in our scriptures. In other
words, one remains in the cycle of birth & death, even after attaining Swarg.1
Vaikuntha
36
One of the most widespread misconception amongst Hindus is that Swarg & Vaikuntha are one and the
same. Some people believe that Swarg is the desired realm of afterlife as per Vedic scriptures. But the
Swarg is place within the realm of time & its residents are mortal. The only difference between Swarg &
Bhulok (Earthly realm) is that the duration of life is very long in Swarg & the residents have many
enjoyment facilities.
The Vaikuntha, on the other hand, is beyond time. It is part of the spiritual world, with many other
timeless realms like Ayodhya, Goloka & Navadvip. Different Avatars reside eternally in those extra
dimensional realms with their devotees & devotees participate in their pastimes.
Spiritual world is the place where liberated beings go. Within it there are Vaikuntha planets, Ayodhya,
Goloka, Navadvip and many other realms. Sometimes the term Vaikuntha is used for the entire spiritual
world & sometimes specifically for the planets where Lord Narayana rules. In such transcendental realms
the living entities have higher level of existence.
Did the purity of Ram make Ayodhya a Vaikunth on earth?
37
Navadvip
The living entities in spiritual world are in their actual eternal form, in other words they are immortal.
Further, they are full of knowledge and bliss. They know that each & every living being is part of same
God & they live peacefully together.
The extraordinary atmosphere of spiritual world is such that the trees as well as many non-living things
are conscious there. It is described that the soil of spiritual world is made of wish-stone, the trees are
wish-fullfilling trees, the words are songs and each step is a dance there. It is the ultimate concept of
afterlife that is found in Hinduism.
REFERENCE
1. The Vedic Core of Human History: And Truth Will Be the Savior, M. K.
Agarwal,IUniverse,1996
38
The Vimana or aerial flight vehicle awaiting its rider in Vaikuntha
39
PART II
Hindu cosmology
40
CHAPTER III
It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, using ... The
specific process is left to the devotee's school of belief. ... Ancient builders of
Hindu temples created manuals of architecture, called Vastu-SastraHindu
mythology provides several accounts of how exactly the creation of the universe took place. The highest
deities were oblivious to their own presence before the existence of time itself. Before creation, there was
no time, no heaven or earth, or space in between. There was only the dark ocean that washed into the
shores of nothingness.
The enunciation of a sacred sound, om (aum).Ancient Hindu scriptures state that the ultimate reality
(Brahman) has three main functions seen in the trinity of gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. That is why
we can see images where the heads of the trinity are merged together into a single body called the
Trimurti. In the Trimurti, Brahma is the creator of everything, Vishnu is the preserver of nature, and
Shiva is the ultimate destroyer who brings about change whenever it becomes necessary.
Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being;
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;
Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not;
41
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,
Only He knows, or perhaps He does not know.
— Rigveda 10:129-6
AGE OF UNIVERSE
An Article on Astrophysics and Vedic Jyotir vidya on Conflicting Theories. You may not
understand well if you don’t have the basic knowledge on Astronomy.Conclusions on The age of
the universe as per ancient Veda is included here.We are presently in a “golden age” of
cosmological discoveries. In 2015, India successfully launched it’s first hitech telescope
named #ASTROSAT.
.
42
ASTROSAT is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. ASTROSAT
observes universe in the optical, Ultraviolet, low and high energy X-Ray regions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. One of the objective for ASTROSAT is to find the age of universe
just like the HubbleTelescope.
There are various estimates on current age of universe.
The current estimate for age of the universe as per Hubble Telescope is 13.7 billion years, as per
Einstein the age could be anywhere between 10-20 billion years. The age of our earth is given
13.75 billion years and moon 4.54 billion years and via traditional Vedic calculation 100 years of
Brahma is 155 trillion years of which 77.79 trillion has already passed. In this vast age gap, an
approximate various creation period of universe, human, planets etc is yet be identified and the
existence of GreatGalacticWalls that took from 80 billion to 250 billion years to form, do not
support the Big Bang theory.
.
LARGE SCALE STRUCTURES IN UNIVERSE :
In recent years, there have been a number of very serious challenges to the current theory of
cosmic evolution and the belief the universe began just 13.7 billion years ago. These include the
observation of large chains of galaxies spread throughout the universe forming gargantuan stellar
structures separated by vast voids. The system of galactic Super Clusters forms a network
permeating throughout the space, on which about 90% of the galaxies are located.
.
The existence of these “Superclusters”, “Great Walls” and “Great Attractors” could have only
come to be organized and situated in their present locations and to have achieved their current
size, in a universe which is at least 80 billion to 250 billion years in age. The largest
superclusters. e.g., “Coma”, extend up to 100 Mpc!
In 1986, Brent Tully of the University of Hawaii reported detecting Super Clusters of galaxies
300 million light years (mly) long and 100 mly thick – stretching out about 300 mly across. At
the speeds at which galaxies are supposed to be moving, it would require 80 billion years to
create such a huge complex of galaxies (Tully 1986).
.
In 1989, a group lead by John Huchra and Margaret J. Geller at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics discovered “The Great Wall”- a series of galaxies, lined up and creating a
“wall” of galaxies 500 million light years (mly) long, 200 mly wide, and 15 mly thick. This
superstructure would have required at least 100 billion years to form.
A team of the British, American, and Hungarian astronomers have reported even larger
structures. As per their findings, the universe is crossed by at least 13 ‘Great Walls’, apparent
rivers of galaxies 100 Mpc long in the surveyed domain of 7 billion light years. They found
galaxies clustered into bands spaced about 600 million light years apart. The pattern of these
clusters stretches across about one-fourth of the diameter of the universe, or about seven billion
light years. This huge shell and void pattern would have required nearly 150 billion years to
form, based on their speed of movement, if produced by the standard Big Bang cosmology
(Lerner 1990).
.
The “Sloan Great Wall” of galaxies, as detected by the Sloan Digital Survey, has earned the
distinction of being the largest observed structure in the Universe (Richard et al. 2005). It is 1.36
billion light years long and 80% longer than the Great Wall discovered by Geller and Huchra. It
43
runs roughly from the head of Hydra to the feet of Virgo. It would have taken at least 250 billion
years to form, if produced following a “Big Bang” creation event.
.
As summarized by Van Flandern (2002), “The average speed of galaxies through space is a wellmeasured quantity. At those speeds, galaxies would require roughly the age of the universe to
assemble into the largest structures (superclusters and walls) we see in space, and to clear all the
voids between galaxy walls. But this assumes that the initial directions of motion are special,
e.g., directed away from the centers of voids. To get around this problem, one must propose that
galaxy speeds were initially much higher and have slowed due to some sort of “viscosity” of
space. To form these structures by building up the needed motions through gravitational
acceleration alone would take in excess of 100 billion years.”
In July 2003, the oldest planet yet was discovered, a huge gaseous object equivalent to 2.5 times
the size of Jupiter whose origin dates back to about 13 billion years. This ancient planet was
located by the Hubble Space the Telescope near the core of the ancient globular cluster M – 4
located some 7,200 light years away in the northern – summer constellation of Scorpius (Hansen
et al. 2003). This discovery challenged a widely held view among astrophysicists that planets
could not have originated so early because the Universe had yet to generate heavy elements
needed to make them.
.
Planet-making ingredients include iron, silicon and other elements heavier than helium and
hydrogen. These so-called metallic elements are cooked in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and
accumulate from the ashes of dying stars (supernovae), which are recycled in new stars and their
families of planets (Joseph and Schild 2010).
.
Planets 13 billion years in age, nearby galaxies 13.6 billion years in age, distant galaxies billions
of years older than the supposed Big Bang, and the existence of #GreatGalacticWalls that took
from 80 billion to 250 billion years to form, do not support the Big Bang theory.
44
Chapter IV
Hindu cosmology
Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time,
physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts.
All matter is based on three inert gunas (qualities or tendencies):
sattva (goodness)
rajas (passion)
tamas (darkness)
There are three states of the gunas that make up all matter in the universe:
pradhana (root matter): gunas in an unmixed and unmanifested state (equilibrium).
prakriti (primal matter): gunas in a mixed and unmanifested state (agitated).
mahat-tattva (matter or universal womb): gunas in a mixed and manifested state.
Pradhana, which has no consciousness or will to act on its own, is initially agitated by a primal
desire to create. The different schools of thought differ in understanding about the ultimate
source of that desire and what the gunas are mixed with (eternal elements, time, jiva-atmas).
The manifest material elements (matter) range from the most subtle to the most physical (gross).
These material elements cover the individual, spiritual jiva-atmas (embodied souls), allowing
them to interact with the material sense objects, such as their temporary material bodies, other
conscious bodies, and unconscious objects.
Manifested subtle elements:
ahamkara (ego)
buddhi (intelligence)
citta (mind)
Manifested physical (gross) elements (a.k.a. pancha bhoota or 5 great elements) and their
associated senses and sense organs that manifest:
space/ether > sound > ear
air > smell > nose
fire > sight/form > eye
water > taste > tongue
earth > touch > skin
Kala, Kalpa, Manvantara, Yuga Cycle, and Hindu units of time
Time is infinite with a cyclic universe, where the current universe was preceded and will be
followed by an infinite number of universes. The different states of matter are guided by
eternal kala (time), which repeats general events ranging from a moment to the lifespan of the
universe, which is cyclically created and destroyed.
45
The earliest mentions of cosmic cycles in Sanskrit literature are found in the Yuga Purana (c. 1st
century BCE), the Mahabharata (c. 3rd century BCE – 4th century CE), and
the Manusmriti (c. 2nd – 3rd centuries CE). In the Mahabharata, there are inconsistent names
applied to the cycle of creation and destruction, a name theorized as still being formulated,
where yuga (generally, an age of time) and kalpa (a day of Brahma) are used, or a day of
the Brahman or of Brahma, the creator god, or simply referred to as the process of creation and
destruction, with kalpa and day of Brahma becoming more prominent in later writings.
Prakriti (primal matter) remains mixed for a maha-kalpa (life of Brahma) of 311.04 trillion
years, and is followed by a maha-pralaya (great dissolution) of equal length. The universe
(matter) remains manifested for a kalpa (day of Brahma) of 4.32 billion years, where the
universe is created at the start and destroyed at the end, only to be recreated at the start of the
next kalpa. A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (partial dissolution, a.k.a. night of Brahma) of equal
length, when Brahma and the universe are in an unmanifested state. Each kalpa has
15 manvantara-sandhyas (junctures of great flooding) and 14 manvantaras (age of Manu,
progenitor of mankind), with each manvantara lasting for 306.72 million years. Each kalpa has
1,000 and each manvantara has 71 chatur-yugas (epoch, a.k.a. maha-yuga), with each chaturyuga lasting for 4.32 million years and divided into four yugas (dharmic ages): Satya
Yuga (1,728,000 years), Treta Yuga (1,296,000 years), Dvapara Yuga (864,000 years), and Kali
Yuga (432,000 years), of which we are currently in Kali Yuga.
LIFE or Jiva, Maya, Karma in Hinduism, Saṃsāra, and Moksha
The individual, spiritual jiva-atma (embodied soul) is the life force or consciousness within a
living entity. The jivas are not created, and are distinctly different from the created unconscious
matter. The gunas in their manifest state of matter, cover the jivas in various ways based on
each jiva's karma and impressions. This material covering of matter allows the jivas to interact
with the material sense objects that make up the material universe, such as their temporary
material bodies, other conscious bodies, and unconscious objects.
The material creation is called maya ("that which is not") due to its impermanent (non-eternal),
temporary nature of sometimes being manifest and sometimes not. It has been compared to a
dream or virtual reality, where the viewer (jiva) has real experiences with objects that will
eventually become unreal.
Through these interactions, a jiva starts to identify the temporary material body as the true self,
and in this way becomes influenced and bound by maya perpetually in a conscious state
of nescience (ignorance, unawareness, forgetfulness). This conscious state of nescience leads
to samsara (cycle of reincarnation), only to end for a jiva when moksha (liberation) is achieved
through self-realization or remembrance of one's true spiritual self/nature.
The different schools of thought differ in understanding about the initial event that led to
the jivas entering the material creation and the ultimate state of moksha.
Loka or creation
According to Richard L. Thompson, the Bhagavata Purana presents a geocentric model of
our Brahmanda (cosmic egg or universe), where our Bhu-mandala disk, equal in diameter to our
Brahmanda, has a diameter of 500 million yojanas (trad. 8 miles each), which equals around 4
billion miles or more, a size far too small for the universe of stars and galaxies, but in the right
range for our solar system. In addition, the Bhagavata Purana and other Puranas speak of a
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multiplicity of universes, or Brahmandas, each covered by seven-fold layers with an aggregate
thickness of over ten million times its diameter (5x1015 yojanas ≈ 6,804+ light-years in
diameter). The Jyotisha Shastras, Surya Siddhanta, and Siddhānta Shiromani give the
Brahmanda an enlarged radius of about 5,000 light years. Finally, the Mahabharata refers to
stars as large, self-luminous objects that seem small because of their great distance, and that our
Sun and Moon cannot be seen if one travels to those distant stars. Thompson notes that Bhumandala can be interpreted as a map of the geocentric orbits of the sun and the five planets,
Mercury through Saturn, and this map becomes highly accurate if we adjust the length of
the yojana to about 8.5 miles.
Brahma, the first born and secondary creator, during the start of his kalpa, divides
the Brahmanda (cosmic egg or universe), first into three, later into fourteen lokas (planes or
realms)—sometimes grouped into heavenly, earthly and hellish planes—and creates the first
living entities to multiply and fill the universe. Some Puranas describe innumerable universes
existing simultaneously with different sizes and Brahmas, each manifesting and unmanifesting at
the same time.
Rigveda on creation
The Rigveda presents many speculative theories of cosmology. For example:
Hiranyagarbha sukta, its hymn 10.121, states a golden child was born in the universe and
was the lord, established earth and heaven, then asks but who is the god to whom we shall
offer the sacrificial prayers?
Devi sukta, its hymn 10.125, states a goddess is all, the creator, the created universe, the
feeder and the lover of the universe;
Nasadiya sukta, its hymn 10.129, asks who created the universe, does anyone really know,
and whether it can ever be known.
According to Henry White Wallis, the Rigveda and other Vedic texts are full of alternative
cosmological theories and curiosity questions. For example, the hymn 1.24 of the Rigveda asks,
"these stars, which are set on high, and appear at night, whither do they go in the daytime?" and
hymn 10.88 wonders, "how many fires are there, how many suns, how many dawns, how many
waters? I am not posing an awkward question for you fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?"
To its numerous open-ended questions, the Vedic texts present a diversity of thought, in verses
imbued with symbols and allegory, where in some cases forces and agencies are clothed with a
distinct personality, while in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic activity such
as forms of mythical sacrifices.
The Rigveda contains the Nasadiya sukta hymn which does not offer a cosmological theory, but
asks cosmological questions about the nature of the universe and how it began:
Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being;
Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
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Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?
Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;
Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not;
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,
Only He knows, or perhaps He does not know.
— Rigveda 10:129-6
Three lokas
Deborah Soifer describes the development of the concept of lokas as follows:
The concept of a loka or lokas develops in the Vedic literature. Influenced by the special
connotations that a word for space might have for a nomadic people, loka in the Veda did not
simply mean place or world, but had a positive valuation: it was a place or position of religious
or psychological interest with a special value of function of its own. Hence, inherent in the 'loka'
concept in the earliest literature was a double aspect; that is, coexistent with spatiality was a
religious or soteriological meaning, which could exist independent of a spatial notion, an
'immaterial' significance. The most common cosmological conception of lokas in the Veda was
that of the trailokya or triple world: three worlds consisting of earth, atmosphere or sky, and
heaven, making up the universe.
— Deborah A. Soiver
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Fourteen lokas
In the Brahmanda Purana, as well as Bhagavata Purana (2.5), fourteen lokas (planes) are
described, consist of seven higher (Vyahrtis) and seven lower (Patalas) lokas.
1. Satya-loka (Brahma-loka)
2. Tapa-loka
3. Jana-loka
4. Mahar-loka
5. Svar-loka (Svarga-loka or Indra-loka)
6. Bhuvar-loka (Sun/Moon plane)
7. Bhu-loka (Earth plane)
8. Atala-loka
9. Vitala-loka
10. Sutala-loka
11. Talatala-loka
12. Mahatala-loka
13. Rasatala-loka
14. Patala-loka
However, other Puranas give different version of this cosmology and associated myths. The
Puranas genre of Indian literature, found in Hinduism and Jainism, contain a section on
cosmology and cosmogony as a requirement. There are dozens of different Mahapuranas and
Upapuranas, each with its own theory integrated into a proposed human history consisting of
solar and lunar dynasties. Some are similar to Indo-European creation myths, while others are
novel. One cosmology, shared by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts involves Mount Meru, with
stars and sun moving around it using Dhruva (North Star) as the focal reference. According to
Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, the diversity of cosmology theories in Hinduism may reflect
its tendency to not reject new ideas and empirical observations as they became available, but to
adapt and integrate them creatively.
According to Hindu mythology, our soul takes birth in different worlds (realms) based on
the Law of Karma. The actions you do from the time you are born in any world to the time you
die, your soul carries information, experience, learnings, and evolve based on that, vibrating at a
certain frequency. Your soul’s frequency will match one of the realms where you will be born.
Please note, I have over simplified things even in calculations as the complexity is too difficult to
cover here.
The 14 realms are:
Realm of God:
1. Satya Loka (infinite existence, universe himself) - The top of the universe. The creator
lives here. Vibrates at the highest frequency to anything that will be ever known.
Longevity - 311 trillion human years (100 creator years). His current age is 50 years
1st day which is 155.5 trillion human years which is the current age of our universe.
God Level: 100%
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2. Tapa Loka (infinite consciousness, universal presence)- 2nd highest part of the
universe. The beings who live here sometimes act as the bridge to connect the universe
and sometimes act as a part of the creator itself.
Longevity - from time of reaching this realm till the time creator exists.
God Level: Between 1%–99%
3. Jana Loka (infinite delight, observable universe presence)- The beings here have all
the knowledge about every realm that exists above and below them, knows about
existence itself and the universe combined, but still curious to learn more. They can
travel anywhere in the universe at the speed of thought. They don’t even need a
physical/any form to exist. They are more than awareness and lost in the beauty of
existence.
Longevity - till creator exists.
Lifespan - 3.11 trillion years.
God Level: 1%
Realm of Heaven:
1. Mahar Loka (finite existence, start/reset : inter-galactic presence)- The world of
greatest saints. They are the powerhouse of galaxy which makes the galaxy/local-group
to exist. They are instincts of the heaven. They fully understand the concept of one
single soul called Brahman.
Longevity - 3.11 trillion years.
Lifespan - avg 4.32 billion years.
God Level: 10^(-5)%
2. Svar Loka (finite consciousness, start/reset : galactic presence)- This is the place
which is described as heaven in all religious textbooks. The beings here are connected
with a single consciousness that limits the possibility of any wrongdoings. It is
believed all minor 33 million Hindu Gods too live here. Lord Indra rules here. You are
free from old age, diseases, etc earth realm worries and pleasures. However, this realm
is occasionally attacked by demons and devils who are jealous of the life here. Some
Gods who live here - Vayu Dev (God of Air), Agni Dev (God of Fire), etc.
You automatically land in heaven once you accept your non-physical existence
completely and are so much in control of yourself that you are able to make new
physical objects out of nothing. More like a minor creator.
Longevity - 4.32 billion years.
Lifespan - upto 306.72 million years.
God Level: 10^(-7)%
Realm of Consciousness:
1. Bhuvar Loka (realisation of existence, start/reset : solar presence)- The air,
atmosphere. The beings here doesn’t have a physical existence but needs a medium to
exist hence, can live in the air in the form of spirits. They are everywhere on earth and
solar system and have to decide whether they are ready to leave the physical world
forever and go to Svar Loka or come back to Bhu Loka and live one more life on
earth. The beings who come back to earth realm wants to experience physical life as
Earth is the last and therefore the most fragile form of physical existence. In this Loka,
beings can observe everything - past, present & future of earth but in no way interact
with the physical world.
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Longevity - 306.72 million years.
Lifespan - upto 4.32 million years.
God Level: 10^(-8)%
2. Bhu Loka (realisation of consciousness, start/reset : planetary presence)- The realm
of earth. Vibrates at medium frequency. The realm where attraction to the physical
world is still relevant and existing and you can experience it. There are many planets
with life that exist in this realm, earth being just one of those. This realm gives a
balance between attraction and liberation, prophecy and spirituality. Life on earth is
alive for just 12 hours of a day of the creator. The 12 creator hours can be divided into
14 Manvantara and each Manvantara has a total of 71 Yuga cycles. Currently, we
are in 7th Manvantara at the 28th Yuga cycle. Each Yuga cycle longevity - 4.32
million years.
Realm of Underworld (Unconscious Material World):
1. Atala Loka (finite lust, start/reset : sub-planetary/lunar presence)- The beings here
are immortal, free from old age and diseases and live a life that they ever wanted to
live. Your imagination is a reality. It is more attractive than Heaven Realms and in
many religions considered to be a true definition of Heaven. However, this is like
being locked inside one’s own imagination where after a certain limit, the
path/guidance towards true meaning starts becoming desire. Imagine listening to your
same favourite music, eating same favourite food, talking same favourite things, etc.
How long will it take to frustrate you? The one who wants to seek answer comes
to Bhu Loka. Since, there is no pain or sadness here, value of pleasure and happiness
decreases over time and after a saturation level, being relatively lesser happy than
yesterday will be the reason to inflict pain to yourself unknowingly and this keeps
growing if not checked. Since, pain doesn’t kill, pain may become a new pleasure.
2. Vitala Loka (finite ignorance, start/reset : asteroidal presence)- The beings here
generally live longer and healthy life compared to Earth. From the success angle, even
the richest on earth will be very small compared to the poorest of this realm. The idea
of spirituality is lost here and people are in a never-ending race where at no limit
anything is even sufficient for them to give satisfaction. A population of successful
people all living a highly dissatisfied life.
3. Sutala Loka (finite ego, start/reset : sub-asteroidal presence)- The beings are turning
evil to satisfy their materialistic pleasures. Right becomes Wrong and Wrong becomes
Right. Needless to say, you do the Right thing. There is nothing called spirituality. It is
all about who gets the highest possession of materialistic pleasures and then call
himself God.
4. Talatala Loka (finite hallucination, start/reset : granular presence)- The beings here
live a kind of similar life as of Atala Loka, the difference is, this time your soul is
living in someone’s else illusion considering to be originating from you. Your soul is
literally inside a prison now and completely unaware of it. This doesn’t mean beings
won’t be living in a castle made of precious stones built above the cloud.
5. Mahatala Loka (finite fear, start/reset : molecular presence)- A world populated by
Hooded Nagas (Hooded Snakes) who fear Garuda (Eagle). Also, a place where huge
snakes suddenly and often appear from underground and anybody can be abducted and
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killed at any time. Every second is precious. Hence, beings live peacefully with each
other. The world is full of imposters though.
6. Rasatala Loka (finite darkness, start/reset : atomic presence)- The home of devils.
This is a world of constant war. If your soul doesn’t move to the above realms, there
will be infinite times you will be born and die not a good death, over and over again
for materialistic desires. Everybody hates everybody, be it even God. Even after
having most of the treasure, the life here will be in scarcity.
7. Patala Loka (finite illusion, start/reset : sub-atomic presence)- The darkest place of
all the worlds. The deadliest of the snakes live here. Also, the Richest Realm which
keeps this world shining. Wore by Nagas themselves. It is perceived differently by
different people. The most mysterious Loka of all. Gods say, this is the most beautiful
realm existing. Demons on the other hand couldn’t even speak what they experienced like a shattered soul.
Therefore, the above 14 Lokas constitutes 14 world of Brahma (creator) as mentioned in
Bhagavata Purana. Note that Shiva Purana talks about additional 42 Lokas (realms) that exists
beyond our universe.
CALCULATION OF SIZE:
If we change the Kardashev scale parameter of measurement from energy to population &
lifespan:
a) 74 trillion humans working together like a cell in our body will be equal to the creator himself.
For reference, 37 trillion cells make up the human body.
b) Even with best scenario with 4 times current population of 7.8 billion which is 31.1 billion
people, we can become an inter-galactic civilisation (Mahar Loka, possibly, local group).
This too is the limit set by science even if mankind has glorious future, we are limited to local
group. We are limited to 10^(-13) part of the universe.
c) Local group has diameter of 10 million light years. Hence, diameter of universe
= 10 million * 10^13
= 10^20 light years in diameter.
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Observable universe has diameter of 93 billion light years
= 9.3 * 10^(-8) %
= 10^(-7) % of the universe.
Hence. we can say, if universe is of the size of earth, the observable universe will be the size of
10 tennis ball.
This is a brief view of our universe.
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This is how Multiverse looks with each universe having its own creator.
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This is beyond Multiverse.
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Complete picture:
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Summary:
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Hinduism summarised:
1. Sruti (knowledge heard of):
a) 4 Vedas (beyond words)- hymn, rituals, enlightenment, magical spells etc.
b) 108 Upanishads (sustained development)- universal government, rules, diplomacy,
law & justice, common goal etc.
c) 6 Vedangas (language of universe) - communication, exact knowledge preservation
technique through generations, etymology, astrology, astronomy, pattern recognition
etc.
2. Smriti (preserved knowledge):
a) 4 Upa Vedas (higher studies, specialization)- arts, science, medicine, trade, skill
development etc.
b) 2 Epics (history, lessons) - Ramayana (truth & lie) and Mahabharata (honour & war
strategy)
c) 18 Puranas (science of universe) - life, evolution, god, universe, multi verse,
existence, inevitably etc.
d) 18 Upapuranas (counter arguments) - Minor Puranas
e) Sutras - exploration of body, mind & soul.
f) Shastras - orthodox traditions and techniques.
g) Summary - Bhagavad Gita
Multiverse
The Hindu texts describe innumerable universes existing all at the same time, some larger than
others, each with its own Brahma administrator with a comparable number of heads. Our
universe is described as the smallest with a Brahma of only four heads. The Hindu concept of
innumerable universes is comparable to the multiverse theory, except nonparallel where each
universe is different and individual jiva-atmas (embodied souls) exist in exactly one universe at a
time. All universes manifest from the same matter, and so they all follow parallel time cycles,
manifesting and unmanifesting at the same time.
Every universe is covered by seven layers — earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total energy and false
ego — each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides
this one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore
You are called unlimited.
— Bhagavata Purana 6.16.37
Because You are unlimited, neither the lords of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach the
end of Your glories. The countless universes, each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the
wheel of time to wander within You, like particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The śrutis,
following their method of eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful
by revealing You as their final conclusion.
— Bhagavata Purana 10.87.41
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The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one before, and
all the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge combination.
— Bhagavata Purana 3.11.41
And who will search through the wide infinities of space to count the universes side by side,
each containing its Brahma, its Vishnu, its Shiva? Who can count the Indras in them all--those
Indras side by side, who reign at once in all the innumerable worlds; those others who passed
away before them; or even the Indras who succeed each other in any given line, ascending to
godly kingship, one by one, and, one by one, passing away.
— Brahma Vaivarta Purana
Every thing that is any where, is produced from and subsists in space. It is always all in all
things, which are contained as particles in it. Such is the pure vacuous space of the Divine
understanding, that like an ocean of light, contains these innumerable worlds, which like the
countless waves of the sea, are revolving for ever in it.
— Yoga Vasistha
You know one universe. Living entities are born in many universes, like mosquitoes in many
udumbara (cluster fig) fruits.
— Garga Samhita
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CHAPTERV
TIME
Kāla (Sanskrit: काल, translit. kālá, [kaːlɐ]) is a word used in Sanskrit to mean "time" It is also
the name of a deity, in which sense it is not always distinguishable from kāla, meaning "black".
It is often used as one of the various
Monier-Williams's widely used Sanskrit-English dictionary lists two distinct words with the
form kāla.
kāla 1 means "black, of a dark colour, dark-blue ..." and has a feminine form ending in ī –
kālī – as mentioned in Pāṇini 4–1, 42.
kālá 2 means "a fixed or right point of time, a space of time, time ... destiny, fate ... death"
and has a feminine form (found at the end of compounds) ending in ā, as mentioned in
the ṛgveda Prātiśākhya. As a traditional Hindu unit of time, one kālá corresponds to 144
seconds.
According to Monier-Williams, kāla 2 is from the verbal root kal "to calculate", while the root
of kāla 1 is uncertain, though possibly the same.
Head of Kala carved on top of Jabung temple niche, East Java, Indonesia.
As applied to gods and goddesses in works such as the Devī Māhātmya and
the Skanda Purāṇa, kāla 1 and kāla 2 are not readily distinguishable. Thus Wendy Doniger,
translating
a
conversation
between Śiva and Pārvatī from
the Skanda Purāṇa,
says Mahākāla may mean " 'the Great Death' ... or 'the Great Black One'
".And Swāmī Jagadīśvarānanda, a Hindu translator of the Devī Māhātmya, renders the feminine
compound kāla-rātri (where rātri means "night") as "dark night of periodic dissolution".
As Time personified, destroying all things, Kala is a god of death sometimes identified
with Yama.
In the epics and the Puranas
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Kala appears as an impersonal deity within the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Bhagavata
Purana. In the Mahabharata, Krishna, one of the main characters, reveals his identity as Time
personified. He states to Arjuna that both sides on the battlefield of the Kurukshetra War have
already been annihilated. At the end of the epic, the entire Yadu dynasty (Krishna's family) is
similarly annihilated.
Kala appears in the Uttara Kanda of the Ramayana, as the messenger of Death (Yama). At the
end of the story, Time, in the form of inevitability or necessity, informs Rama that his reign on
Earth is now over. By a trick or dilemma, he forces the death of Lakshmana, and informs Rama
that he must return to the realm of the gods. Lakshmana willingly passes away with Rama's
blessing and Rama returns to Heaven.
Time appears in the Bhagavata Purana as the force that is responsible for the imperceptible and
inevitable change in the entire creation. According to the Purana, all created things are illusory,
and thereby subject to creation and annihilation, this imperceptible and inconceivable
impermanence is said to be due to the march of Time. Similarly, Time is considered to be the
unmanifest aspect of God that remains after the destruction of the entire world at the end of a
lifespan of Brahma.
In the Chaitanya Bhagavata, a Gaudiya Vaishnavist text and biography of Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, it is said that the fire that emerges from the mouth of Sankarshana at the End of
Time is the Kālānala, or "fire of Time".One of the names of Sankarshana is kālāgni, also "fire of
Time".
The Vishnu Purana also states that Time (kala) is one of the four primary forms of Vishnu, the
others being matter (Pradhana), visible substance (vyakta), and Spirit (Purusha).
In the Bhagavad Gita
At Bhagavad Gita 11.32, Krishna takes on the form of kāla, the destroyer, announcing to Arjuna
that all the warriors on both sides will be killed, apart from the Pandavas:
कालो ऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत् प्रिृद्धो लोकान् समाहतयाम् इह प्रिृत्ताः ।
This verse means: "Time (kāla) I am, the great destroyer of the worlds, and I have come here to
destroy all people." This phrase is famous for being quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer as he
reflected on the Manhattan Project's explosion of the first nuclear bomb in 1945.
In other cultures
In Javanese mythology, Batara Kala is the god of destruction. It is a very huge mighty and
powerful god depicted as giant, born of the sperm of Shiva, the kings of gods.
In Borobudur, the gate to the stairs is adorned with a giant head, making the gate look like the
open mouth of the giant. Many other gates in Javanese traditional buildings have this kind of
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ornament. Perhaps the most detailed Kala Face in Java is on the south side of Candi Kalasan.
Logarithmic scale of time used in Jain texts.
In Jainism, Kāla (Time) is infinite and is explained in two different ways:
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The measure of duration, known in the form of hours, days, like that.
The cause of the continuity of function of things.
However Jainism recognizes a very small measurement of time known as samaya which is an
infinitely small part of a second. There are cycles (kalachakras) in it. Each cycle having two eras
of equal duration described as the avasarpini and the utsarpini.
3. For simplicity, 12 creator hours can be divided into 1000 cycles of 4 Yuga. The 4
Yugas are:
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Satya Yuga - Age of Truth.
Longevity - 17.28 creator secs which is 1.72 million years.
Lifespan of humans - 1,00,000 years to 10,000 years (start of Yuga to end of Yuga ).
God Level: 10^(-10)%
Religion: Truth (Truth = Lie = 0)
There is no concept of right and wrong. People don't even need to speak to
communicate and rarely speaks in the event of misunderstanding. Inclusive population.
Vishnu Avatars - Fish, Turtle/Tortoise, Boar, Lion
Treta Yuga - Age of Mistakes.
Longevity - 12.96 creator secs which is 1.29 million years.
Lifespan of humans - 10,000 years to 1000 years.
God Level: 10^(-11)%
Religion: Righteousness (Truth + Lie = 0)
Everybody does the right thing. The nature puts 2 right people against each other and
wrong is born. The right that finally dominates becomes the right thing to do in life.
Population becomes exclusive.
Vishnu Avatars - Dwarf (born with God powers), Cave Man, Ideal Human
Dwapar Yuga - Age of enmity.
Longevity - 8.64 creator secs which is 0.86 million years.
Lifespan of humans - 1000 years to 100 years.
God Level: 10^(-12)%
Religion: Honour (Truth + Lie > 0)
Right and wrong are real. When people lie, they are aware they are wrong but still do
certain things because of existence of exclusive population who wants power, lust and
luxury over other set of people.
Vishnu Avatars - Teacher (born with God powers), Yogi
Kali Yuga - Age of Darkness. Currently, we are here.
Longevity - 4.32 creator secs which is 0.43 million years.
Lifespan of humans - less than 100 years.
Kali Yuga is believed to have started around 17/18 Feb 3102 BCE and will end on
428,899 CE.
God Level: 10^(-13)%.
Religion: Delusion (Truth + Lie < 0)
People ignorant of right & wrong. Whatever works is right & truth will be driven more
by believers and less by seekers.
Vishnu Avatars - Destroyer (most advanced individual of the multiverse, will be born
with God powers around 4 Lakh years from now, Abrahamic Religions call that
Judgement Day)
The counter theory suggests, the 4 Yugas instead coming in a circular way comes in an
oscillating way. Therefore, every odd cycle starts from Satya Yuga and ends in Kali Yuga and
every even cycle starts with Kali Yuga and ends with Satya Yuga. Since we are at 28th cycle
(even cycle), this is actually the Satya Yuga that has started, 5 milliseconds ago, and technology
and evolution is just proving to be one of the features. The confusion is common between people
of Satya & Kali and people of Treta & Dwapar, where exactly are we. Let our consciousness
guide that.
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Summary of the 7 lokas discussed above:
CALCULATION OF TIME:
1 creator second = 1,00,000 human years.
1 creator minute = 60 creator seconds.
1 creator hour = 60 creator minutes.
1 creator day = 24 creator hours - 12hrs with life, 12hrs without life.
1 creator year = 360 creator days.
Total duration of 4 Yuga (Yuga-cycle) = 43.2 creator seconds.
12 creator hours = 3600*12/43.2 = 1000 cycles of 4 Yuga.
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a) There are 14 Manvantara each with 71 Yuga cycles
= 14*71
= 994 cycles of 4 Yuga
b) Between each Manvantara transition, there is a time period of inactivity which is
called Sandhya
= 14+1
= 15 Sandhya.
Each transition (Sandhya) has gap of 0.4 of 1 cycle of 4 Yugas.
Therefore, 15 Sandhyas
= 15*0.4
= 6 cycles of 4 Yuga.
Total = 994 cycles + 6 cycles
= 1000 cycles of 4 Yuga
= 12 hrs of creator.
Currently we are at:
a) 6 Manvantara passed = 6*71
b) each Manvantara transition = 7*0.4
c) 7th Manvantara 28th cycle = 28 * 1 - 0.1
= 426 + 2.8 + 27.9
= 456.7 cycles of 4 Yuga.
So, 456.7 cycles of 4 Yuga
= 456.7*12/1000
= 5.4804 creator hrs
= 19729.44 creator secs.
19729.44 creator seconds + 5.122 milliseconds passed from 3102 BCE (start of Kali Yuga
period) till 2020
= 19729.49122 * 10^5 human years
= 1,972,949,122 years
= 1.97 billion years
= age of earth.
Hence, total number of times the life already started and ended just on earth
= 6*71*4 + 27*4 + 3
= 1815 times
Similarly since, creator is 50 years 5.4804 hours old
= 155.5 trillion years
= age of universe
= time left before universe dies since universe is exactly halfway in time.
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Time left before all forms of life extinct completely from earth
= 12 hrs creator day - time already spent on earth
= 4.32 - 1.97
= 2.35 billion years
Time left before our complete solar system gets destroyed
= 2.35 + 4.32 (12 hrs creator night)
= 6.67 billion years
Time left before our entire galaxy or local group gets destroyed
= 3.10 trillion years
Therefore, since 1st day of the 51st year has just started thereby, deleting most of the previous
existence and creating new ones, it is not amusing why even universe seems to appear like just
born when actually it is way way older. We are right now existing at the time of birthday of the
creator/universe.
What exactly happens at end of Kali Yuga. Will the world be destroyed?
No, the world won't actually get destroyed at the end of the Kali Yuga. Rather, what's going
to occur is that when the evil and decadence of the Kali Yuga reaches its zenith, Vishnu will
have an incarnation (avatara) as Kalki the horse rider, to kill all the evil people and restore
Dharma on earth, commencing a new Satya Yuga. Here is how the Srimad Bhagavatam
describes it:
Lord Kalki will appear in the home of the most eminent brāhmaṇa of Śambhala village, the great
soul Viṣṇuyaśā. Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift horse Devadatta and,
sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special
qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequaled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will
kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings.
After all the impostor kings have been killed, the residents of the cities and towns will feel the
breezes carrying the most sacred fragrance of the sandalwood paste and other decorations of
Lord Vāsudeva, and their minds will thereby become transcendentally pure. When Lord
Vāsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears in their hearts in His transcendental
form of goodness, the remaining citizens will abundantly repopulate the earth. When the
Supreme Lord has appeared on earth as Kalki, the maintainer of religion, Satya-yuga will begin,
and human society will bring forth progeny in the mode of goodness. When the moon, the sun
and Bṛhaspatī are together in the constellation Karkaṭa, and all three enter simultaneously into
the lunar mansion Puṣyā — at that exact moment the age of Satya, or Kṛta, will begin.
So even if some people are killed, the world will still go on after the end of the Kali Yuga. The
Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga keep repeating in a cycle. Now one
cycle of all four Yugas is called a Mahayuga or Chatur Yuga, and 1000 Mahayugas make up one
Kalpa. A Kalpa constitutes just one day for Brahma the creator god. After the day is over,
Brahma goes to sleep, and then the Pralaya, or night of Brahma, commences. The Pralaya, of
equal length to a Kalpa, is the time period when the entire three worlds (the physical universe
along with Devaloka and Asuraloka) are destroyed by fire emanating from the mouth of Vishnu's
serpent Adiseshan. Here is how it's described in the Srimad Bhagavatam:
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At the end of the day, under the insignificant portion of the mode of darkness, the powerful
manifestation of the universe merges in the darkness of night. By the influence of eternal time,
the innumerable living entities remain merged in that dissolution, and everything is silent. When
the night of Brahmā ensues, all the three worlds are out of sight, and the sun and the moon are
without glare, just as in the due course of an ordinary night.
The devastation takes place due to the fire emanating from the mouth of [Ananta], and thus great
sages like Bhṛgu and other inhabitants of Maharloka transport themselves to Janaloka, being
distressed by the warmth of the blazing fire which rages through the three worlds below. At the
beginning of the devastation all the seas overflow, and hurricane winds blow very violently.
Thus the waves of the seas become ferocious, and in no time at all the three worlds are full of
water. The Supreme Lord [Vishnu] lies down in the water on the seat of Ananta, with His eyes
closed, and the inhabitants of Janaloka offer unto the Lord their glorious prayers with folded
hands.
And by the way, all this annihilation is overseen by Shiva god of destruction, who engages in his
cosmic Tandava dance in order to direct all this destruction.
After the Pralaya is over, Brahma wakes up and commences the creation of the three worlds
again, and thus a new Kalpa begins. Now a Kalpa is already an incredibly long period of time,
but it's just one day in the life of Brahma. Now imagine how long a hundred years is in the life of
Brahma! That is how long Brahma lives for, and it's called Mahakalpa. And after the Mahakalpa
is over, Brahma dies, and then there is a period of even greater destruction, the Mahapralaya,
which lasts as long as Mahakalpa. And then Brahma is reborn, marking the start of a new
Mahakalpa. And the cycle begins again!
The Yuga Time Period
Kritha Yuga 17,28,000 human years
Tretha Yuga 12,96,000 human years
Dwapara Yuga 8,64,000 human years
Kali Yuga 4,32,000 human years (As on today we are approximately over 5000 years into
Kali Yuga)
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All the four yugas combined together is called a Maha Yuga. One Maha Yuga comprises of
43,20,000 years. 1000 maha yugas are equivalent to the day time of the Brahma. Brahma’s night
is also of the same time.So Brahma’s one full day is equivalent to 864,00,00,000 human years.
Brahma’s one second is equivalent to 1,00,000 human years on earth. Brahma lives like this for
100 years (in human years 864,00,00,00 x 365 days x 100 years), and the entire life time of
brahma is equivalent to one breath of Sri Maha Vishnu.It is said that when Sri Maha Vishnu
exhilirates, the entire world is created, and when he annihilates the entire world is destroyed. The
timespan between his exhiliration and annihilation is equivalent to 100 years for Brahma.
The Vishnu Purana states that at the end of the daytime period of Brahma, a dreadful drought
will occur that will last 100 years, and all the waters will dry up. The Sun will change into seven
Suns, and the three worlds (Bhurloka or Earth, Bhuvarloka or the lowest heaven, and Svargloka
or the next higher heaven) and the underworlds will be burned bare of life. The inhabitants of
Bhuvarloka and Svargloka flee to the next higher heaven, Mahaloka, to escape the heat; and then
to the next higher heaven, Janaloka.
Then mighty clouds will form and the three worlds will be completely flooded with water. Lord
Vishnu reposes on the waters in meditative rest for another whole kalpa (4.32 billion years)
before renewing the creation.
The destruction that takes place at the end of a daytime of Brahma is referred to as 'naimittika',
which is incidental or occasional. The characteristic of this destruction is that the three worlds
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continue to exist but are made uninhabitable. The souls of individuals also continue to exist to be
reincarnated in the next daytime of Brahma.
We are currently in the age of Ascending Dwapara Yuga and not in Kali Yuga. This
astonishing revelation was made by Sri Yukteswar Giri(Guru of Paramahansa Yogananda) in his
book "The Holy Science" published in 1894.
According to Sri Yukteswar, ages work in full solar cycle of 24000 years. It contains 2 periods,
ascending arc and descending arc of 12000 years each. The period of 1200 years is Kali Yuga,
the period of 2400 years is Dwapara Yuga, the period of 3600 years is Treta Yuga and the period
of 4800 years is Satya Yuga. If you add these, it completes one arc. We are currently in the
ascending arc which means after the current Dwapara Yuga, we will enter Treta Yuga.
In descending arc, Treta Yuga comes after Satya Yuga, Dwapara Yuga comes after Treta Yuga
and Kali Yuga comes after Dwapara Yuga. When we reach the end of Kali Yuga of descending
arc, we progress into another Kali Yuga of 1200 years but this time in ascending arc which
means the next age will be Dwapara Yuga then Treta Yuga and then Satya Yuga.
The 2 Kali Yugas of both descending and ascending arc have passed already.
Most of the people believe that we are in the age of Kali Yuga because of the wrong calculations
of certain Sanskrit scholars such as Kulluka Bhatta. That's why the length of the yugas has been
widened and that is also the reason why you get wrong figures like 4,32,000 years of Kali Yuga.
I recommend you all to read "The Holy Science" by Sri Yukteswar which in detail explains
why we are in Dwapara Yuga and why and how we got the wrong figures which most
people believe.
Please note the period in which Sri Krishna lived on earth was also Dwapara Yuga but that
Dwapara Yuga was in descending arc and the current Dwapara age in which we live is in
ascending arc.
There are 3 gunas or qualities called -Satva, Rajas and Tamas. Entire creation is made up of them
only. There are 4 yugas making a cycle, namely Satya Yuga, Treta, Dwapar and Kaliyug. Satya
Yuga is dominated by Satva guna that is truth(satya), meditation(tapas), purity(shauch) and
worship(bhakti). In treta (3 feets), truth is given up my people because of increased Rajas and
left with 3 qualities of Satva. In Dwapar, meditation is also given up by people, leaving dharma
standing on 2 qualities and hence called Dwapar(2 feets).
Finally, in kaliyug, purity is also lost under the effect of Tamas, leaving only Bhakti. By the end
of Kaliyug, bhakti also vanishes and there is no discipline but chaos. Than Lord Vishnu appears
in the form of Kalki and reestablishes the four qualities of Satya yuga, and once again Satya yuga
is established. Only adharmis, mlecchas are destroyed, not the universe.
We are currently about 5100 past years within Kaliyuga of 28th chaturyug, 7th manavantar of
Varah Kalpa. Prajapati Brahma ji is now about 50 years old and he has remaining more 50x360
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approx. kalpas of his life, that is about 18000 more kalpas, where each kalpa has 1000
chaturyugs. 1 chaturyuga = 43,20,000 earth years.
The Chaturyuga ages, i.e. Satya, Treta, Dwapar and Kaliyug see a gradual decline of dharma,
wisdom, knowledge, intellectual capability, life span, emotional and physical strength.
Satya Yuga:- Virtue reigns supreme. Human stature was 21 cubits. Average human lifespan was
100,000 years.
Treta Yuga: – There was 3 quarter virtue & 1 quarter sin. Normal human stature was 14 cubits.
Average human lifespan was 10,000 years.
Dwapar Yuga: – There was 1 half virtue & 1 half sin. Normal human stature was 7 cubits.
Average human lifespan was 1,000 years.
Kali Yuga: – There is 1 quarter virtue & 3 quarter sin. Normal human stature is 3.5 cubits.
Average human lifespan will be 100 years. Towards the end of the Yuga this will come down to
20 years.
In the present days we live in a Kali Yuga, which began at 3102 BCE with the end of the
Mahabharata war. This date is also considered by many Hindus to be the day that Krishna left
Earth.
There's for sure death and decay at the end of Kaliyuga- which is full of faults, passions,
miseries and confusions. This Tamoguna, Rajas once vanished, Sattva gunas can attain peaks
giving rise to beings bounded by righteousness- Satyuga begins with the end of the Kali age.
Cause:
At pralayakaal, Rudra performs samhar tandava along with Mahakaali.
This results in the transformation - end of an Yuga, with rise of consecutive Yuga.
God has supremacy over time, so even time has beginning and end in the form of Yugas(cycle),
but God doesn't have such beginning or end. At Mahapralaya, when Mahakaal performs Sanghar
tandava along with Mahakali - The kaal and trinity also get merged in Mahakaal, and again
creations happen with a new Yuga cycle.
Kaliyuga's end has in store for deaths of all evil doers, who are deprived of Dharmic skills. The
remaining balanced people will continue living and sow seeds for the righteousness '(Sat') to rise
on the earth.
Previous Yuga, Dwaparyuga ended up with a deadly war amongst brothers. Although Arjuna
wanted peace, but saw that all beings are entering into the mouths of time personified avtaar of
YOGESHWAR Lord Krishna during the discourse of the holy BHAGWAD GITA.
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Arjuna asks the VISHWAROOPAM, who are you, lord answered-"sri-bhagavan uvaca:
kalo 'smi loka-ksaya-krt pravrddho lokan samahartum iha pravrttah rte 'pi tvam na bhavisyanti
sarve ye 'vasthitah pratyanikesu yodhah
TRANSLATION:
The VISHWAROOPAM said: Kaal(Time) I am, destroyer of the worlds, and I have come to
engage all people. With the exception of you [the Pandavas], all the soldiers here on both sides
will be slain."
Learning from the past- Dwapara Yuga ended 5117 years ago. Some important events at the end
of Dwapara yuga:
Mahabharata war continued for 18 days. All the kings following Adharma were killed in the war.
If astronomical calculations are correct, the war ended in September last week of that year.
By the end of Dwaparyuga, Dwaraka gets immeresed in sea. (The remains of dwaraka are still
under sea in Gujrat. google for it) By this time Kaliyuga had already started. But by the virtue of
Krishna and dharma, helpless new born Kali was not able to show his effect.
Aging kaliyuga's end might be similar in pattern to that of the past Yugas ends, but different in
terms of the outcomes and series of events.
Yuga, in Hindu cosmology, an age of humankind. Each yuga is progressively shorter than the
preceding one, corresponding to a decline in the moral and physical state of humanity. Four
such yugas (called Krita, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali, after the throws of an Indian game of dice)
make up the mahayuga (“great yuga”), and 2,000 mahayugas make up the basic cosmic cycle,
the kalpa. The first yuga (Krita) was an age of perfection lasting 1,728,000 years. The fourth and
most-degenerate yuga (Kali) is the present age, which began in 3102 BCE and will last 432,000
years. At the close of the Kali yuga, the world will be destroyed, to be re-created after a period of
quiescence as the cycle resumes again. In Hindu astronomy, a yuga is a unit of time consisting of
five solar years. A yuga, in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time.
In the Rigveda, a yuga refers to generations, a long period, a very brief period, or a yoke (joining
of two things).[3] In the Mahabharata, the words yuga and kalpa (a day of Brahma) are used
interchangeably to describe the cycle of creation and destruction.[4]
The names "Yuga" and "Age" commonly denote a catur-yuga (pronounced Chatur Yuga), a
cycle of four world ages, e.g. the Surya Siddhanta and Bhagavad Gita (part of
the Mahabharata), unless expressly limited by the name of one of its minor ages: Krita (Satya)
Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, or Kali Yuga.
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CHAPTER VI
Hinduism's 4 yugas, or Ages-A Staggering Time Scale
Lord Shiva portrayed with Sanskrit manuscripts of Hindu scriptures. ExoticIndia.com
Hinduism
Table of Contents
About the Four Yugas
Symbolic Interpretations
Dasavatara: The 10 Avatars
Living in the Kali Yuga
What the Scriptures Say
What Happens Next?
According to Hindu scriptures and mythology, the current universe is destined to pass through
four great epochs, each of which is a complete cycle of cosmic creation and destruction. Hindu
mythology deals with numbers large enough to be nearly impossible to imagine.
Hindus believe the process of creation moves in cycles and that each cycle has four great yugas,
or epochs, of time. And because the process of creation is cyclical and never-ending, it "begins to
end and ends to begin."
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A Kalpa, or eon, is said to be comprised of a thousand cycles of four yugas—each of a different
quality. By one estimate, a single yuga cycle is said to be 4.32 million years, and a Kalpa is said
to consist of 4.32 billion years
About the Four Yugas
The four great epochs in Hinduism are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga, and Kali
Yuga. Satya Yug or the Age of Truth is said to last for 4,000 divine years, Treta Yuga for
3,000, Dwapara Yug for 2,000 and Kali Yuga will last for 1,000 divine years—a divine year
equalling 432,000 earthly years.
Hindu tradition holds that three of these great ages of this current universe have already passed
away, and we are now living in the fourth one—the Kali Yuga. It is quite hard to contemplate the
meaning of the vast quantities of time expressed by the Hindu time scheme, so vast are the
numbers. There are different theories about the symbolic meaning of these measurements of
time.
Symbolic Interpretations
Metaphorically, the four Yuga ages may symbolize the four phases of involution during which
the human gradually lost the awareness of his or her inner selves and subtle bodies. Hinduism
believes that human beings have five kinds of bodies, known as annamayakosa, pranamayakosa,
manomayakosa, vignanamayakosa, and anandamayakosa, which respectively mean the "gross
body," the "breath body," the "psychic body," the "intelligence body," and the "bliss body."
Another theory interprets these epochs of time to represent the degree of loss of righteousness in
the world. This theory suggests that during Satya Yuga, only truth prevailed (Sanskrit Satya =
truth). During the Treta Yuga, the universe lost one-fourth of the truth, Dwapar lost one-half of
the truth, and now the Kali Yuga is left with only one-fourth of the truth. Evil and dishonesty
have therefore gradually replaced truth in the last three ages.
Dasavatara: The 10 Avatars
Throughout these four yugas, Lord Vishnu is said to have been incarnated ten times in ten
different avatars. This principle is known as Dasavatara (Sanskrit dasa = ten). During the Satya
Yuga, the Age of Truth, human beings were spiritually most advanced and had great psychic
powers.
In the Treta Yuga people still remained righteous and adhered to moral ways of life. Lord
Rama of the epic poem the Ramayana lived in Treta Yuga.
In the Dwapara Yuga, men had lost all knowledge of the intelligence and bliss bodies. Lord
Krishna was born in this age.
The present Kali Yuga is the most degenerated of the Hindu epochs.
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Living in the Kali Yuga
We are said to presently be living in the Kali Yuga—in a world infested with impurities and
vices. The numbers of people possessing noble virtues are diminishing day by day. Floods and
famine, war and crime, deceit, and duplicity characterize this age. But, say the scriptures, it is
only in this age of critical troubles that final emancipation is possible.
Kali Yuga has two phases: In the first phase, humans—having lost the knowledge of the two
higher selves—possessed knowledge of the "breath body" apart from the physical self. Now
during the second phase, however, even this knowledge has deserted humanity, leaving us only
with the awareness of the gross physical body. This explains why humankind is now more
preoccupied with the physical self than any other aspect of existence.
Due to our preoccupation with our physical bodies and our lower selves, and because of our
emphasis on the pursuit of gross materialism, this age has been termed the Age of Darkness—an
age when we have lost touch with our inner selves, an age of profound ignorance.
What the Scriptures Say
Both the two great epics—the Ramayana and Mahabharata—have spoken about the Kali Yuga.
In the Tulasi Ramayana, we find the sage Kakbhushundi foretelling:
In the Kali Yuga, the hotbed of sin, men and women are all steeped in unrighteousness and act
contrary to the Vedas. Every virtue had been engulfed by the sins of Kali Yuga; all good books
had disappeared; impostors had promulgated a number of creeds, which they had invented out of
their own wit. The people had all fallen prey to delusion and all pious acts had been swallowed
by greed.
In the Mahabharata (Santi Parva), the hero Yudhishthir says:
… The ordinances of the Vedas disappear gradually in every successive age, the duties in the
Kali age are entirely of another kind. It seems, therefore, that duties have been laid down for the
respective age according to the powers of human beings in the respective ages.
The sage Vyasa, later on, clarifies:
In the Kali Yuga, the duties of the respective order disappear and men become afflicted by
inequity.
What Happens Next?
According to Hindu cosmology, it is predicted that at the end of the Kali Yuga, Lord Shiva will
destroy the universe and the physical body will undergo a great transformation. After the
dissolution, Lord Brahma will recreate the universe, and humankind will become the Beings of
Truth once again.
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Das, Subhamoy. "Hinduism's 4 Yugas, or Ages." Learn Religions, Aug. 26, 2020, learnreligions.com/the-four-yugas-or-epochs1770051.
THE FOUR YUGAS (AGES)
YUGA in Hindu philosophy is name of ‘ERA’ within a cycle of four ages.These are satya yug,
treta yug, Dvaapar yug and kali yug. The detailed information about each ERA is as follows.
[1] SATYA YUG (GOLDEN AGE)
TOTAL AGE OF ERA - 17,28,000 years
AVERAGE HUMAN LIFE SPAN - 100,000 years
HEIGHT OF HUMAN BEINGS - 32 feet (approx) [21 hands]
BIRTH & DEATH CYCLES - 8
SATYA YUG PILGRIMAGE - Pushkar
PERCENTAGE OF EVIL - 0%
MAIN INCARNATIONS - Matsya ,Varah, Narsingh
CURRENCY - All jewels
POTS MADE OF - Gold
[2] TRETA YUG (SILVER AGE)
TOTAL AGE OF ERA - 12,96,000 years
AVERAGE HUMAN LIFE SPAN - 10,000 years
HEIGHT OF HUMAN BEINGS - 21 feet (approx) [14 hands]
BIRTH & DEATH CYCLES -12
TRETA YUG PILGRIMAGE - naimisharanya
PERCENTAGE OF EVIL- 25%
MAIN INCARNATIONS - Vaaman, Parshuram, Ram
CURRENCY - Gold
POTS MADE OF - Silver
[3] DVAPAR YUG (BRONZE AGE)
TOTAL AGE OF ERA - 8,64 ,000 years
AVERAGE HUMAN LIFE SPAN - 1,000 years
HEIGHT OF HUMAN BEINGS -11 feet (approx) [7 hands]
BIRTH & DEATH CYCLES - 21
DVAPAR YUG PILGRIMAGE - Kurukshetra
PERCENTAGE OF EVIL- 50%
MAIN INCARNATIONS - Krishna , Buddha
CURRENCY - Silver
POTS MADE OF - Copper
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[4] KALI YUG (IRON AGE)
TOTAL AGE OF ERA - 4,32 ,000 years
AVERAGE HUMAN LIFE SPAN - 100 years
HEIGHT OF HUMAN BEINGS - 5.5 feet (approx) [3.5 hands]
BIRTH & DEATH CYCLES - 42
TRETA YUG PILGRIMAGE - Ganga
PERCENTAGE OF EVIL - 75%
MAIN INCARNATIONS - Kalki will take birth at the end of kali yug
CURRENCY - Iron
POTS MADE OF - Soil
As per Hindu mythology yug means a certain period of time. There are four yugs as per
Hindu puran. These are kruta, Treta, Dwapaar, and Kali.
Kruta yug is also called as Satya Yug. One yug is a period of thousands of years.
These yugs are in the praportion of 4:3:2:1 respectively. The combined of these for yugs
is called as Devyug. Devyug contains 43,20,000 human years.
It means Kaliyug has 4,32,000 human years, Dwapar has 8,64,000 human years, treata
yug has 1 2,96,000 human years, and kruta yug has 17,28,000 human years.
It can be described as in below image(Thanks to Satish K Samy)
The combined of all these four yugs is called as Devyug or Chaturyug.
There are still 2 more concepts in purans called Manvantar and Kalpa.
A Manvantar is equal to 71 Chaturyug and one kalpa is equal to 14 manvantar.
So, one kalpa is nearly(71 X 14 = 994) 1000 Devyug. As per puranas, this is one day of
Lord Brahma. His night is also of same duration as day. Lord Brahmas's one year is
composed of 360 days(day + night). His life is considered to be of 100 years and it is
believed that he has completed 50 years of his life.
Also, it is generally said that the current Kaliyug has been started 5000 years back(after
finishing previous Dwapaar yug). Few people say when Lord Krishna finished his avatar
and some says it starts with the start of Indian war (The war that occured between Kaurav
and pandav at kurukshetra). So, there are still 4, 27,000 years have been left to finish the
current Kaliyug. After that the new Kruta Yug will get started.
Now, let's see why these names?
In the ancient time, in the game dyut(one type gample in which dice is used), there used
to be four points namely kruta, trata, dwapar, and kali. Out of which kruta used to be the
most lucky and kali used to be the unluckiest.
It is said that the first yug i.e. the satyayug is considered to be the idael for the human
being. There were no diseases, no sorrows, no pain. Everybody used to live for 400 years.
As mentioned above these yugs are in the praportion of 4:3:2:1 respectively. These
numbers also mention the number of pillars of dharma(religion) on which these yugs are
situated. And as the period progresses from one yug to another it loses one pillar of
dharma. With each fall of the pillar, the sorrows, adharma, and diseass will go on
increasing. So, kaliyug is considered to be the most horrible and depressing yug.
It is also mentioned in the puranas that at the end of kaliyug Lord Vishnu will take
another avatar in the form of Kalkin and will re-establish the dharma and new Satyayug
will be started again.
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The 4 yugas are:
1) Krita yuga : 1728000 years
2) Treta yuga :1296000 years
3) Dhuvapara yuga : 864 000 years
4) Kali yuga : 432 000 years
Kali yuga is this yuga which we all are living. According to Surya sidhanta calender It
was begin in 18 th February -3102 the day of Krishna's death by a hunter. The end of Kali
yuga will be the end of our world according to the Hinduism and before 100 years of the
end of Kali yuga Lord Vishnu will bith in the world (avatar) in this avatar he"ll be named
as "Kalki", he'll be a pramna and will be a very short and small person. At the end of the
world there will have a thunderstorm and it will be the reason of the biggest destruction
after all Lord Kalki will sleep on a leaf. Then one new world will appear and one new
yuga will begin in this yuga there won't have any violence and all will believe in God.
Precession of planet earth is calculated to be 25,765 years, which is the time taken by the sun to
'precess' i.e. move backwards, through the 12 zodiac constellations.
This 25765 years in NOT uniform over time, for as of now the precession rate is increasing and
the time duration is decreasing
As per the 7000 year old Vedas , the precession mean is 24000 years which is one yuga cycle.
Lord Krishna in the 6000 year old Bhagawad Gita says:
“Those who understand the cosmic laws know that the Day of Brahma ends after a thousand
yugas and the Night of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas. When the day of Brahma dawns,
forms are brought forth from the Unmanifest; when the night of Brahma comes, these forms
merge in the Formless again. This multitude of beings is created and destroyed again and again
in the succeeding days and nights of Brahma.”
This means that a 'Day of Brahma' lasts for 12,000 multiplied by 1000 or 12 million years, which
is followed by a 'Night of Brahma' of equal duration.
In Sanatana Dharma we call it inhalation and exhalation of Brahma.
Brahma/ Vishnu/ Shiva are amazing cosmic allegories.
Varahamihira the great Astrologer and astronomer from wrote 4600 years ago, in the opening of
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his Samhita, “ It has been said in Vedas that the first primeval thing was darkness, which is not
identical with the black colour, but a kind of non-existence like the state of a sleeping person"
The big bang is merely a prelude to the big crunch, and the universe is caught in an infinite cycle
of expansion and contraction . As a matter of principle, everything in the universe tends to get
restored to its original source.
As per the Laws of Manu inform us that that the Yuga Cycle is of 12,000 years duration, and is
comprised of four Yugas or World Ages – Krita or Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali.
As humanity moves from the Krita Yuga to the Kali Yuga, the level of virtue and human
capabilities, both physical and mental, gradually decrease, and reaches its nadir in the Kali Yuga,
the dark age .
24000 multiplied by 360 gives a value of 4,320,000 years to follow the golden spiral of time.
Cosmic mechanism is in reality is a GOLDEN spiral, never a stagnant circle
A cycle of four yugas takes 25765 years ( instead of 4,320,000 ).
Precession of the earth is approx. 50.26 seconds every year.. .( 1 degree is 60 minutes and 1
minute is 60 seconds )
Yuga (Sanskrit: ययग) means "a yoke" (joining of two things), "generations", or "a period of time"
such as an age, where its archaic spelling is yug, with other forms of yugam, yugānāṃ,
and yuge, derived from yuj (Sanskrit: ययज्, lit. 'to join or yoke'), believed derived from *yeug(Proto-Indo-European: lit. 'to join or unite').
In the Latin language, juga or jug is used from the word jugum, which means "a yoke used to
connect two oxen" (e.g. cali-juga = kali-yuga).
A Yuga Cycle (a.k.a. chatur yuga, maha yuga, etc.) is a cyclic age (epoch) in Hindu cosmology.
Each cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) and repeats four yugas (world
ages): Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga.
As a Yuga Cycle progresses through the four yugas, each yuga's length and humanity's general
moral and physical state within each yuga decrease by one-fourth. Kali Yuga, which lasts for
432,000 years, is believed to have started in 3102 BCE. Near the end of Kali Yuga, when virtues
are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of dharma occur to usher in the next
cycle's Satya Yuga, prophesied to occur by Kalki.
There are 71 Yuga Cycles in a manvantara (age of Manu) and 1,000 Yuga Cycles in a kalpa (day
of Brahma).
A Yuga Cycle has several names.
Age or Yuga (Sanskrit: ययग, lit. 'an age of the gods'):
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"Age" and "Yuga", sometimes with reverential capitalization, commonly denote a "caturyuga", a cycle of four world ages, unless expressly limited by the name of one of its
minor ages. Its archaic spelling is yug, with other forms of yugam, yugānāṃ, and yuge,
derived from yuj (Sanskrit: ययज्, lit. 'to join or yoke'), believed derived from *yeug(Proto-Indo-European: lit. 'to join or unite').
Chatur Yuga (Sanskrit: चतयययाग, romanized: caturyuga, catur-yuga, chaturyuga, or chaturyuga, lit. 'catur means four; a set of the four ages'):
A cyclic age encompassing the four yuga ages as defined in Hindu texts: Surya
Siddhanta, Manusmriti, and Bhagavata Purana.
Daiva Yuga (Sanskrit: दै िययग, romanized: daivayuga or daiva-yuga, lit. 'a divine or
celestial age; an age of the gods')
Deva Yuga (Sanskrit: दे िययग, romanized: devayuga or deva-yuga, lit. 'an age of the
gods'),
Divya Yuga (Sanskrit: वदव्य ययग, romanized: divyayuga or divya-yuga, lit. 'a divine or
celestial age'):
A cyclic age of the divine, celestrial, or gods (Devas) encompassing the four yuga ages
(a.k.a. "human ages" or "world ages"). The Hindu texts give a length of 12,000 divine
years, where a divine year lasts for 360 solar (human) years.[2][3]
Maha Yuga (Sanskrit: महाययग, romanized: mahāyuga or mahā-yuga, lit. 'a great age')
A greater cyclic age encompassing the smaller four yuga ages.
Yuga Cycle (Sanskrit: ययग, lit. 'age') + (English: cycle):
A cyclic age encompassing the four yuga ages.
It is theorized that the concept of the four yugas originated some time after the compilation of the
four Vedas, but prior to the rest of the Hindu texts, based on the concept's absence in the former
writings. It is believed that the four yugas—Krita (Satya), Treta, Dvapara, and Kali—are named
after throws of an Indian game of long dice, marked with 4-3-2-1 respectively. A dice game is
described in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas,
while the four yugas are described after the four Vedas with no mention of a correlation to
dice.[10][19] A complete description of the four yugas and their characteristics are in the Vishnu
Smriti (ch.
20),[20] Mahabharata (e.g.
Vanaparva
149,
183), Manusmriti (I.81–86),
and Puranas (e.g. Brahma, ch. 122–123; Matsya, ch. 142–143; Naradiya, Purvardha, ch. 41). The
four yugas are also described in the Bhagavata Purana (3.11.18–20).
Sat-yuga, Dwapar-yuga, Treyata-yuga and Kali-yuga r four yugas and all these चतयययाग (four
yugas) as mentioned r sanskrit words.
In sanskrit, every alphabet and every combinations of alphabets have a meaning. Thus actual
meaning of sanskrit word lies within the word itself.
Yuga means “time period"
Ya means “in this"
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Uga means “it would sprout”
Yuga actually means “the time period in which it wud sprout"
Sat refer to “Truth"
Sa means “absolute truth"
Ta (chopped) means “wherein other is not"
Sat-yuga actually means “when the truth of absolute truth sprouts in a time period of this life,
when there is a clarity that being absolute truth there is none another any more"
Dwa means “duality"
Par means “beyond"
Dwapar-yuga actually means “when beyond duality sprouts in a time period of this life”
Tra means “swim across"
Ya means “in this"
Ta means “other hood as body"
Treyata-yuga actually means “when there is intent to swim across otherhood as body sprouts
in a time period of this life”
Kal means “darkness, ignorance, in future, tommorow"
Ee means “power"
Kal-yuga actually means “when there is belief that by powered action it (darkness to powered
light) wud sprouts in future in a time period of this life”
Spiritually, All these yugas merely point towards a state of ur own life in a period of time. Only
being in Satyuga state of life, truth of absolute truth can reveal and not abiding as Being in other
three states.
Though stupids having no clue of the meaning of these four yugas remain trapped in childish
fairy tales, wasting a precious human life as a chyutia (stupid human who remain bound in cycles
of deaths and birth, inspite of having a human body, which is the only mode of liberation) or as a
Gandu.
Duration and Structure: each yuga's length decreases by one-fourth (25%), giving
proportions of 4:3:2:1. Each yuga is described as having a main period
(a.k.a. yuga proper) preceded by its yuga-sandhyā (dawn) and followed by its yugasandhyāṃśa (dusk), where each twilight (dawn/dusk) lasts for one-tenth (10%) of its
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main period. Lengths are given in divine years (years of the gods), each lasting for
360 solar (human) years
Four Yuga :1. Satyayug or Krityug = 17,28,000 human years
2. Tretayug = 12,96,000 human years
3. Dwaparyug = 8,64,000 human years
4. Kaliyug = 4,32,000 human years
Kaliyug was started in midnight of 17th February,3102 BCE. Kaliyug has already completed his
5,122 years and currently in 2020 A.D., 5,123th year of Kaliyuga is running.
First King of Kaliyuga in Lunar Dynasty/Lunar Race /Lunar Line (Chandra Vansh/Puru
Vansh/Kuru Vansh) was King Parikshit (son of Abhimanyu and Uttara) who ruled 60 years and
take retirement at age 96 by giving kingdom to his own son Janmejaya.
Satya Yuga, a time of truth and righteousness-Virtue reigns supreme. Human stature
was 21 cubits. Average human lifespan was 100,000 years
Treta Yuga-There was 3 quarter virtue & 1 quarter sin. Normal human stature was 14
cubits. Average human lifespan was 10,000 years.
Dvapara Yuga-There was 1 half virtue & 1 half sin. Normal human stature was 7
cubits. Average human lifespan was 1,000 years.
Kali Yuga, a time of darkness and non-virtue.-There is 1 quarter virtue & 3 quarter sin.
Normal human stature is 3.5 cubits. Average human lifespan will be 100 years.
Towards the end of the Yuga this will come down to 20 years.
The ages see a gradual decline of dharma, wisdom, knowledge, intellectual capability, life span,
emotional and physical strength.
Satyug--- 1728000 years
Tretayug----1296000 years
Dwaparyug--- 864000 years
Kaliyug -- 432000 years
1. According to the Vedic scriptures, our current age, known as Kali-yuga, is one of
spiritual darkness, violence and hypocrisy. Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.2.31) records Kaliyuga as having begun when the constellation of the seven sages (saptarsi) passed through
the lunar mansion of Magha. Hindu astrologers have calculated this to have been 2:27
a.m. on February 18, 3102 BC. This took place some 36 years after Lord Krsna spoke
Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna.
2. The scriptures like SB 12.2 teach that during the 432,000 year age of Kali, humanity
deteriorates and falls into barbarism. Humans begin to kill animals for food. They fall
under the spell of intoxication. They lose sexual restraint. Families break up. Women and
children are abused.
3. Increasingly degraded generations, conceived accidentally in lust and growing up wild,
swarm all over the world. Political leadership falls into the hands of unprincipled rogues,
criminals and terrorists, who use their power to exploit the people. Entire populations are
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enslaved and put to death. The world teens with fanatics, extremists and spiritual artists,
who win huge followings among a people completely dazed by hedonism, as well as by
cultural and moral relativism. "Religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy,
physical strength and memory diminish with each passing day." (Srimad-Bhagavatam
12.2.1)
4. The saints and sages of this age as greedy, ill-behaved, and merciless. possessing wealth
is considered a sign of good birth, proper behavior, and fine qualities.
5. Law and justice are determined by one's prestige and power. Marriage ceases to exist as a
holy union - men and women simply live together on the basis of bodily attraction and
verbal agreement, and only for sexual pleasure.
6. Women wander from one man to another. Men no longer look after their parents in their
old age, and fail to provide for their own children. One's beauty is thought to be depend
on one's hairstyle. Filling the belly is said to be the only purpose in life. Cows are killed
once their milk production drops. Religious observances are performed solely for the
sake of reputation.
7. The Linga Purana (ch. 40) describes the human race in Kali-yuga as a vain and stupid
people "spurred on by the lower instincts.
8. Severe droughts and plagues are
everywhere. Sloviness, illness, hunger and fear spread. Nations are continually at war
with one another. The number of princes and farmers decline. Heroes are assassinated.
The working classes want to claim regal power and enjoy royal wealth.
9. King become thieves. They take to seizing property, rather than protecting the citizenry.
The new leaders emerge from the laborer class and begin to persecute religious people,
saints, teachers, intellectuals, and philosophers.
10. Civilization lacks any kind of divine guidance. The sacred books are no longer revered.
False doctrines and misleading religions spread across the globe. Childrens are killed in
the womb of mother. Women who have relations with several men are numerous.
Predatory animals are more violent. The number of cows diminishes.
11. The Linga Purana says that in Kali-yuga, young women freely abandon their virginity.
Women, children, and cows - always protected in an enlightened society - are abused and
killed during the age of kaliyuga Thieves are numerous and rapes are frequent. There
are many beggars, and widespread
12. unemployment. Merchants operate corrupt businesses. Diseases, rates, and foul
substances plague the populace. Water is lacking, fruits are scarce. Everyone uses vulgar
language.
13. The men of Kali-yuga seek only money. Only the richest have power. People without
money are their slaves. The leaders of the state no longer protect the people, but plunder
the citizenry through excessive taxation.
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14. Farmers abandon living close to nature. They become unskilled labourers in congested
cities. Many dress in rags , are unemployed, and sleep on streets. Through the fault of
the government, infant mortality rates are high.
15. False god are worshipped in false ashram, in which pilgrimages, penances, charities and
austerities are all concocted.
16. People in this age eat their food without washing beforehand. Monks break their vows of
celibacy. Cows are kept alive only for their milk. Water is scarce. Many people watch the
skies, pray for rain, no rain comes. The fields become barren. Suffering
from famine and poverty, many attempt to migrate to countries where food is more
readily available. People are without joy and pleasure. Many commit suicide. Men of
small intelligence are influenced by atheistic doctrines. Family, clan and caste are all
meaningless. Men are without virtues, purity or decency. (Visnu Purana 6.1).
Above was just short part of an article which was saved on my notepad just because I find it too
accurate :-)
Each Yuga Cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) with its
four yugas and their parts occurring in the following order:
Krita (Satya) Yuga: 1,728,000 (4,800 divine) years
o Krita-yuga-sandhya (dawn): 144,000 (400 divine)
o Krita-yuga (proper): 1,440,000 (4,000 divine)
o Krita-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk): 144,000 (400 divine)
Treta Yuga: 1,296,000 (3,600 divine) years
o Treta-yuga-sandhya (dawn): 108,000 (300 divine)
o Treta-yuga (proper): 1,080,000 (3,000 divine)
o Treta-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk): 108,000 (300 divine)
Dvapara Yuga: 864,000 (2,400 divine) years
o Dvapara-yuga-sandhya (dawn): 72,000 (200 divine)
o Dvapara-yuga (proper): 720,000 (2,000 divine)
o Dvapara-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk): 72,000 (200 divine)
Kali Yuga: 432,000 (1,200 divine) years
o Kali-yuga-sandhya (dawn): 36,000 (100 divine)
o Kali-yuga (proper): 360,000 (1,000 divine)
o Kali-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk): 36,000 (100 divine)
The current cycle's four yugas have the following dates based on Kali Yuga, the
fourth and present age, starting in 3102 BCE:
Yuga Cycle
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Yuga
Start
Length
Krita (Satya) 3,891,102 BCE
1,728,000 (4,800)
Treta
2,163,102 BCE
1,296,000 (3,600)
Dvapara
867,102 BCE
864,000 (2,400)
Kali*
3102 BCE – 428,899 CE 432,000 (1,200)
Years: 4,320,000 solar (12,000 divine)
(*) Current.
(17) A year (of men) is equal to a day and night of the gods ... (19) I shall, in their order, tell you
the number of years that are for different purposes calculated differently, in the Krita, the Treta,
the Dwapara, and the Kali yugas. (20) Four thousand celestial years is the duration of the first or
Krita age. The morning of that cycle consists of four hundred years and its evening is of four
hundred years. (21) Regarding the other cycles, the duration of each gradually decreases by a
quarter in respect of both the principal period with the minor portion and the conjoining portion
itself. (29) The learned say that these twelve thousand celestial years form what is called a
cycle ...
— Mahabharata, Book 12 (Shanti Parva), Ch. 231
(67) A year is a day and a night of the gods ... (68) But hear now the brief (description of) the
duration of a night and a day of Brahman and of the several ages (of the world, yuga) according
to their order. (69) They declare that the Krita age (consists of) four thousand years (of the gods);
the twilight preceding it consists of as many hundreds, and the twilight following it of the same
number. (70) In the other three ages with their twilights preceding and following, the thousands
and hundreds are diminished by one (in each). (71) These twelve thousand (years) which thus
have been just mentioned as the total of four (human) ages, are called one age of the gods.
— Manusmriti, Ch. 1
(13) ... twelve months make a year. This is called a day of the gods. (14) ... Six times sixty [360]
of them are a year of the gods ... (15) Twelve thousand of these divine years are denominated a
Quadruple Age (caturyuga); of ten thousand times four hundred and thirty-two [4,320,000] solar
years (16) Is composed that Quadruple Age, with its dawn and twilight. The difference of the
Golden and the other Ages, as measured by the difference in the number of the feet of Virtue in
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each, is as follows : (17) The tenth part of an Age, multiplied successively by four, three, two,
and one, gives the length of the Golden and the other Ages, in order : the sixth part of each
belongs to its dawn and twilight.
— Surya Siddhanta, Ch. 1
Characteristics: The Hindu texts describe that along with each yuga's one-fourth (25%)
decrease in length, so too does humanity's general moral and physical state decrease at the same
rate. Dharma is personified as a bull, whose four legs reduce by one with each new yuga, often
related to Mother Earth personified as a cow. Near the end of Kali Yuga, when virtues are at their
worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of dharma occur to usher in the next cycle's Satya
Yuga, prophesied to occur by Kalki.
The descending yugas see a gradual decline of dharma, wisdom, knowledge, intellectual
capability, lifespan, emotional and physical strength.
Satya Yuga (Krita Yuga, "the age of truth" or the "Hindu golden age"): the first and
best yuga in a cycle. It is the age of truth and perfection. This yuga has no crime and all
humans are kind and friendly. The Krita Yuga is so named because humans are long living,
powerfully built, honest, youthful, vigorous, erudite and virtuous. The four Vedas are one.
All mankind can attain to supreme blessedness. There is no agriculture or mining since the
earth yields those riches on its own. Weather is pleasant and everyone is happy. There is no
disease, decrepitude, or fear of anything. Virtue reigns supreme. This yuga starts with
humans having an average lifespan of 100,000 years and stature of 21 cubits (33 ft, 6
inches).
Treta Yuga: the second yuga in a cycle. "Treta" means "third" and it has three quarters
virtue and one quarter sinfulness. In this age, virtue diminishes slightly. At the beginning of
the age, many emperors rise to dominance and conquer the world. Wars become frequent and
weather begins to change to extremities. Agriculture, labor and mining become existent.
This yuga starts with humans having an average lifespan of 10,000 years and stature of 14
cubits (22 ft, 4 inches).
Dvapara Yuga: the third yuga in a cycle. "Dvapara" means "two" and it has two quarters
virtue and two quarters sinfulness. In this age, people become tainted with qualities and aren't
as strong as their ancestors. Diseases become rampant. Humans are discontent and fight each
other. The Vedas are divided into four parts. People still possess characteristics of youth in
old age. This yuga starts with humans having an average lifespan of 1000 years and stature of
7 cubits (11 ft, 2 inches).[30][better source needed]
Kali Yuga: the last yuga in a cycle. There is one quarter virtue and three quarters sinfulness.
It is the age of darkness and ignorance. People stop following dharma and lack virtue. They
become slaves to their passions and are barely as powerful as their earliest ancestors of Satya
Yuga. Society falls into disuse and people become liars and hypocrites. Knowledge is lost
and scriptures are diminished. Humans eat forbidden and dirty food. The environment is
polluted causing a scarcity in food and water. Wealth is heavily diminished. Families become
non-existent. This yuga starts with humans having an average lifespan of 100 years and
stature of 3.5 cubits (5 ft, 3 inches).
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Hindu units of time, Kalpa (aeon), Pralaya, and Manvantara
There are 71 Yuga Cycles (306,720,000 years) in a manvantara, a period ruled by Manu, who is
the progenitor of mankind.[34] There are 1,000 Yuga Cycles (4,320,000,000 years) in a kalpa, a
period that is a day (12-hour day proper) of Brahma, who is the creator of the planets and first
living entities. There are 14 manvantaras (4,294,080,000 years) in a kalpa with a remainder of
25,920,000 years assigned to 15 manvantara-sandhyas (junctures), each the length of a Satya
Yuga (1,728,000 years). A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (night or partial dissolution) of equal
length forming a full day (24-hour day). A maha-kalpa (life of Brahma) lasts for 100 360-day
years of Brahma, which lasts for 72,000,000 Yuga Cycles (311.04 trillion years) and is followed
by a maha-pralaya (full dissolution) of equal length
We are currently halfway through Brahma's life (maha-kalpa):[3][35][36][37]
51st year of 100 (2nd half or parardha)
1st month of 12
1st kalpa (Shveta-Varaha Kalpa) of 30
7th manvantara (Vaivasvatha Manu) of 14
28th chatur-yuga (a.k.a. Yuga Cycle) of 71
4th yuga (Kali Yuga) of 4
Yuga dates are used in an ashloka, which is read out at the beginning of Hindu rites to specify the
elapsed time in Brahma's life
5121 of Kaliyuga year (for 2020 CE) of the 28th Caturyuga of the 7th Manvantra on the first day
of the 51st year of Brahma.
Avatars
This section needs expansion. You
can help by adding to it. (November
2020)
Ganesha
Main article: Ganesha Purana § Kridakhanda: Ganesha in four Yugas
Ganesha avatars are described as coming during specific yugas.[39][40][41][42][43]
Vishnu[edit]
Main articles: Dashavatara § List of Avatars, and Vamana § Vayu Purana
The Puranas describe Vishnu avatars that come during specific yugas, but may not occur in
every Yuga Cycle.
Vamana appears at the beginning of Treta Yuga. According to Vayu Purana, Vamana's 3rd
appearance was in the 7th Treta Yuga.
Rama appears at the end of Treta Yuga. According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, Rama
appeared in the 24th Yuga Cycle. According to Padma Purana, Rama also appeared in the
27th Yuga Cycle of the 6th manvantara.
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Vyasa
Main article: Vyasa (title) § Past Vyasa
Vyasa is attributed as the compiler of the four Vedas, Mahabharata, and Puranas. According to
the Vishnu Purana, Kurma Purana, and Shiva Purana, a different Vyasa comes at the end of
each Dvapara Yuga to write down veda (knowledge) for the degraded age of Kali Yuga.
Modern theories
Breaking from the long duration of a Yuga Cycle, new theories have emerged regarding the
length, number, and order of the yugas.
Sri Yukteswar Giri
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (1855 – 1936), in the introduction of his book, The Holy
Science (1894), proposed a Yuga Cycle of 24,000 years.
He claimed the understanding that Kali Yuga lasts for 432,000 years was a mistake, which he
traced back to Raja Parikshit, just after the descending Dvapara Yuga ended (c. 3101 BCE) and
all the wise men of his court retired to the Himalaya Mountains. With no one left to correctly
calculate the ages, Kali Yuga never officially started. After 499 CE, in ascending Dvapara Yuga,
when the intellect of men began to develop, but not fully, they noticed mistakes and attempted to
correct them by converting what they thought to be divine years to human years (1:360 ratio).
Yukteswar's yuga lengths for Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali are respectively 4,800, 3,600,
2,400, and 1,200 "human" years (12,000 years total).
He accepted the four yugas and their 4:3:2:1 length and dharma proportions, but his Yuga
Cycle contained eight yugas, the original descending set of the four yugas followed by an
ascending (reversed) set, where he called each set a "Daiva Yuga" or "Electric Couple". His Yuga
Cycle lasts for 24,000 years, which he believed equals one precession of the
equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 1,920 years ignored). He states that the world entered
the Pisces-Virgo Age in 499 CE ("cycle bottom"), and that the current age of ascending Dvapara
Yuga started in 1699 CE around the time of scientific discoveries and advancements such as
electricity.
He explained that in a 24,000-year Yuga Cycle, our Sun completes one orbit around some dual
star, becoming nearer and farther to a galactic center, which the pair orbit in a longer period. He
called this galactic center Vishnunabhi (Vishnu's Navel), where Brahma regulates dharma or, as
Yukteswar defined it, mental virtue. Dharma is lowest when farthest from Brahma at the
descending-ascending intersection ("cycle-bottom"), where the opposite occurs at the "cycle-top"
when nearest. At dharma's lowest (499 CE), human intellect cannot comprehend anything
beyond the gross material world.
Sri Yukteswar's Yuga Cycle
Yuga
Start
Length
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Descending (12,000 years):
11,501 BCE
4,800
Treta
6701 BCE
3,600
Dvapara
3101 BCE
2,400
701 BCE
1,200
499 CE
1,200
Dvapara*
1699 CE
2,400
Treta
4099 CE
3,600
Krita (Satya) 7699 CE – 12,499 CE
4,800
Krita (Satya)
Kali
Ascending (12,000 years):
Kali
Years: 24,000
(*) Current.
Joscelyn Godwin states that Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of the yugas wrong
and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar may have had political reasons of his own,
evident in a police report printed in Atlantis and the Cycles of Time, which links Yukteswar to a
secret anti-colonial movement called Yugantar, meaning "new age" or "transition of an epoch".[
Godwin claims the Jain time cycle and the European myth of progress influenced Yukteswar,
whose theory only recently became prominent outside India. Humanity in an upward cycle is
contrary to traditional ideas. Godwin points out many philosophies and religions that started
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during a time when "man could not see beyond the gross material world" (701 BCE – 1699 CE).
Only materialists and atheists would welcome the post-1700 age as an improvement.
John Major Jenkins, who adjusted ascending Kali Yuga from 499 CE to 2012 in his version,
criticizes Yukteswar as wanting the "cycle-bottom" to correspond to his education, beliefs, and
historical understanding. Technology has thrust us deeper into material dependency and spiritual
darkness.
René Guénon-The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times
René Guénon (1886 – 1951), in his original 1931 French article, which was later translated in the
book, Traditional Forms & Cosmic Cycles (2001),[62] proposed a Yuga Cycle of 64,800 years.
Guénon accepted the doctrine of the four yugas, the 4:3:2:1 yuga length proportions, and Kali
Yuga as the present age. He couldn't accept the extremely large lengths and felt they were
encoded with additional zeros to mislead those who might use it to predict the future. He reduced
a Yuga Cycle from 4,320,000 to 4,320 years (1,728 + 1,296 + 864 + 432), but he felt this was too
short for humanity's history.
In looking for a multiplier, he worked backwards from the precession of the
equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 360 72-year degrees). Using 25,920 and 72, he calculated
the sub-multiplier to be 4,320 years (72 x 60 = 4,320; 4,320 x 6 = 25,920). In noticing the "great
year" of the Persians (~12,000) and Greeks (~13,000) as almost half the precession, he
concluded a "great year" must be 12,960 years (4,320 x 3). In trying to find the whole number of
"great years" in a manvantara or reign of Vaivasvata Manu, he found the reign of Xisuthros of
the Chaldeans to be set to 64,800 years (12,960 x 5), someone he thought to be the same Manu.
Guénon felt 64,800 years was a more plausible length that may line up with humanity's history.
He calculated a 64,800 manvantara divided into a 4,320 "encoded" Yuga Cycle gave a multiplier
of 15 (5 "great years"). Using 15 as the multiplier, he "decoded" a 5-"great year" Yuga Cycle as
having the following yuga lengths:[62][64]
Satya: 25,920 (4 ratio or 2 x "great year"; 15 x 1,728)
Treta: 19,440 (3 ratio or 1.5 x "great year"; 15 x 1,296)
Dvapara: 12,960 (2 ratio or 1 x "great year"; 15 x 864)
Kali: 6,480 (1 ratio or 0.5 x "great year"; 15 x 432)
Guénon did not give a start date for Kali Yuga, but instead left clues in his description of the
cataclysmic destruction of the Atlantean civilization. His commentator, Jean Robin, in an early
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1980s publication, claimed to have decoded this description and calculated that Kali Yuga lasted
from 4481 BCE to 1999 CE (2000 CE excluding year 0). In Les Quatre Ages de
L’Humanité (The Four Ages of Humanity), a book written in 1949 by Gaston Georgel, this same
end date of 1999 CE was calculated; although, in his 1983 book titled Le Cycle JudeoChrétien (The Judeo-Christian cycle), he argued to shift the cycle forward by 31 years so it ends
in 2030 CE.
René Guénon's Yuga Cycle
Yuga
Start
Length
62,801 BCE
25,920
Treta
36,881 BCE
19,440
Dvapara
17,441 BCE
12,960
4481 BCE – 1999 CE
6,480
Krita (Satya)
Kali
Years: 64,800
Alain Daniélou
Alain Daniélou (1907 – 1994), in his book, While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and
Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind (1985), proposed a Yuga
Cycle of 60,487 years.
92
Daniélou and René Guénon had some correspondence where they both couldn't accept the
extremely large lengths found in the Puranas. Daniélou mostly cited Linga Purana and his
calculations are based on a 4,320,000-year Yuga Cycle containing (his calculation of 1000 ÷ 14)
71.42 manvantaras, each containing 4 yugas [4:3:2:1 proportions]. He pegged 3102 BCE as the
start of Kali Yuga and placed it after the dawn (yuga-sandhya). He claimed his dates are accurate
to within 50 years, and that the Yuga Cycle started with a great flood and appearance of CroMagnon man, and will end with a catastrophe wiping out mankind.
Alain Daniélou's Yuga Cycle
Yuga
Start
Length
Krita (Satya)
58,042 BCE
24,195
Treta
33,848 BCE
18,146
Dvapara
15,703 BCE
12,097
Kali*
3606 BCE – 2442 CE 6,048.72
Years: 60,487
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(*) Current.
[e][69]
Godwin found that Daniélou's misunderstanding rests solely on a bad translation of Linga
Purana 1.4.7.
According to Robert Bolten, there is a universal belief in many traditions that the world started
in a perfect state, when nature and the supernatural were still in harmony with all things in their
fullest degree of perfection possible, which was followed by an unpreventable constant
deterioration of the world through the ages.
In the Works and Days (lines 109–201; c. 700 BCE), considered the earliest European writing
about human ages, Hesiod (Greek) describes five ages (Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron
Ages), where the Heroic Age was added, according to Godwin, as a compromise with Greek
history when the Trojan War and its heroes loomed so large. Bolton explains that the men of the
Golden Age lived like gods without sorrow, toil, grief, and old age, while the men of the Iron
Age ("the race of iron") never rest from labor and sorrow, are degenerated without shame,
morality, and righteous indignation, and have short lives with frequent deaths at night, where
even a new-born baby shows signs of old age, only to end when Zeus destroys it all.
In the Statesman (c. 399 – c. 347 BCE), Plato (Greek) describes time as an indefinite cycle of
two 36,000-year halves: (1) the world's unmaking descent into chaos and destruction (2) the
world's remaking by its creator into a renewed state. In the Cratylus (397e), Plato recounts the
golden race of men who came first, who were noble and good daemons (godlike guides) upon
the earth.
In the Metamorphoses (I, 89–150; c. 8 BCE), Ovid (Greek) describes four ages (Golden, Silver,
Bronze, and Iron Ages), excluding Hesiod's Heroic Age, as a downward curve with the present
time as the nadir of misery and immorality, according to Godwin, affecting both human life and
the after-death state, where deaths in the first two ages became immortal watchful spirits that
benefited the human race, deaths in the third age went to Hades (the underworld), and deaths in
the fourth age had an unknown fate.
Joscelyn Godwin posits that it is probably from Hindu tradition that knowledge of the ages
reached the Greeks and other Indo-European peoples. Godwin adds that the number 432,000
(Kali Yuga's duration) occurring in four widely separated cultures (Hindu, Chaldean, Chinese,
and Icelandic) has long been noticed
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The temple was not a Vedic institution: Manu V. Devadevan
Religious identity was not a thing to be inherited — but that changed in the 11th
century CE, says the historian
Kannada poet, historian and political theorist Manu V. Devadevan’s most recent
work, The Prehistory of Hinduism, received much acclaim. Devadevan, who teaches
history at Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, specialises in the political economy
of precolonial South India. In this interview, Devadevan talks about the factors
leading to the formation of modern Hinduism — the unprecedented proliferation of
temple-building between 1000 and 1200 CE, giving rise to inherited religious
identities among the laity; the rise of the ‘guru’ as a central authority figure resulting
in older texts and practices going out of fashion; and the emergence of popular Indian
‘godmen’, catalysed by private television channels and the Constitutional provision
that confers on them the right to acquire and manage property in the name of religion.
I also asked Devadevan about the recent controversy over Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
holding up a ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’ placard and he speaks of the
hollowness of terms like ‘brahminism’ in today’s political climate. Excerpts:
In your book, you posit two approaches to studying Hinduism: the
‘primordialist’ and the ‘constructionist’. Can you elaborate?
Until very recently, it was believed that Hinduism was one of the oldest religions in
the world. Its beginnings were placed in mid second millennium BCE which is the
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date generally assigned to the Rig Veda. At times, its antiquity was pushed back to
early half of the third millennium BCE, when Harappan urbanism began to develop.
This view, which lays emphasis on Hinduism’s putative antiquity, is what I have
called the primordialist position. It has lost little of its popular appeal. There are also
a number of historians and Indologists who continue to endorse this view. Opposed
to this, an interesting body of writings produced in recent decades argues that
Hinduism, as an idea and an identity, is not older than the 19th century. This is the
constructionist approach. The constructionists show greater awareness about the
political and economic processes that enable or assist the making of religious
identities. In their understanding, religious identities — such as Hindu, Muslim,
Christian — are consciously constructed under specific historical conditions. They
hold that such identities do not exist in any essential or homogeneous form for
several hundred years. Informed by this historical insight, it has been possible for
constructionist research to show that the making of a Hindu religious identity does
not antedate the early 19th century.
You have argued that inherited religious identities only existed for specialist
‘renouncer’ communities and were non-existent among the laity before 1000
CE...
Constructionist research has made us sceptical of the claim that Hinduism is more
than 3,000 years old. Nevertheless, historians have shied away from extending its
insights to explore the emergence of religious identities per se in the Indian
subcontinent. Not surprisingly, we come across a number of historical studies that
wax eloquent on religious groups in India from the earliest documented times, as if a
religious identity is intrinsic to human life. We are told of the Vedic religion, of the
heterodox Buddhists, Jainas and Ajivikas, and of Shaiva, Vaishnava and other groups
that are of Puranic and tantric origins. A close examination of the sources shows that
these identities were monastic in nature before 1000 CE. Until the close of the first
millennium CE it was possible to become a Buddhist or Jaina or Shaiva or Vaishnava
only by initiation as a monk or nun. Religious identity was the preserve of a
renouncer, and did not extend to the laity. It was not inherited. This changed between
1100 and 1200 CE in what is arguably among the most momentous of historical
transformations in India. In these centuries, local elites — including peasant
proprietors, merchants, chiefs, and warlords — began to associate themselves with
religious life on a hitherto unnoticed scale. Temple building was the means through
which this relationship found expression. By the end of the 12th century CE, the
character of religious identities had changed beyond recognition. The laity now
flaunted religious identities and bequeathed them as inheritance.
How did the sudden interest in temple building lead to the formation of separate
religious groups?
The oldest written references to temples are from 300 and 400 CE, and the earliest
surviving temple structures date back to 500 and 600 CE. The temple was not a
Vedic institution. Its origin was intertwined with the evolution of pooja, a form of
idol worship based on the agamas and tantras, different from the sacrifice-based
worship of the Vedas. Not surprisingly, temple worship was met with resistance from
96
the Vedic orthodoxy. It is for this reason that texts such as the Manusmriti are not
favourably disposed towards temples.
Peasant proprietors and local elites were the earliest to build temples and set aside land for
their maintenance. By 700 CE, the Pallavas of Kanchipuram, the Chalukyas of Badami,
and other such monarchical states had begun to promote temple building. What happened
between 1000 and 1200 CE was an unprecedented proliferation in temple building. I have
been able to count as many as 170 temples built in these two centuries from a mere eight
taluks in Karnataka. As a matter of fact, we do not know of a single city or town from this
period that did not have one or more temples.
A major fallout was that the focus of religious life shifted to the temple. With inheritable
land endowed for its maintenance, the temple became an economically autonomous
institution, wielding great power and influence. It helped in cementing the agrarian and
other economic relations of the day as well as in forging new ties of trade, kinship,
matrimony and fealty. The making and consolidation of inheritable religious identities —
Shaiva, Vaishnava, Jaina, etc., in their numerous forms — was part of this temple-centred
process.
Your book looks at the growth of monasteries in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the
guru emerging as an authority figure. What are the parallels, if any, with today’s
godmen?
The guru emerged as a major figure at about the same time as the making of religious
identities among the laity. The centrality of this figure is emphasised in a few earlier
sources as well, as in the Buddhist Hevajra Tantra, for instance. From the 12th century
onwards, we find him an indispensable part of religious life. As we reach the 15th and 16th
centuries, our sources give the impression that all of religious life hinges on the guru.
There is an intimate bond between guru and disciple, which lasts for a lifetime and spills
over into the next birth as well. There is no knowledge without the guru, no release and
redemption without him. The figure of the guru becomes the new source of authority.
Long-standing texts and practices retain their significance only to the extent that they find
endorsement from the guru. We must remember that for much of history, the masses were
an unlettered lot. As late as 1901, the literacy level in India was just over 5%. Until the
10th century CE, complex ideas and doctrines that were part of a religion and its
philosophy were systematically taught in institutions meant for the purpose, as was done in
later times as well. But there was a greater preference in the earlier times for svadhyaya,
i.e., learning without assistance from others. One of the instructions that a teacher gave the
student at the end of his education was to never stray away from self-learning (svadhyayat
ma pramadah). This mode of learning had to take a back seat in the changed circumstances
when a religious identity was not anymore limited to a learned/ trained renouncer, but
extended to the illiterate masses too. It is not unreasonable that erudite textual traditions
made way for the guru as source of knowledge and deliverance.
I don’t think there are parallels in our times. There has, of course, been a proliferation of
godmen since the early 1980s. This has a history of its own. These godmen have much to
say on religion and ethics, but the experience of the divine they speak of is no match to that
of saints from the recent past — Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,
97
Nisargadatta Maharaj. Our godmen have made a name not so much by religious
experiences as through instructions in healthy living, stress reduction, fitness through yoga,
meditation and pranayama, etc. They have a clientèle that’s mostly urban, middle-class,
espousing neoliberal capitalism, and lamenting the death of tradition. The godmen serve as
lifestyle management gurus for this class of clients.
At least two other factors have led to the rise of godmen. We know that godmen engage in
a wide assortment of activities. The most important activity of godmen is real estate
management. Article 26 confers upon them the right to acquire and manage property in the
name of religion. This is a fundamental right. Another provision in the Constitution that
recognised the right to property as a fundamental right was Article 31. This was repealed
by the 44th amendment to the Constitution. Today, the only way to claim land ownership
as a fundamental right is through Article 26. What this means, in historical terms, is that
our godmen are progenies of Article 26 of the Constitution. The second factor is the
emergence of private television channels since the early 90s, which helped many godmen
to expand businesses exponentially. It also produced a large number of invisible clients for
whom the godmen brought counsel into the comfort of their living rooms.
Your comments on the brouhaha over Jack Dorsey holding up a placard saying
‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’?
I find such slogans very interesting for a rather bizarre reason. They embody a strange
contradiction as it were, for they occur as value-loaded expressions even when they are
semantically hollow. The word ‘Brahminical’ is reduced to a porous signifier that can
contain anything and everything that a progressive mind abhors. It is in this sense similar to
the shallow ways in which terms such as ‘feudal’ and ‘medieval’ are used as adjectives for
anything that is authoritarian and undemocratic. Ask the placard holders what
‘Brahminical’ means, and you will either face an outburst of reactionary self-righteousness,
or be accused of affiliations with Hindu fundamentalists. The more sober among the
placard holders may present you with a poor summary of the Manusmriti and a poorer
assessment of its advocates, as if there are people in India whose lives are modelled after
the Manusmriti to the last letter. The time is perhaps ripe now for us to admit that
progressive movements in India have not only used the word ‘Brahminical’ with little
sense of awareness or discretion, but have dogmatised it beyond redemption, even by the
standards of mediocre political rhetoric.
Hindu architecture evolved over the centuries from simple rock-cut cave shrines to massive
and ornate temples which spread across the Indian sub-continent and beyond, forming a
canonical style which is still adhered to today in modern Hindu temples across the globe.
Essential elements of the style are precise and harmonious geometry when viewed from all four
sides and above, the square form and grid ground plans, soaring towers, and elaborate
decorate sculpture which includes gods, worshippers, erotic scenes, animals, and floral and
geometric patterns.
Beginnings & Purpose
From the 1st century CE a new type of worship known as Bhakti or devotional Hinduism spread
across the Indian sub-continent, and the old Vedic gods were replaced in importance by deities
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like Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Brahma, and Devi. These gods would become the central figures
of Hinduism and their worship required temples where the devoted could offer their thanks and
reveal their hopes for a better life. Temple construction in India started nearly 2000 years ago.
The oldest temples that were built of brick and wood no longer exist. Stone later became the
preferred material. Temples marked the transition of Hinduism from the Vedic religion of ritual
sacrifices to a religion of Bhakti or love and devotion to a personal deity. Temple construction
and mode of worship is governed by ancient Sanskrit scriptures called agamas, of which there
are several, which deal with individual deities. There are substantial differences in architecture,
customs, rituals and traditions between temples in different parts of India. South India is very
different from the north. Hundreds, if not thousands, of ancient temples were destroyed during
Islamic rule in India (especially in North India) between 1200 CE and 1700 CE. South India
therefore has more large temples still standing.
During the ritual consecration of a temple, the presence of the universal all-encompassing
Brahman, is invoked into the main stone deity of the temple, through ritual, thereby making the
deity and the temple sacred and divine.
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PART III
Tracing the evolution of temples in India
100
CHAPTER VII
Temple Timeline
World Temples
Hindu Temples
The Gaudaragudi Temple is
built at Aihole and dedicated to
Durga.
Construction of Gobekli Tepe Temple, oldest
temple in the world.
c. 4500 BCE
c. 3500 BCE
Ness of Brodgar in use as religious site in
Orkney, Scotland.
c. 700 BCE
650 BCE - 600 BCE
101
c. 950
The Mukteshvara Temple is
built at Bhubaneswar.
The temple of Apollo is built on the island
of Delos.
c. 770
The Kailasa rock-cut temple at
Ellora is completed and
dedicated to Shiva.
c. 700 BCE
Sanctuary of Poseidon built at Isthmia.
750 - 950
The Hindu temple complex
at Prambanan, Java, is in use.
c. 800 BCE
The site of Delphi first acquires a religious
significance.
c. 750
The
Parasurameshvara Temple is
built at Bhubaneswar.
950 BCE
Solomon builds the first Temple of Jerusalem.
c. 700 - c. 725
The Durga Temple is built
at Aihole.
The Sumerians built their first temple.
c. 675 - c. 725
c. 12000 BCE
954
The Laksmana temple,
dedicated to Vishnu, is built
at Khajuraho.
Heraion, temple dedicated to Hera built
at Olympia.
c. 650 BCE
The first temple in honour of Apollo is built
at Delphi.
The Brihadishvara Temple is
built at Tanjavur, Tamil
Nadu, India.
570 BCE - 530 BCE
The Doric Temple of Hera is built
at Metapontum, Magna Graecia.
c. 550 BCE
c. 550 BCE
The temple of Apollo is constructed at Corinth.
c. 510 BCE
c. 510 BCE
c. 510 BCE
c. 510 BCE
The Etruscan Portonaccio Temple is
constructed at Veii.
484 BCE
102
c. 1150 - c. 1200
The Nataraja Temple is built
at Chidambaram.
The temple of Hercules is built at Agrigento.
c. 1050
The Rajarani Temple is built
at Bhubaneswar.
The Temple of Athena is built at Paestum.
c. 1050
The Lingaraja Temple is built
at Bhubaneswar.
The second temple to Apollo is constructed
at Delphi, replacing the first temple destroyed
by fire.
c. 1025 - 1000
The Kandariya
Mahadeo temple, dedicated
to Shiva, is built at Khajuraho.
The Temple of Hera I is built at Paestum.
c. 1010 - c. 1025
c. 1250
King Narasimhadeva I begins
construction of the Konarak
Sun Temple dedicated
to Surya.
The first temple of the Dioscuri (Castor &
Pollux) is dedicated in Rome's Forum
Romanum by Aulus Postumius following his
victory over the Latins at the Battle of Lake
Regillus.
c. 480 BCE
The huge temple of Zeus is built at Agrigento.
478 BCE
Temple of Confucius built at Qufu, China.
c. 460 BCE - 457 BCE
Temple of Zeus is built at Olympia with a
statue of Apollo dominating the west pediment
and containing the cult statue of Zeus
by Phidias.
c. 460 BCE
The temple of Hera II is built at Paestum.
450 BCE - 430 BCE
The Temple of Concordia is built at Agrigento.
449 BCE
The
Hephaisteion, temple to Athena & Hephaistos,
built in Athens.
447 BCE - 432 BCE
The construction of
the Parthenon in Athens by the architects
Iktinos and Kallikrates under the direction
of Phidias.
103
c. 444 BCE - 440 BCE
Temple of Poseidon at Sounion re-built.
c. 430 BCE
The cult statue of Zeus by Phidias is dedicated
in the Temple of Zeus, Olympia. It is one
of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
c. 425 BCE - c. 420 BCE
The Temple dedicated to Athena Nike is
constructed on the acropolis of Athens.
421 BCE - 406 BCE
The Erechtheion of Athens acropolis is
constructed with six Caryatids in the south
porch.
c. 420 BCE - c. 400 BCE
The Temple of Apollo is built at Bassae.
c. 417 BCE
The Doric temple of Segesta is built.
c. 380 BCE - c. 375 BCE
Temple to Asclepius constructed at Epidaurus.
342 BCE
Fire destroys the 6th century
BCE temple to Athena at Lindos, Rhodes and
is replaced by a new one.
c. 330 BCE
104
Temple of Zeus built at Nemea.
c. 330 BCE
The third temple to Apollo is constructed
at Delphi, replacing the earlier temple damaged
by earthquake.
c. 320 BCE
Temple dedicated to Aphrodite constructed
at Epidaurus.
c. 301 BCE - c. 320 BCE
Doric temple to Athena and fortifications
of Lysimachus built at Troy.
225 BCE - 150 BCE
The Temple of Hercules is built at Ostia.
c. 1 CE - c. 100 CE
Construction of the temple of Jupiter Baal by
the Romans at Baalbek.
c. 14 CE
The Temple of Rome and Augustus is built
at Ostia.
650 CE - 1025 CE
The Buddhist temple at Borobudur, Java is
built during the rule of the Sailendra Dynasty.
c. 1010 CE - c. 1025 CE
The Brihadishvara Temple is built at Tanjavur,
Tamil Nadu, India.
105
c. 1025 CE - 1000 CE
The Kandariya Mahadeo temple, dedicated
to Shiva, is built at Khajuraho.
1122 CE
Construction begins of
the Hindu temple at Angkor Wat.
Temples
The Vaishnava temples and arts since the Gupta Empire, states Doris Srinivasan, attempted to
present the Pancaratra ideas. In this system, states Srinivasan, "Vāsudeva, literally, "the
indwelling deity," is the first emanation and the fountainhead of the successive emanations,
which may be represented either anthropomorphically or theriomorphically in Hindu art". As one
circumambulates the ancient and medieval Vaishnava cave temples, the devotee walks past from
the icon representing Vāsudeva (most abstract) and then the successive Vyuhas (literally,
"orderly arrangement").
Early trxts-The Bhaktisūtras of Shandilya were one of the earliest systematic treatises on the
Pancaratra doctrine. The Pancaratra literature constitutes the Āgama texts of Vaishnavism. Like
the Shaivism counterpart, it not only presents the theology, but describes the details, symbolism
and procedures of Vaishnava temples building and rituals. According to the Pancharatra
tradition, there are 108 samhitas, but its texts list over 200 samhitas. Many Pancaratra texts have
been lost. Some surviving Pancaratra texts, with their general focus, are:
Sasvata Samhita: treatise on divine manifestations (vyuhas), thirty nine incarnations of
Vishnu, and worship methodology
Ahirbudhnya Samhita: discusses philosophy, vyuha theory, alphabet and rituals
Hayashirsha Samhita: rituals and deities
Padma Samhita: Panchakala practices for the devotee, festivals and mantras
Paushkara Samhita: iconography and worship, believed to be a gem along with Satvata
Samhita
Maha Sanatkumara Samhita: a large text on religious practice
Isvara Samhita: meditation, worship and rituals
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The Hindu Temple - Where Man Becomes God
Ancient Indian thought divides time into four different periods. These durations are
referred to as the Krta; Treta; Dvapara; and Kali.
The first of these divisions (Krta), is also known as satya-yuga, or the Age of Truth. This was a
golden age without envy, malice or deceit, characterized by righteousness. All people belonged
to one caste, and there was only one god who lived amongst the humans as one of them.
In the next span (Treta-yuga), the righteousness of the previous age decreased by one fourth. The
chief virtue of this age was knowledge. The presence of gods was scarce and they descended to
earth only when men invoked them in rituals and sacrifices. These deities were recognizable by
all.
In the third great division of time, righteousness existed only in half measure of that in the first
division. Disease, misery and the castes came into existence in this age. The gods multiplied.
Men made their own images, worshipped them, and the divinities would come down in disguised
forms. But these disguised deities were recognizable only by that specific worshipper.
Kali-yuga is the present age of mankind in which we live, the first three ages having already
elapsed. It is believed that this age began at midnight between February 17 and 18, 3102 B.C.
Righteousness is now one-tenth of that in the first age. True worship and sacrifice are now lost. It
is a time of anger, lust, passion, pride, and discord. There is an excessive preoccupation with
things material and sexual.
Temples appeared on the horizon only in the Kali-yuga. During this existing last phase,
temples (as public shrines), began to be built and icons installed. But the gods ceased to come
down and appear in their own or disguised forms. However, their presence could be felt when the
icons were properly enshrined, and the temples correctly built. In contrast to the previous periods
when the gods were available to all equally, now it is only the priests, belonging to a traditional
hierarchy of professional worshippers, who are the competent individuals to compel this
presence.
safe haven : From the contemporary point of view, temples act as safe haven where ordinary
mortals like us can feel themselves free from the constant vagaries of everyday existence, and
communicate personally with god. But our age is individualistic if nothing else. Each of us
requires our own conception of the deity based on our individual cultural rooting. In this context
it is interesting to observe that the word ‘temple,’ and ‘contemplate’ both share the same origin
from the Roman word ‘templum,’ which means a sacred enclosure. Indeed, strictly speaking,
where there is no contemplation, there is no temple. It is an irony of our age that this
individualistic contemplative factor, associated with a temple, is taken to be its highest positive
virtue, while according to the fact of legend it is but a limitation which arose due to our
continuous spiritual impoverishment over the ages. We have lost the divine who resided amongst
us (Krta Yuga), which is the same as saying that once man was divine himself.
But this is not to belittle the importance of the temple as a center for spiritual nourishment in our
present context, rather an affirmation of their invaluable significance in providing succour to the
modern man in an environment and manner that suits the typical requirements of the age in
which we exist.
107
Making of the Temple
The first step towards the construction of a temple is the selection of land. Even though any land
may be considered suitable provided the necessary rituals are performed for its sanctification, the
ancient texts nevertheless have the following to say in this matter: “The gods always play where
groves, rivers, mountains and springs are near, and in towns with pleasure gardens.” Not
surprisingly thus, many of India’s ancient surviving temples can be seen to have been built in
lush valleys or groves, where the environment is thought to be particularly suitable for building a
residence for the gods.
No matter where it is situated, one essential factor for the existence of a temple is water. Water is
considered a purifying element in all major traditions of the world, and if not available in reality,
it must be present in at least a symbolic representation in the Hindu temple. Water, the purifying,
fertilizing element being present, its current, which is the river of life, can be forded into inner
realization and the pilgrim can cross over to the other shore (metaphysical).
The practical preparations for building a temple are invested with great ritual significance and
magical fertility symbolism. The prospective site is first inspected for the ‘type,’ of the soil it
contains. This includes determining its color and smell. Each of these defining characteristics is
divided into four categories, which are then further associated with one of the four castes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
White Soil: Brahmin
- Red Soil: Kshatriya (warrior caste)
- Yellow Soil: Vaishya
- Black Soil: Shudra
Similarly for the smell and taste:
Sweet: Brahmin
- Sour: Kshatriya
- Bitter: Vaishya
- Astringent: Shudra (a reminder perhaps of the raw-deal which they have often been
given in life)
The color and taste of the soil determines the “caste” of the temple, i.e., the social group to which
it will be particularly favourable. Thus the patron of the temple can choose an auspicious site
specifically favourable to himself and his social environment.
After these preliminary investigations, the selected ground needs to be tilled and levelled:
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The Ram Mandir LOWEST PIC
Tilling: When the ground is tilled and ploughed, the past ceases to count; new life is entrusted to
the soil and another cycle of production begins, an assurance that the rhythm of nature has not
been interfered with. Before laying of the actual foundation, the Earth Goddess herself is
impregnated in a symbolic process known as ankura-arpana, ankura meaning seed and arpana
signifying offering. In this process, a seed is planted at the selected site on an auspicious day and
its germination is observed after a few days. If the growth is satisfactory, the land is deemed
suitable for the temple. The germination of the seed is a metaphor for the fulfilment of the
inherent potentialities which lie hidden in Mother Earth, and which by extension are now
transferred to the sacred structure destined to come over it.
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Levelling: It is extremely important that the ground from which the temple is to rise is regarded
as being throughout an equal intellectual plane, which is the significance behind the levelling of
the land. It is also an indication that order has been established in a wild, unruly, and errant
world.
vastu-purusha mandala-Now that the earth has been ploughed, tilled and levelled, it is ready
for the drawing of the vastu-purusha mandala, the metaphysical plan of the temple.
The Metaphysical Architecture of the Temple. The basic plan of a Hindu temple is an
expression of sacred geometry where the temple is visualized as a grand mandala. By sacred
geometry we mean a science which has as its purpose the accurate laying out of the temple
ground plan in relation to the cardinal directions and the heavens. Characteristically, a mandala is
a sacred shape consisting of the intersection of a circle and a square.
The square shape is symbolic of earth, signifying the four directions which bind and define it.
Indeed, in Hindu thought whatever concerns terrestrial life is governed by the number four (four
castes; the four Vedas etc.). Similarly, the circle is logically the perfect metaphor for heaven
since it is a perfect shape, without beginning or end signifying timelessness and eternity, a
characteristically divine attribute. Thus a mandala (and by extension the temple) is the meeting
ground of heaven and earth.
These considerations make the actual preparation of the site and laying of the foundation doubly
important. Understandably, the whole process is heavily immersed in rituals right from the
selection of the site to the actual beginning of construction. Indeed, it continues to be a custom in
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India that whenever a building is sought to be constructed, the area on which it first comes up is
ceremonially propitiated. The idea being that the extent of the earth necessary for such
construction must be reclaimed from the gods and goblins that own and inhabit that area. This
ritual is known as the ‘pacification of the site.’ There is an interesting legend behind it:
Once when Shiva was engaged in a fierce battle with the demon Andhaka, a drop of sweat fell
from Shiva’s forehead to the ground, accompanied by a loud thunder. This drop transformed into
a ravenously hungry monster, who attempted to destroy the three worlds. The gods and divine
spirits, however, rushed at once on to him and held him down. When the demon fell on the
ground face downwards, the deities lodged themselves on to the different parts of his body and
pressed him down. It is because of this reason that the recumbent individual came to be known as
‘Vastu,’ which means the lodgement of the gods. He is pictured as lying down inside the
mandala with his arms and legs so folded as to cover the whole area, and his head pushed into
the north-eastern corner of the square. As many as forty-five gods are lodged on his body
directly on the limbs and joints.
This vastu-purusha is the spirit in mother-earth which needs to be pacified and is regarded as a
demon whose permission is necessary before any construction can come up on the site. At the
same time, care is taken to propitiate the deities that hold him down, for it is important that he
should not get up. To facilitate the task of the temple-architect, the vastu-mandala is divided into
square grids with the lodging of the respective deities clearly marked. It also has represented on
it the thirty-two nakshatras, the constellations that the moon passes through on its monthly
course. In an ideal temple, these deities should be situated exactly as delineated in the mandala.
In the central grid of the vastu-mandala sits Brahma, the archetypal creator, endowed with four
faces looking simultaneously in all directions. He is thus conceived as the ever-present
superintending genius of the site. At this exact central point is established the most important
structure of the sacred complex, where the patron deity of the temple is installed. Paradoxically
this area is the most unadorned and least decorated part of the temple, almost as if it is created in
an inverse proportion to its spiritual importance. Referred to as the sanctum sanctorum, it is the
most auspicious region in the whole complex. It has no pillars, windows or ventilators. In
addition to a metaphysical aspect, this shutting off of air and light has a practical side to it too. It
was meant to preserve the icon, which, in olden days, was often made of wood. Also, besides
preventing the ill effects of weathering, the dark interior adds to the mystery of the divine
presence.
Throughout all subsequent developments in temple architecture, however spectacular and
grandiose, this main shrine room remains the small, dark cave that it has been from the
beginning. Indeed it has been postulated (both by archaeology and legend), that the temple
developed from the cave-shrine of the extremely remote past. This is another instance in
Hinduism where the primitive and the modern, along with all the developments in-between, can
be seen to co-exist remarkably and peacefully.
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Sanctum
Nitin Kumar Editor http://www.exoticindia.com
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CHAPTER VIII
EMERGENCE OF TEMPLES
Shaktism
Shaktism "doctrine of energy, power, the eternal goddess" is one of major Hindu denominations,
wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti is regarded as
the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, all considered aspects of the same supreme
goddess. Shaktism has different sub-traditions, ranging from those focused on gracious Parvati to
that of fierce Kali.
The Sruti and Smriti texts of Hinduism are an important historical framework of the Shaktism
tradition. In addition, it reveres the texts Devi Mahatmya, the Devi-Bhagavata Purana, Kalika
Purana and Shakta Upanishads such as the Devi Upanishad. The Devi Mahatmya in particular, is
considered in Shaktism to be as important as the Bhagavad Gita.
Shaktism is known for its various sub-traditions of Tantra as well as a galaxy of goddesses with
respective systems. It consists of the Vidyapitha and Kulamārga. The pantheon of goddesses in
Shaktism grew after the decline of Buddhism in India, wherein Hindu and Buddhist goddesses
were combined to form the Mahavidya, a list of ten goddesses. The most common aspects of
Devi found in Shaktism
include Durga, Kali, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati and Tripurasundari. The Goddess-focused
tradition is very popular in Northeastern India particularly West
Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tripura and Assam, which it celebrates festivals such as
the Durga puja, which is popular in West Bengal and Odisha.
Shaktism's ideas have influenced Vaishnavism and Shaivism traditions, with the Goddess
considered the Shakti/Energy of Vishnu and Shiva respectively, and revered prominently in
numerous Hindu temples and festivals
This category has the following 9 subcategories, out of 9 total.
B
► Bhagavathi temples ) 1C ,3 P(
D
► Durga temples ) 64P(
H
► Hindu temples practicing animal sacrifice ) 7P(
I
► Devi temples in India ) 4C ,16 P(
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K
► Kali temples ) 21P(
L
► Lakshmi temples ) 10P(
P
► Parvati temples ) 6P(
S
► Saraswati temples ) 8P(
► Shakti Peethas ) 1C ,53 P(
The following 83 pages are in this category, out of 83 total. This list may not reflect recent
changes (learn more).
A
Akhadachandi Temple
Ambaji
B
Badrakali Amman temple, Sivakasi
Baitala Deula
Becharaji
Bhabanipur Shaktipeeth
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Bhattarika Temple
Bhavani
Biswanahakani temple
C
Charchika Temple
Chaturshringi Temple
Chausath Yogini Temple, Ranipur Jharial
Chhatarpur Temple
Chotila
Cuttack Chandi Temple
D
Maa Pitambara (Bagalamukhi) Temple
Devi Jagadambi Temple
Dhari Devi
Draupati Amman Temples, Kumbakonam
Durgai Amman Temple, Patteeswaram
E
Egowriamman Temple, Vallam
G
Gomathi Amman
H
Hariyali Devi Temple (Jasoli village)
Hindu Temple of Delaware
J
Jajwala Mata Temple
Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval
Jasma Odan
Jivdani Mata
Jwala Ji
K
Kalika Mata Temple, Chittorgarh Fort
Kalyaneshwari Temple
Kamakhya Temple
Kamakshi Devi Temple, Pratapgarh
Kudargarh
L
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Lankeswari Temple
M
Maa Barunei Temple
Maa Baulasuni Temple
Maa Mangala Temple, Kakatpur
Maa Tarini
Maa Tarini Temple, Ghatgaon
Maa Ugra Tara
Madayi Kavu
Maha Ganapathi Mahammaya Temple
Mahamaya Dham
Mandhradevi
Manikeshwari Temple
Mansa Devi Temple, Haridwar
Mata no Madh
Mausi Maa Temple
Mausimaa Temple
Maya Devi Temple, Haridwar
N
Nayar Devi Temple
P
Patan Devi
Pitambara Peeth
Pulimukham Devi Temple
S
Sachiya Mata Temple
Samaleswari
Samaleswari Temple
Saptamatruka Temple
Template:Shakti temples in Odisha
Shantadurga Kalangutkarin Temple
Shree Betal temple
Shri Ambaji Temple Girnar Parvat Gujarat
Siddha Bhairavi
Siddheshwar temple, Toka
Sureswari temple
T
Tarapith
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Taratarini Temple
Thanjavur Bangaru Kamatchiamman Temple
Thanjavur Nisumbasuthani Temple
Tripura Sundari Temple
Tungareshwar Temple
U
Ugratara Devalaya
Ujjain Mahaliamman Temple, Thanjavur
Ujjaini Mahakali Temple
V
Vaishno Devi
Vaishno Devi Temple
Vajreshwari Temple
Varahi Deula, Chaurasi
Vazhappully temple
Vellayani Devi Temple
Vindhyachal
Y
Yogmaya Temple
Since many cultures have temple building traditions, it is understandable that modern scholarship
shows a pronounced universalizing tendency in its attempts to interpret the temple building
phenomenon The Pancharatra tradition has taught Panchakala or five observances every day.
The first is called Abhigamna or ablutions and morning prayers to god. This is followed
by Upadana or collecting worship materials. The third practice is Ijya or worship with offerings.
The fourth practice in the Pancharatra tradition has been daily study or Svadhyaya. The fifth
recommended practice is Yoga and meditation.
The significance of divine manifestation theology in Pancaratra tradition is it believes that an
understanding of the process by which Vishnu-Narayana emerged into empirical reality and
human beings, can lead one to reverse the process. Through practicing the reversal and moving
from the empirical to ever more abstract, according to Pancaratra, human beings can access
immanent Vasudeva-Krishna and thereby achieve salvific liberation (moksha).
List of agamas
The Pancharatra texts are samhitas and tantras which both classify as Agama due to subject
matter. The Agamas are predominantly divided into Saiva, Sakta and Vaishnava Agamas. The
Vaishnava Agamas are Pancharatra Agama and Vaikhanasa Agama and they conclude Brahman
as Vasudeva. The Mahabharata subscribes to the Pancharatra philosophy in its Narayaniya
section. Author Vishnulok Bihari Srivastava says, "Pancharatra has been discussed in the
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Narayanopakhyana section of Mahabharata. It has been mentioned that Narada had imbibed the
essence of this tantra from the Saint Narayana. It has been accepted as part of Veda named
Ekayana. As many as 215 Pancharatra Samhitas have been mentioned in Kapinjai
Samhita".Some of the Samhita's are, a list mainly based on the list of the Sanskrit texts from the
H. Daniel Smith Agama Collection, Cleveland, Ohio:
Agastya-Samhita
Aniruddha-Samhita
Ahirbudhnya Samhita
Brahma Samhita
Brihat-Brahma-Samhita
Isvara-Samhita
Kapinjala-Samhita
Garga Samhita
Gautama-Samhita
Citrasikhandi-Samhita
Jayakhya-Samhita
Jayottara-Samhita
Nalakubara-Samhita
Naradiya-Samhita
Pancaprasna-Samhita
Parama-Samhita
Paramapurusa-Samhita
Parasara-Samhita
Padma-Samhita
Paramesvara-Samhita
Purusottama-Samhita
Pauskara-Samhita
Bharadvaja-Samhita
Bhargava-Tantra
Mayavaibhava-Samhita
Markandeya-Samhita
Laksmi Tantra
Varaha-Samhita
Vasistha-Samhita
Visva-Samhita
Visvamitra-Samhita
Visnutattva-Samhita
Visnu Tantra
Visnu-Samhita
Visvaksena-Samhita
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Vihagendra-Samhita
Vrddha-Padma-Samhita
Sriprasna-Samhita
Sanatkumara-Samhita
SattvatSamhita
Shesha-Samhita[
Hayasirsa-Samhita
Of these Samhitas in Srirangam Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple "Sri Paramesvara Samhita", a
variant of paushkara samhita is followed and in practice.
In Sri Kanchipuram Varadaraja Swamy temple "Sri Jayakhya Samhita" is followed and in
practice. In Sri Melukote Cheluva Narayana Swamy temple "Sri Ishwara samhita" is followed
and in practice. In Tiruvellarai Sri Pundarikaksha Swamy Temple "Sri Paadma Samhita" is
followed and in practice. In Tirukkudantai (kumbakONam) Aravamudhan Sarngapani is
worshipped with "Sriprasna samhita". Rest of the places use Padma samhita or its
variants. Gaudiya Vaishnavas follow Brahma Samhita and "Naradiya Samhita".
The The Hayasirsa Pancaratra is central to the understanding of temple construction and the
rituals around it making the view of these more complete is central to the understanding of
temple construction and the rituals around it making the view of these more complete . The
Bangali or Oriya “Hayasirsa Pancaratra” is a Sanskrit text from approximately the ninth century
A.D. primarily dealing with rituals concerning the construction of a temple to the god Visnu.
Belonging to the Pancaratra tradition, which is centered around Visnu the Hayasirsa Pancaratra
incorporates older texts, most of which are no longer extant, and has also been a source-text for
later works, most notably the Agni Purâṇa and the Hari Bhakta Vilasa.
Pancharatra (IAST: Pāñcarātra) was a religious movement in Hinduism that originated in late
3rd-century BCE[around the ideas of Narayana and the various avatars of Vishnu as their central
deities. The movement later merged with the ancient Bhagavata tradition and contributed to the
development of VaishnavismThe Pancharatra movement created numerous literary treatises in
Sanskrit called the Pancharatra Samhitas, and these have been influential Agamic texts within
the theistic Vaishnava movements.
Literally meaning five nights (pañca: five, rātra: nights), the term Pancharatra has been
variously interpretedThe term has been attributed to a sage Narayana who performed a sacrifice
for five nights and became a transcendent being and one with all beings. The Pancharatra
Agamas constitute some of the most important texts of many Vaishnava philosophies including
the Madhva Sampradaya or Brahma Sampradaya of Madhvacharya and the Sri Vaishnava
Sampradaya of Ramanuja The Pancharatra Agamas are composed of more than 200 texts; likely
composed between 600 AD to 850 AD.
The Shandilya Sutras (~100 CE is the earliest known text that systematized the
devotional Bhakti pancharatra doctrine and 2nd-century CE inscriptions in South India suggest
Pancharatra doctrines were known there by then.[2] The 8th-century Adi Shankara criticized
elements of the Pancharatra doctrine along with other theistic approaches stating Pancaratra
doctrine was against monistic spiritual pursuits and non-Vedic. The 11th-century Ramanuja, the
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influential Vaishnavism scholar, developed a qualified monism doctrine which bridged ideas of
Pancharatra movement and those of monistic ideas in the Vedas. The Pancharatra theology is a
source of the primary and secondary avatar-related doctrines in traditions of Hinduism.
Pancharatra has likely roots in 3rd-century BCE, as a religious movement around the ideas of a
sage Narayana who is an avatar of Vishnu.
The earliest use of the word Pancharatra is found in section 7.1.10 of the Taittiriya Samhita, a
Vedic text. The section describes a person going through a Pancharatra ritual to become a master
of rhetorics.[13] The section 13.6 of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa mentions Nārāyaṇa as the primordial
divinity who performs this offering. The Narayaniya section of the Mahabharata (XII, 335-351)
refers to seven rishis who say the Pancharatra ritual was made consistent with the Vedas. Though
the five day ritual is mentioned along with many other sacrifices in the Vedic text, the origins of
Pancaratra devotees of Vishnu and their tradition is unclear. The movement merged with the
ancient Bhagavata tradition also around Krishna-Vasudeva, and contributed to the development
of Vaishnavism.
According to J. A. B. van Buitenen, the word "Pancharatra" is explained in Naradiya Samhita as
referring to a tradition of "five knowledges". Similarly, Jan Gonda states that the term "nights"
in "five nights" in the Pancharatra tradition may be a metaphor for inner darkness, and "came to
mean – how, we do not know", though indeed there have been many interpretations such as "five
systems", "five studies" and "five rituals"
The 1st-century works by Shandilya are the earliest known systematization of the Pancharatra
doctrineThis doctrine was known and influential around then, as is attested by the 2nd-century
CE inscriptions in South India. Evidence suggests that they co-existed with the Bhagavata
tradition in ancient times.
The Advaita Vedanta scholars, such as Adi Shankara, criticized elements of the Pancharatra
doctrine along with other theistic approaches stating it was against monastic spiritual pursuits
and non-Vedic. According to Suthren Hirst, Shankara supported the use of icons and temple
worship if it focussed as a means to comprehend Brahman as the sole metaphysical reality.
However, he opposed devotional theism as an end in itself and the goal of spiritual pursuits. The
Pancharatra tradition has historically disagreed with claims of it being non-Vedic, states Gonda,
and Pancharatra texts explicitly state that, "Pancharatra is Vedic, it originates in the Sruti" and
that the "Pancharatra precepts and practices should be observed by anyone who has allegiance to
the Vedas".
The 11th-century Ramanuja, the influential Sri Vaishnavism scholar, was born in Pancharatra
tradition, disagreed with Shankara, and developed a qualified monism doctrine which integrated
ideas of Pancharatra movement and those of monistic ideas in the Vedas. Ramanuja stated that
the Vishnu of Pancharatra is identical to Vedanta's Brahman, where Purusha reflects the eternal
soul that is Vishnu, and Prakriti the impermanent ever changing body of Vishnu.
Vishnu worshipers of today, represented in a wide spectrum of traditions, generally follow the
system of Pancharatra worship. The concept of Naḍa and Naḍa-Brahman appear already in
Sāttvata Samhita or Sāttvata Tantra and in Jayākhya Samhita, two texts considered most
canonical of Pancharatra texts.[ Ānanda Tīrtha the founder of Madhva line has written in his
commentary on Mundaka Upanishad: "In Dvapara Yuga, Vishnu is exclusively worshiped
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according to the principles of the Pancharatra Scripture, but in this age of Kali Yuga, the
Supreme Lord Hari is worshiped only by the chanting of his Holy Name."[
Jiva Gosvami had stated in his Paramātma Sandārbha, forming part of six principal Sandārbhas,
or philosophical treatises of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, that, "Seeing that the imperfect scriptures in
the modes of passion and ignorance bring only a host of troubles, and also seeing that the
original Vedas are very difficult to follow properly, and thus being very dissatisfied with both of
these, the all-knowing scripture authors affirm the superiority of the Pancharatras, which
describe the pure absolute truth, Narayana, and the worship of the Lord, which is very easy to
perform
Hayasirsa was a horse-headed incarnation of Visnu, representing Visnu's divine character as
revealer of úruti. They list, prerequisites and qualifications, particularly of the architect or
acarya, the specific qualities required of the site, and for digging the foundation. It situates the
temple at the center of the universe by means of the vastupurusamandala.
The vastupurusamandala is both a ritual and a practical diagram: it is used ritually to locate the
temple at the center of the universe; and it is used practically to plan the layout of the temple. .
The text focuses on certain moments within the construction because of the ritual function of
these moments. The text is primarily a ritual text, possibly written for the acarya. The rituals
marking the beginning of temple construction, like ritual plowing, can be traced to Vedic
ceremonial practice, including, but not limited to, ritual plowing in the Vedic fire altar . Listen
how the wise one begins construction of a house for Visnu: Chapters 1-14 of the Hayasirsa
Pancaratra
______________________________________________________________________
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Listen how the wise one begins construction of a house for Visnu: Chapters 1-14 of the
Hayasirsa Pancaratra Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/83r393vc Author Raddock,
Elisabeth Thesis for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in South and Southeast Asian Studies in
the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley
The Agamas (Devanagari: आगम, IAST: āgama) are a collection of several Tantric literature
and scriptures of Hindu schools. The term literally means tradition or "that which has come
down", and the Agama texts describe cosmology, epistemology, philosophical doctrines,
precepts on meditation and practices, four kinds of yoga, mantras, temple construction, deity
worship and ways to attain sixfold desires. These canonical texts are
in Sanskrit, Kannada Telugu and Tamil (written in Grantha script, Kannada script, Telugu
script and Tamil script).
The three main branches of Agama texts are Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Shakta. The Agamic
traditions are sometimes called Tantrism, although the term "Tantra" is usually used specifically
to refer to Shakta Agamas. The Agama literature is voluminous, and includes 28 Shaiva Agamas,
77 Shakta Agamas (also called Tantras), and 108 Vaishnava Agamas (also
called Pancharatra Samhitas), and numerous Upa-Agamas
The origin and chronology of Agamas is unclear. Some are Vedic and others nonVedic.[10] Agama traditions include Yoga and Self Realization concepts, some include Kundalini
Yoga,[11] asceticism, and philosophies ranging from Dvaita (dualism) to Advaita (monism).
Some suggest that these are post-Vedic texts, others as pre-Vedic compositions dating back to
over 1100 BCE. Epigraphical and archaeological evidence suggests that Agama texts were in
existence by about middle of the 1st millennium CE, in the Pallava dynasty era.
Scholars note that some passages in the Hindu Agama texts appear to repudiate the authority of
the Vedas, while other passages assert that their precepts reveal the true spirit of the Vedas. The
Agamas literary genre may also be found in Śramaṇic traditions (i.e. Buddhist, Jaina, etc.). Bali
Hindu tradition is officially called Agama Hindu Dharma in Indonesia.
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Āgama (Sanskrit आगम) is derived from the verb root गम् (gam) meaning "to go" and the
preposition आ (ā) meaning "toward" and refers to scriptures as "that which has come down".
Agama literally means "tradition",and refers to precepts and doctrines that have come down as
tradition. Agama, states Dhavamony, is also a "generic name of religious texts which are at the
basis of Hinduism and which are divided into Vaishnava Agamas (also called Pancaratra
amhitas), Shaiva Agamas, and Shakta Agamas (more often called
Developing physical and mental discipline with Yoga is one of four recommendations in Agama
texts.[12] Above a Yoga posture statue from Kashmir, a center of monistic Agama texts.
Agamas, states Rajeshwari Ghose, teach a system of spirituality involving ritual worship and
ethical personal conduct through precepts of a god. The means of worship in the Agamic
religions differs from the Vedic form. While the Vedic form of yajna requires no idols and
shrines, the Agamic religions are based on idols with puja as a means of worship. Symbols, icons
and temples are a necessary part of the Agamic practice, while non-theistic paths are alternative
means of Vedic practice. Action and will drive Agama precepts, while knowledge is salvation in
Vedic precepts. This, however, does not necessarily mean that Agamas and Vedas are opposed,
according to medieval-era Hindu theologians. Tirumular, for example, explained their link as
follows: "the Vedas are the path, and the Agamas are the horse".
Each Agama consists of four parts:
Jnana pada, also called Vidya pada – consists of doctrine, the philosophical and spiritual
knowledge, knowledge of reality and liberation.
Yoga pada – precepts on yoga, the physical and mental discipline.
Kriya pada – consists of rules for rituals, construction of temples (Mandir); design principles
for sculpting, carving, and consecration of idols of deities for worship in temples;[26] for
different forms of initiations or diksha. This code is analogous to those in Puranas and in the
Buddhist text of Sadhanamala.
Charya pada – lays down rules of conduct, of worship (puja), observances of religious rites,
rituals, festivals and prayaschittas.
The Agamas state three requirements for a place of pilgrimage: Sthala, Tirtha, and Murti. Sthala
refers to the place of the temple, Tīrtha is the temple tank, and Murti refers to the image of god
(usually an idol of a deity).
Elaborate rules are laid out in the Agamas for Silpa (the art of sculpture) describing the quality
requirements of the places where temples are to be built, the kind of images to be installed, the
materials from which they are to be made, their dimensions, proportions, air circulation, lighting
in the temple complex, etc. The Manasara and Silpasara are some of the works dealing with
these rules. The rituals followed in worship services each day at the temple also follow rules laid
out in the Agamas.
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Temple design (Shore temple) and iconography such as the Nataraja (Dancing Shiva) are
described in the Agama texts.
The Agama texts of Hinduism present a diverse range of philosophies, ranging from theistic
dualism to absolute monism. This diversity of views was acknowledged in Chapter 36
of Tantraloka by the 10th-century scholar Abhinavagupta. In Shaivism alone, there are ten
dualistic (dvaita) Agama texts, eighteen qualified monism-cum-dualism (bhedabheda) Agama
texts, and sixty-four monism (advaita) Agama texts. The Bhairava Shastras are monistic, while
Shiva Shastras are dualistic.
A similar breadth of diverse views is present in Vaishnava Agamas as well. The Agama texts of
Shaiva and Vaishnava schools are premised on existence of Atman (soul, self) and the existence
of an Ultimate Reality (Brahman – called Shiva in Shaivism, and Vishnu in Vaishnavism). The
texts differ in the relation between the two. Some assert the dualistic philosophy of the individual
soul and Ultimate Reality being different, while others state a Oneness between the
two.[32] Kashmir Shaiva Agamas posit absolute oneness, that is God (Shiva) is within man, God
is within every being, God is present everywhere in the world including all non-living beings,
and there is no spiritual difference between life, matter, man and God. The parallel group among
Vaishnavas are the Shuddhadvaitins (pure Advaitins).
Scholars from both schools have written treatises ranging from dualism to monism. For example,
Shivagrayogin has emphasized the non-difference or unity of being (between the Atman and
Shivam), which is realized through stages which include rituals, conduct, personal discipline and
the insight of spiritual knowledge. This bears a striking similarity, states Soni, to Shankara,
Madhva and Ramanujan Vedantic discussions.
Relation to the Vedas and Upanishads
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The Vedas and Upanishads are common scriptures of Hinduism, states Dhavamony, while the
Agamas are sacred texts of specific sects of Hinduism. The surviving Vedic literature can be
traced to the 1st millennium BCE and earlier, while the surviving Agamas can be traced to 1st
millennium of the common era. The Vedic literature, in Shaivism, is primary and general, while
Agamas are special treatise. In terms of philosophy and spiritual precepts, no Agama that goes
against the Vedic literature, states Dhavamony, will be acceptable to the Shaivas. Similarly, the
Vaishnavas treat the Vedas along with the Bhagavad Gita as the main scripture, and the Samhitas
(Agamas) as exegetical and exposition of the philosophy and spiritual precepts therein. The
Shaktas have a similar reverence for the Vedic literature and view the Tantras (Agamas) as the
fifth Veda.
The heritage of the Agamas, states Krishna Shivaraman, was the "Vedic peity maturing in the
monism of the Upanishads presenting the ultimate spiritual reality as Brahman and the way to
realizing as portrayed in the Gita".
The Veda is the cow, the true Agama its milk.
— Umapati, Translated by David Smith
Kamika Agama Purva Pada.DR. S.P. SABHARATHANAM
First section of the Kamika Agama, a principle Saiva Agama. Kamika is a primary source for details of personal
worship, temple construction, dedication and worship and many aspects of home and village design. English
Kamika Agama, Part one: 1174 pages
Title Page
Diacritical system
1 Revelation and Transmission of the Agamas
2 Formulation of the Significant Mantras
3 Directions for taking the daily bath in various ceremonial ways
4 Directions for the daily worship of Lord Siva
5 On the essential aspects of the daily worship
6 On the offering of food and appetizing dishes
7 The lineaments of various fire pits
8 Directions of the performance of fire rituals
9 Selection of auspicious time
10 Examining the omens
11 Examination of the sites
12 Offering of Bali for gaining access to the ground
13 Directions for taking possession of the ground
14 Directions for ploughing the selected ground
15 Directions for the erection of gnomon
16 System of measures and measuring tools
17 Reticulation of the ground and allocation of the grids
18 Directions for marking and identification of lines
19 Directions for offering of Bali to the Vastu Deities
20 Characteristics of villages, towns and such others
21 Directions for fixing the length and breadth
22 Characteristics of Aya and other factors
23 Directions for designing the mandala of constellations
24 Directions for dandika and other patterns of village planning
25 Directions of ascertaining the entrance of the main roads
26 Directions for allocation of appropriate places for the Deities in villages and other settlements
125
27 The number of brahmins for gifting the land
28 Specific rules for the allocation of sites in the villages and other settlements
29 Rules in respect of Brahmapada, Devapada and others
30 Directions for ascertaining appropriate locations for those who live in the villages and other settlements
31 Directions for laying the foundation deposit
32 Directions for the construction of miniature shrine
33 Directions for the solemn entry into the allocated parts of the village and the houses
34 Directions for the propitiatory fire ritual for Vastu
35 Directions for the construction of single mansion and successive mansions
36 The lineaments of specific main buildings
37 The lineaments of the buildings of two rows and three rows
38 Features of a complex consisting of four main buildings
39 Characteristics of vardhamana building
40 Characteristics of nandyavarta building
41 Directions for the construction of svastika type of buildings
42 Directions for the construction of catussala
43 Directions for the construction of pancasala building
44 Directions for the construction of stables for elephant and others
45 Characteristics of gallery-like buildings
46 features of langala malika buildings
47 Characteristics of maulika - malika constructions
48 Directions for the construction of padmama lika buildings
49 Classification of land and buildings into nagara and others
50 Proportions of the height for storeyed buildings
51 Directions for placing the first bricks
52 Directions for the construction of pedestal and base
53 Proportionated parts of the columns
54 Directions for the designing of entablature
55 Directions for the embellishments of the buildings
56 The features of the neck part of the pillars
57 Characteristic features of the roof
58 Characteristic features of the finial
59 Installation of spout and other elements
60 Features of single storeyed and multi-storyed superstructure
61 Directions for placing the final bricks
62 Characteristics of Sivalinga
63 Directions for the systematic offering of the sprouts
64 Directions for the installation of Sivalinga
65 Directions for making the icons with essential lineaments
66 Directions for structuring the wooden inner frame for the stucco images
67 Exact locations for the installation of various Deities
68 Directions for installation of the images
69 Directions for the consecration of superstructure
70 Directions for the consecration of pavilions
71 Characteristics of the temple enclosures
72 Specific details for the installation of the retinue Deities
73 Directions for the worship of the retinue Deities
74 Directions for the installation of the bull
75 Directions for em
TEXTS: Shaiva Agamas
The Shaiva Agamas are found in four main schools: Kapala, Kalamukha, Pashupata and Shaiva,
and number 28 in total as follows:
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1. Kamikam
2. Yogajam
3. Chintyam
4. Karanam
5. Ajitham
6. Deeptham
7. Sukskmam
8. Sahasram
9. Ashuman
10. Suprabedham
11. Vijayam
12. Nishwasam
13. Swayambhuvam
14. Analam
15. Veeram
16. Rouravam
17. Makutam
18. Vimalam
19. Chandragnanam
20. Bimbam
21. Prodgeetham
22. Lalitham
23. Sidham
24. Santhanam
25. Sarvoktham
26. Parameshwaram
27. Kiranam
28. Vathulam
Kamika Agama Uttara Pada
(Part Two) English.DR. S.P. SABHARATHANAM SIVACHARYA
Second section (through chapter 63) of the Kamika Agama, a principle Saiva Agama. Kamika is a primary source
for details of personal worship, initiation, deity installation, temple construction, dedication and worship and many
aspects of home and village design. Kamika Agama, Part 2 (incomplete, translation in progress and will be
periodically updated)
Kamika Agama, Part 2 (incomplete, translation in progress and will be periodically updated)
1 Directions for the Worship of Sivalinga which is Facing the West
2 Directions for the Worship of the Linga which is Facing the South
3 Directions for the Worship of Sakala Murtis (Fully Manifested Forms)
4 Directions for Ceremonial Bathing with Snapana
5 Directions for the Performance of Daily Festival
6 Directions for Celebrating the Grand Festival
7 Directions for Arranging and Waving the Lights
127
8 Directions for Arraying the Rows of Lights in the Month of Kartika(Nov-Dec)
9 Directions for the performance of Ghee-bath and Swing-festival in the Month of Margasirsha and Honey-bath in
the Month of Pushya
10 Directions for the Performance of Worship with Wollen Blanket Anointed with Clarified Butter in the Magha
month
11 Directions for the Performance of Sivaratri-worship in the month of Magha (Feb-March)
12 Directions for the Performance of Gandha-Puja in the month of Phalguna (Mar-Apr)
13 Directions for the Performance of Damana Puja in the Month of Caitra (Apr-May)
14 Directions for the Performance of Spring Festival
15 Directions for Performing the Cool-pot Ritual in the Month of Vaisakha (May-June)
16 Directions for Performing the Worship with Fruits in the Month of Jyeshtha (June-July)
17 Directions for Performing the Worship on Purva-phalguni in the Month of Ashadha (July-Aug)
18 Directions for Offering the Pavitra in the Month of Sravana (Aug-Sept)
19 Directions for Offering the Fresh Yields of the Crops
20 Directions for the Performance of Samaya and Visesha Initiation
21 Directions for Cooking the Rice for the Fire-ritual in aSpecial Vessel
22 Knowing the Effects of Dreams
23 Directions for the Performance of Nirvana Diksha (Initiation Meant for Final Liberation)
24 Directions for the Performance of Jnana-diksha
25 Directions for the Performance of "Acharya Abhisheka"
26 Directions for the Performance of Fulfilment Ablution
27 Directions for the Performance of Rites of Atonement, in General
28 Rites of Atonement such as Krucchra and Others
29 Directions for the Performance of Santi Homa
30 Directions for the Performance of Disa Homa
31 Directions for the Performance of Samhita Homa and Murti Homa
32 Directions for the Performance of Rites for Appeasing the Portentous Incidents
33 Directions for the Performance of Subsequent and Related Activities (anukarma)
34 Directions for the Performance of Consecration
35 Directions for Setting Right the Defects of Images and for Re-installing the Images
36 Directions for the Performance of Rituals meant for Attaining the Desired Fruits
37 Directions for the Worship of Pratyangira Astra
38 Directions for the Performance of Consecrations
39 Directions for the Construction of Shrine for the Arsha Linga (Linga worshipped by a Sage)
40 Directions for the Construction of the Main Shrine for 'Paurusha Linga' (Linga installed by a Devotee)
41 Directions for the Construction of Shrines based on the available Measurements of the Installed Lingas
42 Directions for the Installation of Anga Linga
43 Directions for the Construction of Shrine for Sarvadesika Linga
44 Directions for the Installation of Bana-Linga
45 Directions for Setting Right the Loosened Band
46 Proportionate Measurements of the Pedestals
47 Embellishments of Various Pedestals
48 Directions for the Installation of the Pedestal
49 Directions for the Installation of Lingas meant for the Attainment of Desired Benefits
50 Directions for the Installation of Sakti
51 Directions for the Installation of Vighnesa
52 Directions for the Installation of the Dancing Form of Lord Siva
53 Directions for the Installation of Somaskanda Murthi (and Sukhasana Murthi)
54 Directions for the Installation of Chandrasekhara Murthi
55 Directions for the Installation of Purari Murthi (Tripurantaka Murthi)
128
56 Directions for the Installation of Lingodbhava Murthi
57 Directions for the Installation of Dakshinamurthi
58 Directions for the Installation of Bhikshathana Murthi (bhikshathanah one who is wandering and receiving alms)
59 Installation of Balibartru
60 Directions for the Installation of Sarabhesvara Murti
61 Directions for the Installation of Candesa Anugraha Murti
62 Directions for the Installation of Bhakta Anugraha Murti
63 Directions for the Installation of Kalantaka Murti and Kamaghna Murti
64 Directions for the Installion of Kalyana Murti
65 Direction for the Performance of Marriage Festival
66 Directions for the Installation of Ardhanarisvara Murti and Haryardha Murti
67 Directions for the Installation of Trimurti
68 Directions for the Installation of Vrsarudha Murti
69 Directions for the Installation of Gangadhara Murti
70 Directions for the Installation of Lord Guha (Skanda)
71 Directions for the Worship of Lord Guha (Skanda)
72 Directions for the Installation of Candesamurti
73 Directions for the Stystematic Worship of Candesvara
74 Directions for the Installation of Vidya Pitha
75 Directions for the Installation of Ten Weapons
76 Directions for the Installation of Sivabhakta
77 Directions for the Performance of Daily Worship of Sivabhakta
78 Directions for the Installation of Trident
79 Directions for the Installation of Royal Throne
80 Directions for the Consecration of Temple Chariot and Others
81 Lineaments of Karanas
Parts of the Nihsvasatattvasamhita manuscript from Nepal, reproduced in 1912 from a palm-leaf
original, linking Shaiva Agama to esoteric Tantra.
Saiva Siddhanta
The Shaiva Agamas led to the Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy in Tamil-speaking regions of SouthIndia and gave rise to Kashmir Saivism in the North-Indian region of Kashmir.
Kashmiri Shaivism
The Agamas of Kashmiri Shaivism is also called the Trika Shastra. It centers mainly on the Trika
system of mAlinI, siddha and nAmaka Agamas and venerates the triad Shiva, Shakti, Nara (the
bound soul) and the union of Shiva with Shakti. The trika philosophy derives its name from the
three shaktis, namely, parA, aparA and parApara; and provides three modes of knowledge of
reality, that is, non-dual (abheda), non-dual-cum-dual (bhedabheda) and dual (bheda). The
literature of Kashmiri Shaivism is divided under three categories: Agama shastra, Spanda
shastra, and Pratyabhijna shastra. Although the Trika Shastra in the form of Agama Shastra is
said to have existed eternally, the founder of the system is considered Vasugupta (850 AD) to
whom the Shiva Sutras were revealed. Kallata in Spanda-vritti and Kshemaraja in his
commentary Vimarshini state Shiva revealed the secret doctrines to Vasugupta while Bhaskara in
his Varttika says a Siddha revealed the doctrines to Vasugupta in a dream.
Shakta Agamas
129
The Shakta Agamas deploy Shiva and Shakti, and a unified view as the foundation for spiritual
knowledge.
The Shakta Agamas are commonly known as Tantras, and they are imbued with reverence for
the feminine, representing goddess as the focus and treating the female as equal and essential
part of the cosmic existence. The feminine Shakti (literally, energy and power) concept is found
in the Vedic literature, but it flowers into extensive textual details only in the Shakta Agamas.
These texts emphasize the feminine as the creative aspect of a male divinity, cosmogonic power
and all pervasive divine essence. The theosophy, states Rita Sherma, presents the masculine and
feminine principle in a "state of primordial, transcendent, blissful unity". The feminine is the
will, the knowing and the activity, she is not only the matrix of creation, she is creation. Unified
with the male principle, in these Hindu sect's Tantra texts, the female is the Absolute.
The Shakta Agamas are related to the Shaiva Agamas, with their respective focus on Shakti with
Shiva in Shakta Tantra and on Shiva in Shaiva texts. DasGupta states that the Shiva and Shakti
are "two aspects of the same truth – static and dynamic, transcendent and immanent, male and
female", and neither is real without the other, Shiva's dynamic power is Shakti and she has no
existence without him, she is the highest truth and he the manifested essence.
The Shakta Agamas or Shakta tantras are 64 in number.[9] Some of the older Tantra texts in this
genre are called Yamalas, which literally denotes, states Teun Goudriaan, the "primeval blissful
state of non-duality of Shiva and Shakti, the ultimate goal for the Tantric Sadhaka".
Vaishnava Agamas
The Vaishnava Agamas are found into two main schools – Pancharatra and Vaikhanasas. While
Vaikhanasa Agamas were transmitted from Vikhanasa Rishi to his disciples Brighu, Marichi,
Atri and Kashyapa, the Pancharatra Agamas are classified into three: Divya (from
Vishnu), Munibhaashita (from Muni, sages), and Aaptamanujaprokta (from sayings of
trustworthy men)
Vaikhanasa Agama
Maharishi Vikhanasa is considered to have guided in the compilation of a set of Agamas named
Vaikhānasa Agama. Sage Vikhanasa is conceptualized as a mind-born creation, i.e., Maanaseeka
Utbhavar of Lord Narayana.[41] Originally Vikhanasa passed on the knowledge to nine disciples
in the first manvantara -- Atri, Bhrigu, Marichi, Kashyapa, Vasishta, Pulaha, Pulasthya, Krathu
and Angiras. However, only those of Bhrigu, Marichi, Kashyapa and Atri are extant today. The
four rishis are said to have received the cult and knowledge of Vishnu from the first Vikahansa,
i.e., the older Brahma in the Svayambhuva Manvanthara. Thus, the four
sages Atri, Bhrigu, Marichi, Kashyapa, are considered the propagators of vaikhānasa śāstra. A
composition of Sage Vikhanasa's disciple Marichi, namely, Ananda-Samhita states Vikhanasa
prepared the Vaikhanasa Sutra according to a branch of Yajurveda and was Brahma himself.
The extant texts of vaikhānasa Agama number 28 in total and are known from the texts,
vimānārcakakalpa and ānanda saṃhitā, both composed by marīci which enumerate them. They
are:
130
The 13 Adhikaras authored by Bhrigu are khilatantra, purātantra, vāsādhikāra, citrādhikāra,
mānādhikāra, kriyādhikāra, arcanādhikāra, yajnādhikāra, varṇādhikāra, prakīrnṇādhikāra,
pratigrṛhyādhikāra, niruktādhikāra, khilādhikāra. However, ānanda saṃhitā attributes ten works
to Bhrigu, namely, khila, khilādhikāra, purādhikāra, vāsādhikāraṇa, arcanādhikaraṇa,
mānādhikaraṇa, kriyādhikāra, niruktādhikāra, prakīrnṇādhikāra, yajnādhikāra.
The 8 Samhitas authored by Mareechi are Jaya saṃhitā, Ananda saṃhitā, Saṃjnāna saṃhitā,
Vīra saṃhitā, Vijaya saṃhitā, Vijita saṃhitā, Vimala saṃhitā, Jnāna saṃhitā. However, ānanda
saṃhitā attributes the following works to Marichi—jaya saṃhitā, ānanda saṃhitā, saṃjnāna
saṃhitā, vīra saṃhitā, vijaya saṃhitā, vijita saṃhitā, vimala saṃhitā, kalpa saṃhitā.
The 3 Kandas authored by Kashyapa are Satyakāṇḍa, Tarkakāṇḍa, Jnānakāṇḍa. However,
Ananda Saṃhitā attributes the satyakāṇḍa, karmakāṇḍa and jnānakāṇḍa to Kashyapa.
The 4 tantras authored by Atri are Pūrvatantra, Atreyatantra, Viṣṇutantra, Uttaratantra.] However,
Ananda Saṃhitā attributes the pūrvatantra, viṣṇutantra, uttaratantra and mahātantra to Atri
Pancharatra Agama[edit]
See main article: Pañcaratra
Like the Vaikhanasa Agama, the Pancharatra Agama, the Viswanatha Agama is centered around
the worship of Lord Vishnu. While the Vaikhansa deals primarily with Vaidhi Bhakti, the
Pancaratra Agama teaches both vaidhi and Raganuga bhakti.[44]
Soura Agamas
The Soura or Saura Agamas comprise one of the six popular agama-based religions of Shaiva,
Vaishnava, Shakta, Ganapatya, Kaumara and Soura. The Saura Tantras are dedicated to the sun
(Surya) and Soura Agamas are in use in temples of Sun worship.
Ganapatya Agamas
The Paramanada Tantra mentions the number of sectarian tantras as 6000 for Vaishnava, 10000
for Shaiva, 100000 for Shakta, 1000 for Ganapatya, 2000 for Saura, 7000 for Bhairava, and 2000
for Yaksha-bhutadi-sadhana.[7]
The chronology and history of Agama texts is unclear: The surviving Agama texts were
likely composed in the 1st millennium CE, likely existed by the 5th century CE.[18] However,
scholars such as Ramanan refer to the archaic prosody and linguistic evidence to assert that the
beginning of the Agama literature goes back to about 5th century BCE, in the decades after the
death of Buddha.
Temple and archaeological inscriptions, as well as textual evidence, suggest that the Agama texts
were in existence by 7th century in the Pallava dynasty era.[17] However, Richard Davis notes
that the ancient Agamas "are not necessarily the Agamas that survive in modern times". The
texts have gone through revision over time.
131
Saiva Agamas
Introduction of Saiva Agamas
The Saiva Agamas are some of the earliest books in te Sanskrit language on Saiva religion and
philosophy, written over a period of several centuries before the Christian era.
The Vedas have always been a source of fascinating study for orientalists of the West.
Innumerable are the translations and critical studies; papers and books written on the Vedas,
Upanishads and the Advaita philosophy of Sankara. ( It is now recognised that the Vedas as they
are available today are only the compilation of Vyasa of a later day and that their original forms
are not available. Vyasa is known as Veda Vyasa; Vyasa-‘compiler’)
Agamas, though they constitute an equally large body of ancient Sanskrit source material for a
different concept of the same advaita philosophy of Vedanta, have not been studied by any
orientalist; indeed they have not been studied at all or in depth even by any Indian scholar except
perhaps Dr.Surendranata Das Gupta ( Oct 1885- Dec 1952) of Calcutta,even under te great
grantha script.
List of the 28 Sivagamas, its existence and number of slokas.
The list below are the name of the Agama - its origin from the body of Sadasiva - No. of slokas Rishis to whom it was revealed.
Revealed by the Sadyojata Mukha. The following 5 agamas were revealed to Kausika Rishi, who then
taught to three celestial who propagate it on earth
1-Kamikam -Feet-100,000 biliion-Pranava, Trikala,Hara
2-Yogajam -Shin -100,000 -Sudhakya,Bhasma,Vibhu
3-Chintyam -Toes -300,000 or 1000 -Sudipta,Gopati,Ambika
4-Karanam -Ankle -10 million or 40million -Karana, Sarva,Prajapathi
5-Ajitham -Knees -100,000 or 10,000 -Susicha, Siva, Achyuta
132
Revealed by the Vamadeva Mukha. The following 5 agamas were revealed to Kasyapa Rishi,
who then taught to three celestial who propagate it on earth
6-Diptam -Thighs -100,000 -Isa,Trimurti, Hutasana
7-Sukshmam -Genitive organ -10 million -Sukshma, Vaisravana,Prabhanca
8-Sahasram -Hip -1 million millions -Kala, Bhima, Dharma
9-Amsumad -Back -500,000 -Amsu, Ugra, Ravi
10 -Suprabhedam -Navel -30 millions -Dasesa, Ganesa, Sasi
Revealed by the Aghora Mukha. The following 5 agamas were revealed to Bharadvaja Rishi,
who then taught to two celestial who propagate it on earth
11-Vijayam -Stomach -120 millions -Anadirudra, Parameswara
12-Nisvasam -Heart -10 million -Dasarna, Sailasambhava
13-Svayambhuvam -Nipple -15 million -Nidhana, Padmasambhava
14-Agneyam -Eye -30,000 -Vyoma, Hutasana
15-Viram -Neck -100,000 -Tejas, Prajapati
Revealed by the Tatpurusha Mukha. The following 5 agamas were revealed to Gautama Rishi,
who then taught to two celestial who propagate it on earth
16-Rauravam -Ears -80,000 million -Brahmanesa, Nandikesvara
17-Makutam -Crown -100,000 -Siva, Mahadeva
18-Vimalam -Arms -300,000 -Sarvamatra, Virabatra
19-Chandrajnanam -Chest -30 millions -Ananta, Brhaspati
20-Mukhabimbam -Face -100,000 -Prasanta, Dadhichi
133
Revealed by the Isana Mukha. The following 8 agamas were revealed to Agastya Rishi, who then
taught to two celestial who propagate it on earth
21-Prodgitam -Tongue -300,000 -Sulin, Kavacha
22-Lalitham -Cheeks -8000 -Alayesa, Rudra Bhairava
23-Siddham -Forehead -15 millions -Bindu, Chandesvara
24-Santanam -Kundala ( ear rings) -6000 -Sivanishta, Samsapayana
25-Sarvoktham -Sacred thread -200,000 -Somadeva, Nrusimha
26-Parameswara -Garland -1,200,000 -Sridevi, Usanas
27-Kiranam -Ornaments -50 millions -Devatarksya, Samvartana
28-Vathulam -Garment -100,000 -Siva, Mahakala
The Agamas had existed mostly in South India, in the Tamil Nadu in palm leaf manuscript
book form in the homes of Sivacharyas who had been entrusted with the duty of organizing and
performing pooja in Siva temples for over two and a half millennium.
All the agama manuscript are available only in the granta script, one which had been invented by
the Tamil people for writing their Sanskrit scriptures, more than 1500 years ago.
These Agamas are not available in the North. Dr Das Gupta has stated “...no agama manuscript
of any importance is found even in Varanasi, the greatest centre of Hindu religion, Sanskrit
studies and culture.”
Agamas had the greatest revival in the days of the Chola Emperors of Tamil Nadu from 9th
Century. Tis was the period immediately after Sankara. The Smarthas who adopted the
philosophy of Sankara somehow deemed the agams to be ‘alien’ to themselves just because
Sankara did not deal with them.
The Agamas very strictly laid down that only the Sivacharya class, the Siva Brahmins, were
competent to enter the main sanctum or garbha graham and perform the worship in the Siva
temples and that the Brahmins as such ( i.e the smartha Brahmin) shall not enter the sanctum,
touch the Sivalinga or perform the worship.
A parallel in the domination of the Sanskrit influence of Sanskrit may be noticed in Vashnavism
in the work of Ramanuja; a great acharya who gave his whole life to the establishment of
Vaishnavism as a separate and independent cult in Tamil Nadu. He called his philosophy,
Vasisthadvaitha.
But it is only the Saiva religion that held up the torch of Tamil culture by producing its own
original basic scriptures in Tamil, without recourse to Sanskrit through Meykandar in the 12th
century. A distinctive Saiva Advaita philosophy began to take shape from the days of
Thirumoolar and Karaikal Ammaiyar. This was given a fresh life and a new direction in the
Tamil language by the Saiva Nayamars such as Saint Sambanthar, Appar, Sundarar and
134
Manikkavasagar
In the period of these saints, the essence of agamas flourished into temple building and temple
worship from 9th to 13th century. Although the agama study and practice in Sanskrit was now
revived, the whole Saiva cult of this period was Tamil based. The philosophy of Sankara was
Sanskrit based and couldn’t combine itself into the new revival in Tamil Nadu in the Tamil
language. The greatest exponent of this revival, Saint Thirugnanasambanthar, was though the
Saiva himself a Brahmin.
It should be remembered that the Smarthis had the greatest authority over the Brahmins who
were in consequence called Smarthas but they had no authority over the Saiva Siddhantins This
is also a reason for the neglect of agamic studies in the past.
Smartism (or Smarta Sampradaya, Smarta Tradition, as it is termed in Sanskrit) is
a denomination of the Hindu religion. The term Smarta refers to adherents who follow
the Vedas and Shastras. They mainly follow the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Adi Shankara.
But there have been instances when they have advocated or followed other philosophies.
The Velalar, otherwise called the Saivas, who were themselves the followers of the agamas,
evolved their own philosophic doctrines from the 12th century and called their philosophy also
the (Suddha) Advaita philosophy. All their original writing in this Saiva philosophy was in
Tamil. The Saiva school emphasized temple worship which was not the creed of the Sankara
advaitins.
The Saivas now took the line of least resistance by limiting themselves to their new Tamil text
alone, ignoring all Sanskrit, unfortunately including the Agamas also. All these attitude caused
the agamas to fade deeper. The agamas though written in Sanskrit were considered to highlight
the Tamil ( often called Dravidians) culture and so the Aryans dominated north would not
recognise this Dravida culture.
The Sivacharyas also are to be blamed with regard to this. They ‘crossed’ the Vedic or Smartha
Brahmin in all matters and tried to climb in the ladder of caste by calling themselves Brahmins,
although the Smartha Brahmins refused to recognize their brahminhood. Inter marriage among
them is prohibited to this day.
But the agamas declare that the Sivacharyas is far superior to the (mere) Brahmin since he is the
Siva Brahmin. Siva diksha is the exclusive privilege of the Saivas including the Sivacharyas.
Generally the Smarta Brahmin is not qualified for Siva Diksha.
Occasionally in the modern day the smarta Brahmin comes forward to cook ‘food offering’ for
the Sivalinga enshrined in Siva temples ( a service which according to agamas has to be done by
the pachaka section of Sivacharyas); in such case he is given the first diksha – samaya diksha
which makes him a Saiva and then allowed to cook the food.
Thus keeping the Agamas as their own privileged preserve; the Sivacharyas have kept the wider
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studies of the Saivagamas within them. The agamas in consequence came to perish. Howerver
there are a few Sivacharyas who know the agams thoroughly and who have the agama texts at
their finger tips.
The Vedas were the preserve of the elite Aryans and never came down to the level of common
man, nor did their thoughts and rites reached the common man. But on the other hand, Agamas
concerned themselves with all society, with common man and his needs both social and spiritual.
General assumption that agamas only deal with temple and temple worship rituals is wrong. The
agamas deals with four parts, Sariyai, Kriyai, Yoga and Njanam. Here Kriya deals with temple
construction and rituals and Njana deals with the highest philosophy that is none other than Saiva
Siddhantham.
The emphasis on the kriya part in the newly rising cult of Saivism in the era of Chola Emperors
and because of the separate evolution of the Njana part independently in Tamil language, the
agamas had come to be called a mere ritualistic code ( which is wrong) by the pro Tamil culture.
The publication of Raurava Agama, Ajitha agama, Kalottara 1(sloka from Sata Ratna Sangraha)
and Mrgendra agama in recent years by French Institute of Indology, Pondicherry under Dr
Filliozat and Professor N.R Bhat had brought the agamas again in focus.
As far Saivism is concerned, it is considered as originated from the South and not from the
North. The Saivism of the Tamilians, was the growth of an unbroken tradition probably from the
prehistoric past and this had three elements fused into it.
These are an external worship of images as the manifest abode of God, both in shrines,
throughout the land and in devotees own home; symbolism and the inward meditation and
realization.
These 3 elements are; worship of images in the temples was “parartha pooja” for all mankind, for
the welfare of the entire society and worship in homes was for individual and his family. Temple
worship is done by a dedicated group of Sivachariyars for the welfare of community and worship
at home is done by a person who had an initiation under a competent guru such as Vishesha
Diksha for Sivapooja.
Second element is symbolism; the idol worshipped is not God; it is just a symbol intented to
remind people of God and to direct their minds and hearts through the seen symbol to the Unseen
One Beyond or Supreme.
The third element is meditation. What cannot be perceived by the senses externally, may be
realized in the heart, with of course His own grace. Without constant concentration and
meditation, external worship alone will not result in realization.
It is only this internal worship or atma pooja that lends meaning to external worship. These three
are not separate compartments but basically one harmonious integrated whole in the ritual of
worship.
1. The Vedas and The Agamas
The following agamic passages may be seen to affirm the origin of the Agamas from the Vedas:
“The Siddhanta consists of the essence of the Vedas” ( Suprabhedagama)...this tantra is of the
essence of Veda’, this siddhanta knowledge which is the significance of Vedanta is supremely
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good” – Sivadvaita of Srikantha by S.S. Suryanaranyana Sastri 1972; page 3.
“It has been suggested that the agamic systems were developed out of the Brahmanas in the same
way as the Upanishads, though at a much later stage and that some of the Upanishads like
Svetasvatara which address the Supreme Being by a sectarian title and not as Para Brahman, long
time ago, probably grew up under the shadow of the Agamas” – P.T Srinivasa Iyengar.
“The agamic cult which was that of the generality of the people and Vedic cult which was of
only the priestly classes, officiating for themselves or for others. They existed and grew up side
by side from the earliest times.” – Quote from Sivadvaita of Sastri
Perasiriyar, (13th Century A.D.) a commentator on the Tamil book Tolkappiyam, referring to the
subject matter of the scriptures, mentions the Vedas and the Agamas separately, thereby
implying that their contents are different and that they stand for two different bodies of doctrines.
Swami Prajananananda, quoted by Sir John Woodroffe, has clearly established that the agamic
texts, as we know them today, had for the most part preceded Buddhism, and only the agamic
cult had been able gradually to swallow up Buddhism on the Indian sub-continent and ultimately
to banish it altogether from the Indian soil. It was not Upanishadic philosophy but the Agamic
cult that was responsible for this. This is a very important observation deserving the careful
attention of all scholars.
The four parts of the Agamas are likened to the four parts of Vedas – namely the mantra part or
stotras comaparable to Sariya of the agamas; the Brahmanas dealing with rituals comaparable to
kriya; the Aranyaka part to Yoga and the Upanishad or philosophy part equivalent to Njanapada
of the agamas.
Exponents of the Agamas would go further and say that the Supreme of Saivism, Siva, is
mentioned in the Vedic terms such as the following:
Isa vasyam idam sarvam
Yah parah sa mahesvarah
Sarve vai Rudrah.
Ambika pataye Umapataye
Yo vai Rudras sa Bhagavan Bhurbhuvas suvah
Tasmai namas tasmai tva jushtam
niyurajmi yasmai namas tat Sivah.
Haraya Rudraya Sarvaya Sivaya
Bhavaya Maha Devaya Ugraya
All the names mentioned in the last lines are the specific mantra names of Siva.
The Bharga Sabda in the Gayatri mantra ( Bhargo dhevasya dhimahi ) is considered to refer to
Siva. Besides, the introduction of Sri Uma in Kenoupanishad clearly explains the Saiva
Siddhanta doctrine that ignorance can be dispelled only with the bestowal of Siva’s Grace which
is personified as Sakthi or Uma.vThe Kaivalyopanishad, one of the early Upanishads, claimed by
many to be of the Advaitic or Vedanta school, has the following lines ( sloka 7 ):
Tam Aadi madhyanta vihinam Ekam Vibhum
Chidanandam Arupam Adbhutam
Uma sahayam Paramesvaram Prabhum
Trilochanam Nilakantham Prasaantam
Here the description of Siva in so many words, as the consort of Uma, Parameswara, the Three
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eyed, the Blue Throated are the significant as pointing to the Supreme Being as Siva.
In the Devi ashtottra namas used by different Sivacharyas in temple worship today, one of the
following names is “Aum Agamarupinyai Namah”; meaning that Devi is of the form of the
Agamas. Siva and Sakthi are not separate and so this term is also significant.
Nama 290 in Lalitha Sahasranamam: “Sakalagama sandhoha sukthi samputa mauktika”
meaning, “She wears the pearl in the nose ring enclosed in a shell composed of all the agamas”
Age of the Agamas
St. Thirumular mentions nine agamas by name, we may assume that the more important agamas
were written long time before him. Even some later day Buddhist scriptures call themselves as
agamas – Ekottaragama, Madhyamagama etc. Sakhya dynasty of Kapilavasthu in which great
Siddharta was born were worshippers of Siva. The city is considered to be in the state of Nepal
which continues to be a Saiva state to this day.
We may not be sure that the present versions of the agama are those which existed at that ancient
past. As sruthis, they were handed down by word of mouth from master to disciple, through
several centuries, before they came to be written down on palm leaf.
Naturally many changes would have taken place into texts, both consciously and unconsciously,
as times changed and as needs and aims of society underwent considerable change. Hence it is
possible the original texts became elastic and new ideas were incorporated into the texts.
Dr. Surendranath Gupta says “ The date of the Agamas cannot be definitely fixed. It maybe
suggested that the earliest of them were written some time in the second or third century A.D.
and these must have been continued till the thirteenth or fourteenth century”
Some Jain writings of a much later date were called the Jinagama. There were also the
Sakthagamas, in praise of Sakthi, Vaikhanasa and Pancharatra are the agamas of two Vaishnava
schools. The numbers of Saivagamas is very large and most of them preceeded the books of the
other schools in point of time.From the remote past, from the very early days when the agamas
were just written, there existed only Saivagamas. The term agama signified only the Saivagama.
The agamas of the other schools of Hinduism were not written at that time.
The Vedas are called Apaurusheya, not made by man. The Vedas are considered to have born
from the four faces of Brahman. But this has to be understood as signifying that the Vedas were
revealed to enlightened spiritual seekers who taught them to their disciples and were being
continuously handed down from master to disciples and hence the name Sruthi until they were
written down at a later stage on palm leaf.
The Agamas were revealed from the 5 faces of Lord Siva. – Eesanam, Tatpurusham, Aghoram,
Vamadevam and Satyojatham. The Agamas did not come into existence simultaneously, but did
certainly have a gradual evolution even in the pre-B.C and in the first millenium A.D.
Many of the Saivagamas had been quite ancient, besides some of the Agama systems are referred
to by Badarayana and so those systems at least must have been earlier than the compilations of
Brahma Sutras. The Brahma sutras, also known as Vedanta Sutras, constitute the Nyaya
prasthana, the logical starting point of the Vedanta philosophy (Nyāya = logic/order). No study
of Vedanta is considered complete without a close examination of the Prasthana Traya, the texts
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that stand as the three starting points. The Brahma Sutras are attributed to Badarayana.
The compilations of these sutras is considered to have taken place earlier than the Buddha and
Mahavira. All these naturally certify to the antiquity of the early Agamas.
Parimelalahar of the 13th Century, the great commentator of kural and an ardent Vaishnavite,
interpreting the phrase Engutattan occurring in a verse of the Kural, he lists the eight attributes of
Siva and says that these are taken from the Saivagamas and there are no such attributes to Vishnu
in any Vaishnava books.
The age of the agamas is based solely on theories by various scholars. The exact period of the
agama’s origin is yet to be identified. The excavations of Mohenjodaro Harappa gives evidences
that practices of Saivism existed few centuries before the Christian era and the agamas would
have certainly existed before the said period which goes beyond time.
The term AGAMA
Several explanations have been offered for the term agama. One of it that because it existed from
God, it is called the Agama, that which came (from God), a-gama.
Another is that the three letters a-ga-ma respectively denote pati, pasu and pasam; and that the
agamas deals with these three entities and their relationship, and hence this name.
A Sanskrit verse gives an interesting meaning for the three syllables a, ga, and ma:
Agatam Siva valtrenhyah gatan ca girija mukhe
Matam ca Siva bhaktanam agamam cheti katyate
“ The agamas originated from the faces of Lord Siva, fell on the ears of Parasakti and spread in
the world as the Matha ( Religion ), of the Siva bhaktas”, the agamas are mostly in the form of
instructions from Siva to Sakthi. They take their name from the first letters, of the words agatam
(originated), gatam (fell) and matam (religion) as mentioned in this sloka.
Although the special scriptures of Saivism, Vaishnavism and Saktism are generally known as
agamas; this term has, however, come to have a specialised significance in later days. Only the
Saivagamas are referred to as the agamas; the Vaishnava agamas are mostly referred to as
Samhitas and the Sakta agamas are mostly referred to as the Tantras.
The number of the Agamas
The agamas are said to be infinite in number. The aspects of Siva are five in number – Sadyojata,
Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Isana. Each of these has five faces and from these twenty
five faces were revealed numberless agamas, according to one tradition.
One tradition says that Sadasiva revealed the four agamas to Garuda, Vama, Bhutatantra and
Bairava from the four faces and the well known 28 agamas from the fifth face Isanam.
The 28 Saiva agamas are said to have been revealed from all the five faces of Siva, the first four
taught five agamas each, while the last, Isanam gave rise to eight. The first ten agamas were
taught by Sadasiva to the Vidyesvaras, so they are called the Sivabheda agamas ( Saiva or Godtaught).
The remaining 18 were taught to 36 Rudras beginning from Anadirudra, and hence these were
called the Rudrabheda agamas ( Raudric or man-realized ). The first ten were taught again in turn
to three celestial beings each, which the other eighteen were taught to two each, thus making a
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total of 66 celestials ( 30+36 ) who learned the agamas.
Ananthesvara taught the agamas to Srikanda Rudra, who in turn taught them to the sages. The
sages initiated the disciples into the mysteries of the agamas and thus the books came to have
value among the mortals. The Kamikagama shows all the 28 agamas in serial order, their origin,
the number of verses therein, the organ of Siva which they represent and persons to whom they
were revealed.
Content of the Agamas
Sadasiva revealed to spiritually advanced souls, the agamas, which embodied the path of such
salvation to the mortals who are caught up in the cycle of births and deaths. The four paths
towards this end have been developed by Tamil Siddhanta sastra writers in the evolutionary
order of Sariya, Kriya , Yoga and Jnanam.
Jnana is the part of philosophy of the agamas ( Saiva Siddhanta ), while the other three may be
taken as dealing with sadhana or practice. Of the agamas that is available in print today, only
Suprabheda, Mrgendra and the Kirana contain all four parts.
From the volume of writing under each head, it can be clearly seen that the emphasis of the
agamas was equally on the jnana and kriya parts, that is both the philosophical and the ritualistic
aspects.
Among the 28 Sivagamas, the first 10 are called Sivabheda and the next 18 are called
Rudrabheda. The Sivabheda agamas are 5 each from 2 faces; Sadyojata and Vamadeva while
Rudrabheda agama are 5 from each face of Aghora, 5 from face of Tatpurusha, and 8 from face
of Isanam.
There are 5 kinds of Guru Shisya relationship in Rudrabheda. The relationship between Sadasiva
and Anadhirudra is Param; relationship between Anadhirudrar and Parameswarar is Maham;
relationship between Parameswarar and Devas is Divyam; relationship between Devas and
Rishis is Divyadivyam and relationship between Rishis and people is Adivyam
The Jnana Part
The Jnana pada is the part dealing with the metaphysical basis of the agama system. It provides
the philosophical truths underlying the system and expounds the origin, the rationale and the
goal. The Supreme is one and All is He, SIVA. The emphasis of Vedanta on the soul and mind is
now shifted so as to encompass a larger part of man or rather the complete man.
This is of course because of Agamic teaching embraces the complex personality of man, his
emotions and heart, and his will as well. This is the knowledge of Jnana pada.
The Yoga Part
The agamas were not the first to speak of the Yoga pada nor even Patanjali. Vedic writers would
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say that the yoga path is as old as the Vedas. They would claim that the Yajnas, sacrifices, were
themselves a sort of yoga practice where the vedic seer tried to unite himself with the particular
celestial who was invoked.
The agamic yoga part goes beyond the Patanjali’s raja yoga and lays down an inner discipline.
The aim of yoga is of course Jnana. Hence this yoga seeks to purify, elevate and equip the
disciple for a life which will explain the Truths realised through Jnana.
It is usual in the modern day to speak of raja yoga, bhakthi yoga, karma yoga and jnana yoga in
treating of religious practices. Different sects evolve their own terminology and this terminology
cannot be expected to be there in the same form in Saiva Siddhanta.
The Yoga pada however seems to be a scantiest or ‘minor’ part in the agamas. Only the
Suprabheda, the Kirana and the Mrgendra texts are available on this pada.
Patanjali’s raja yoga takes one through eight steps and these are known as the Ashtanga Yoga.
These eight steps –Yama,Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and
Samadhi. It is only a course of spiritual discipline leading to a higher purpose, only steps leading
to an altogether higher goal.The last three steps are said to comprise the true raja yoga. Dharana
is concentration; helps to perfect mind control. Dhyana is meditation which helps the
uninterrupted flow of thought to the object of devotion. This finally leads to state of Samadhi
where the mind initially functions in the contemplation, but finally it ceases to exist. The initial
state here confers siddhis or powers on the practiser of yoga but he is not to be lured by them. He
ignores these and goes to the higher state of Samadhi which is the mystic union.
Yoga is union, the union of the conscious individual self with the Universal Self. The term yoga
is used in common term as a form of personal discipline: this yoga is just a means towards the
attainment of higher purpose.In the religious language it is the union of the mind at the feet of
the Master.
This eight fold ashtanga yoga is taken as a step to a higher yoga in Saiva Siddhanta which seeks
a spiritual union beyond the mental discipline and it is called the Prasaadaa Yoga, one which
confers supreme realisation. It is a process of spiritual evolution where the souls goes through a
sixteen fold process of inward perception withdrawing the spirit from all outward activities and
rising higher and higher in the realisation of the Self inwardly and finally attaining non-dual
union with it.
The Praasadaa yoga is a sort of training for the power of the Sushumna Nadi called Kundalini
Sakthi, which is like a coiled serpent and for taking it through sixteen stages called kalas, bindu,
ardhachandra, nirodhi, nadam, nadantam, sakthi, vyapini, vyomarupai, anantai, anata, anasritai,
samanai and unmanai. Beyond unmana is the brahma randra, the dvadasanta centre. The aspirant
in his yogic practice, takes the Sakthi to each stage and there, has the corresponding vision. This
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process is the Shodasakala Praashadaa yoga, this last stage is the merger or union.
The Kriya Part
This pada considers not the individual man alone but considers man in the society. It has a
concern and involvement in the community around. The temple is an outward expression of this
concern. The Kriya aspect so far as temple parartha worship is concerned is in three divisions – i.
Prathisthanam that is from clearing the ground for examining its suitability for temple
construction, to consecration; ii. Pratishtha to Utsavantham that is from consecration uo to the
conduct of all types of festivals and iii. Prayascitta kriyas – kriya rites combined with other
purificatory rituals.
The Kriya part is generally the largest part in all the available agamas.This part is concerned with
worship, both individual and temple worship. All the aspects of worship are elaborately
described here. The details of temple construction for example; details which are given here are
far beyond what an excellent modern architect can dream of.
Other allied subjects dealt with here are sculpture, iconography, construction of temple car or
Theer, geology, horticulture, astronomy, town planning, home science, water supply, health and
hygiene, food and many others. In short we may say, no area of human activity of the period
about 2000 years back has been left out.
Agamas speak of 64 kinds of Siva forms ( Asthasta forms) and in brief 25 Maheswara muhurtam
are as per Karana agama for worship.
The Sariyai Part
The seeker after TRUTH, the Siddhantin, has to equip himself intellectually for the philosophy
of Jnana Pada. The spiritual effort is augmented and supported by the many kriyas, temple
worship and festivals. For these efforts an external aid both in himself and in the environment is
essential. This is the code of personal conduct and discipline, the way of behaviour or
functioning and this is Sariyai.
The Sariya part is not a difficult one nor it is very complicated either for understanding or for
following. It is a sort of rigid preparation, intended to purify and equip the Sadhaka in body,
mind and spirit, a personal training or discipline.
The path marked out for him is the Godward path, because as a Sadhaka, he practises the means
for attaining oneness with Siva. He has in a limited sense to begin with, to lead others. Society
looks up to him and by his personal life, affiliations, behaviour and progress and attainments, he
sets the model.
The Sariya part deals with daily observance and the personal discipline of the worshippers. The
Suprabhedagama deals elaborately with this. The purificatory ceremonies for the individual from
the time of his birth, the deekshas ( initiation ), the ultimate funeral rites and similar other
ceremonies are described here.
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Agamas quoted by Samayacharyars and Sekkilar in Periyapuranam
The Thevaram hyms of Saint Sambanthar, Appar and Sundarar make several references to the
Agamas.
Saint Sambanthar says “ Lord Siva revealed the Veda, the Vedanta and the Agama” – 3;23;6
Saint Appar says “ Daksha no doubt performed his Yajna as laid down by the Vedas; but he
should have done it in the manner laid down in the Agamas ( which automatically will give
importance to Lord Siva) and that implied as the reason for the destruction of the Yajna by Lord
Siva through Veerabatra.” – 4;65;6
Saint Manikkavasagar says “ Lord Siva disclosed the agamas from the Mahendra Hill out of his
five faces” 2;20
Saint Sekkilar makes many references to the agama in Periyapuranam:
“The agamas were revealed by Lord Siva, temples are built according to the rules laid down in
the agamas. Siva puja is performed according to the agamas and he is please with such worship”
In Saint Kannappar’s story, the Sivagochariyar, the saintly priest arrives at the temple, bringing
flowers and water as laid down in the agama -784
The traitor Muthanathan, bent upon killing the saintly ruler Meyporul, says to teh Queen, “ I
have brought here a rare agama revealed by your Master, not to be found anywhere on earth” –
478
Saint Pusalar built the temple mentally and laid the foundation according to the agamic rules –
4181
Narrating the greatness of the city of Kanchipuram, Sekkilar says that Umadevi worshipped Siva
in this place; in this context he specifically mentions several times that Umadevi performed
Sivapuja as laid down in the agamas. – 1132, 1133, 1134, 1136, 1141, 1142
Relevance of the Agamas
Rules were laid down for the building of the temples and for the installation of images therein.
Temples had been growing in importance since the days of the Saiva Samayacharyas. It is well
known that most temples follow the Kamika or the Karana agama for practices of day to day
worship, while the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram follows Makutagama; the Thiruvengadu
temple follows three agamas, Kamika, Makuta and Karana agamas, Thirueengoimalai follows
Vatulagama; Thirunallam temple follows Karana agama and Sukshuma agama; Thirunallar
temple follows Makudagama.
The Makutagama seem to occupy a unique place among the agamas. It is quoted as the authority
in temples where Lord Nadaraja is said to perform one of His Cosmic dances, In such shrines His
Ardha Darisanam ( Thiruvathirai ) festival is considered to be of special significance. They have
special dance halls called Pancha sabha which is Kanakasabha ( Gold-Chidambaram ); Rajata
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sabha ( Silver – Madurai ); Tambira sabha ( Copper- Thirunelveli); Ratna sabha ( RubyThiruvalangadu) and Chitra sabha ( Art –Thirukkutralam).
Ayodhya Trust plans to build 1,200 temple pillars by next March, finish first floor by 2022
Experts from IIT Madras and Roorkee’s Central Building Research Institute are testing three
pillars to check if they are strong enough to hold the weight of the entire structure.
By: Express News Service | Lucknow |September 29, 2020 11:18:30 am
The height of the first floor will be 1,850.70 square metres
As the actual construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is expected to start from October 15,
the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust plans to complete the first floor by 2022. The
1,200 pillars with a depth of 200 metres are expected to be completed by March next year.
Experts from IIT Madras and Roorkee’s Central Building Research Institute are testing three
pillars to check if they are strong enough to hold the weight of the entire structure. An IIT
Madras team had recently taken samples to test soil and concrete mix.
Trust member Anil Mishra, who is looking after the construction on behalf of the Trust and the
temple construction committee, told The Indian Express they were considering a phase-wise
plan.
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Ancient Indian thought divides time into four different periods. These durations are
referred to as the Krta; Treta; Dvapara; and Kali.
Temples appeared on the horizon only in the Kali-yuga. During this existing last phase,
temples (as public shrines), began to be built and icons installed. But the gods ceased to come
down and appear in their own or disguised forms. However, their presence could be felt when the
icons were properly enshrined, and the temples correctly built. In contrast to the previous periods
when the gods were available to all equally, now it is only the priests, belonging to a traditional
hierarchy of professional worshippers, who are the competent individuals to compel this
presence.
safe haven : From the contemporary point of view, temples act as safe haven where ordinary
mortals like us can feel themselves free from the constant vagaries of everyday existence, and
communicate personally with god. But our age is individualistic if nothing else. Each of us
requires our own conception of the deity based on our individual cultural rooting. In this context
it is interesting to observe that the word ‘temple,’ and ‘contemplate’ both share the same origin
from the Roman word ‘templum,’ which means a sacred enclosure. Indeed, strictly speaking,
where there is no contemplation, there is no temple. It is an irony of our age that this
individualistic contemplative factor, associated with a temple, is taken to be its highest positive
virtue, while according to the fact of legend it is but a limitation which arose due to our
continuous spiritual impoverishment over the ages. We have lost the divine who resided amongst
us (Krta Yuga), which is the same as saying that once man was divine himself.
But this is not to belittle the importance of the temple as a center for spiritual nourishment in our
present context, rather an affirmation of their invaluable significance in providing succour to the
modern man in an environment and manner that suits the typical requirements of the age in
which we exist.
Making of the Temple
The first step towards the construction of a temple is the selection of land. Even though any land
may be considered suitable provided the necessary rituals are performed for its sanctification, the
ancient texts nevertheless have the following to say in this matter: “The gods always play where
groves, rivers, mountains and springs are near, and in towns with pleasure gardens.” Not
surprisingly thus, many of India’s ancient surviving temples can be seen to have been built in
lush valleys or groves, where the environment is thought to be particularly suitable for building a
residence for the gods.
No matter where it is situated, one essential factor for the existence of a temple is water. Water is
considered a purifying element in all major traditions of the world, and if not available in reality,
it must be present in at least a symbolic representation in the Hindu temple. Water, the purifying,
fertilizing element being present, its current, which is the river of life, can be forded into inner
realization and the pilgrim can cross over to the other shore (metaphysical).
vastu-purusha mandala-Now that the earth has been ploughed, tilled and levelled, it is ready
for the drawing of the vastu-purusha mandala, the metaphysical plan of the temple.
The Metaphysical Architecture of the Temple. The basic plan of a Hindu temple is an expression of
sacred geometry where the temple is visualized as a grand mandala. By sacred geometry we
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mean a science which has as its purpose the accurate laying out of the temple ground plan in
relation to the cardinal directions and the heavens. Characteristically, a mandala is a sacred shape
consisting of the intersection of a circle and a square.
The square shape is symbolic of earth, signifying the four directions which bind and define it.
Indeed, in Hindu thought whatever concerns terrestrial life is governed by the number four (four
castes; the four Vedas etc.). Similarly, the circle is logically the perfect metaphor for heaven
since it is a perfect shape, without beginning or end signifying timelessness and eternity, a
characteristically divine attribute. Thus a mandala (and by extension the temple) is the meeting
ground of heaven and earth.
These considerations make the actual preparation of the site and laying of the foundation doubly
important. Understandably, the whole process is heavily immersed in rituals right from the
selection of the site to the actual beginning of construction. Indeed, it continues to be a custom in
India that whenever a building is sought to be constructed, the area on which it first comes up is
ceremonially propitiated. The idea being that the extent of the earth necessary for such
construction must be reclaimed from the gods and goblins that own and inhabit that area. This
ritual is known as the ‘pacification of the site.’ There is an interesting legend behind it:
Once when Shiva was engaged in a fierce battle with the demon Andhaka, a drop of sweat fell
from Shiva’s forehead to the ground, accompanied by a loud thunder. This drop transformed into
a ravenously hungry monster, who attempted to destroy the three worlds. The gods and divine
spirits, however, rushed at once on to him and held him down. When the demon fell on the
ground face downwards, the deities lodged themselves on to the different parts of his body and
pressed him down. It is because of this reason that the recumbent individual came to be known as
‘Vastu,’ which means the lodgement of the gods. He is pictured as lying down inside the
mandala with his arms and legs so folded as to cover the whole area, and his head pushed into
the north-eastern corner of the square. As many as forty-five gods are lodged on his body
directly on the limbs and joints.
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This vastu-purusha is the spirit in mother-earth which needs to be pacified and is regarded as a
demon whose permission is necessary before any construction can come up on the site. At the
same time, care is taken to propitiate the deities that hold him down, for it is important that he
should not get up. To facilitate the task of the temple-architect, the vastu-mandala is divided into
square grids with the lodging of the respective deities clearly marked. It also has represented on
it the thirty-two nakshatras, the constellations that the moon passes through on its monthly
course. In an ideal temple, these deities should be situated exactly as delineated in the mandala.
In the central grid of the vastu-mandala sits Brahma, the archetypal creator, endowed with four
faces looking simultaneously in all directions. He is thus conceived as the ever-present
superintending genius of the site. At this exact central point is established the most important
structure of the sacred complex, where the patron deity of the temple is installed. Paradoxically
this area is the most unadorned and least decorated part of the temple, almost as if it is created in
an inverse proportion to its spiritual importance. Referred to as the sanctum sanctorum, it is the
most auspicious region in the whole complex. It has no pillars, windows or ventilators. In
addition to a metaphysical aspect, this shutting off of air and light has a practical side to it too. It
was meant to preserve the icon, which, in olden days, was often made of wood. Also, besides
preventing the ill effects of weathering, the dark interior adds to the mystery of the divine
presence.
Throughout all subsequent developments in temple architecture, however spectacular and
grandiose, this main shrine room remains the small, dark cave that it has been from the
beginning. Indeed it has been postulated (both by archaeology and legend), that the temple
developed from the cave-shrine of the extremely remote past. This is another instance in
Hinduism where the primitive and the modern, along with all the developments in-between, can
be seen to co-exist remarkably and peacefully.
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CHAPTER IX
The SATAPATI or ARCHITECT
How one family of Temple architects has taken India’s 1,000-year-old temple architecture
to the world
Sometime in 2008, the over 500-year-old Gunja Narasimha Swami temple in Karnataka was in
dire need of repair and restoration. The foundation of the temple, located on the banks of the
Kaveri, about 32km south of Mysuru, had become weak due to flooding and loosening of soil. It
developed cracks and some structures of the temple crumbled.
Sthapati (architect and sculptor) R Selvanathan, the 37th lineal descendant of Kunjara Mallan
Raja Raja Perunthachan, who constructed the 1010-year-old famous Brihadeeswara temple in
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, was chosen for the restoration of this Vijayanagara period temple. He
decided to bring down the external structure stone by stone, replaced the old foundation with a
new one using concrete, and reassembled the stones exactly like the original structure.
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Selvanathan is upholding the over 1,000-year-old family tradition of constructing and renovating
temples even today.
Selvanathan’s canvas is global, much like his uncle and father, who constructed and renovated
temples in America, England, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Canada. I worked with
60 shilpis (stone carvers) on the Gunja Narasimha Swamy temple restoration, which was
completed in 2011. Dr N V Ramanuja Iyengar, an NRI from Florida, USA, funded the project
that cost over Rs 2.5 crore,” says Selvanathan, whose latest renovation and restoration project is
underway at the Sri Thiruketheeswaram Temple, Mannar in Sri Lanka.
The superstructure, or Vimana, made of brick and mortar was replaced with granite at Sri
Thiruketheeswaram Temple, Mannar, in Sri Lanka. Pic: M/s Sri Vaidyanatha Sthapati Associates
Upholding an age-old tradition on a global stage
This temple in Mannar, where Shiva is the primary god surrounded by 25 sub-shrines, was
constructed 60 years ago under the guidance of Selvanathan’s grandfather, Shilpa Kalasagaram
M Vaidyanatha Sthapati. Years of ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka
had left the temple in ruins.
“In 2017, I was assigned the task of renovating the temple, replacing brick and mortar with
granite stone. I took with me 100 shilpis, who have been working on this project for the last three
years. The superstructure of brick and mortar was replaced with granite. All the sub-shrines were
also demolished and constructed in granite stone,” adds 54-year-old Selvanathan, who grew up
with the sound of chisel and hammer, seeing sculptors working in his family-run workshop –
pattarai.
The work in Sri Lanka is now almost complete but artisans are stuck there due to the
Coronavirus. All the stones needed for reconstruction were available locally. But that’s not the
case with all his projects.
For the Kauai Adeenam Temple at Hawaii, US, Selvanathan shipped hand-carved stones from
India. It is America’s only all-granite hand-carved Sri Siva Temple.
“The work is nearing completion now. Ten of our shilpis assembled the stones there. All the
stones were hand carved in Bengaluru and transported to Hawaii by ship. Gurudeva (who
commissioned the work) wanted the temple stones to be carved manually as this was the process
followed in ancient times and ensures longevity of the structure,” he says.
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Kauai Adeenam Temple at Hawaii, US, is America’s only all-granite hand-carved Sri Siva
Temple. Pic: Ponni Selvanathan
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Similarly, when a beautiful statue of lord Vishnu was found in Phang Nga forest in Thailand, the
government wanted to replicate it and place it in the Thalang National Museum. “The statue was
fragile and damaged. I spent two weeks there, examined it, made its cement replica and it was
shipped to India,” he says.
The procedures mentioned in ancient texts
The ancient processes of construction, restoration, rehabilitation of statues as well as temples are
well documented in ancient texts. Temples need renovation every 12 years, according
to shastras, something that the Sthapati clan continues to do even for overseas temples till date.
Selvanathan has already renovated twice the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple in Maryland, just outside
Washington D.C, which was designed and constructed by his paternal uncle Dr V Ganapathi
Sthapati, who was conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2009. Selvanathan had also worked on the
project with his uncle.
“Our shastras like Manasaaram, Mayamatham, Viswakarmeeyam, Vaikanasam, Pancharathram
and Kumarathanthiram give detailed instructions on the processes to be followed for temple
construction, renovation and restoration. I also follow Sirpachenool treatise by my Guru Dr
Ganapathi Sthapati. The book deals with iconometry – forms and measures,” he says.
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The traditional knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. While the sthapati clan
thrived under the royal patronage upto the 18th century, it was supported by the Nagarathar
community, also known as Nattukottai Chettiars, during the 19th and 20th century.The
remuneration of the SAhilpikars ranges from Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000 depending on the
hierarchy. Pic: M/s Sri Vaidyanatha Sthapati Associates
During the renovation of temple structures and statues, shilpis make use of similar material as
used initially. “In case of the non-availability of the particular material, we use better material
with high quality as per our scriptures. For example brick structures can be replaced by good
quality stones,” he says.Rules prescribed in the shastras are followed during construction and
restoration of temples.
Temple restoration work usually addresses regular wear and tear, natural calamities, unnatural
reasons like political unrest causing damage to temples, deliberate damage to temple parts,
weakening of foundation besides damage by unwanted weeds and plant roots. A sthapati needs
to examine the temple or sculpture under restoration, study the nature of damage and then
carryout the work as per shastras.
How Selvanathan became a sthapati
The world famous Pillayarpatti Ganapathi Temple rajagopuram, sponsored by the Nagarathars,
was designed and built by Selvanathan’s grandfather M Vaidyanatha Sthapati.
While Selvanathan began exploring the nuances and curves of the tradition from childhood, he
was formally initiated into the field by his paternal uncle.
Selvanathan graduated in BSc (Temple Architecture) from the Government College of
Architecture and Sculpture, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu — the only technical institution for
temple architecture in India.
Selvanathan is now training his son, who will be the 38th generation in his prestigious lineage
following these traditions.
Apart from this, he is also now working towards conserving the craft. He trains
graduate sthapatis from his alma mater. “Through this institution, the shilpi tradition of
imparting knowledge, which was strictly from father to son, was thrown open to all with no
restriction around caste, family or community,” he says.
Around 20 to 25 students pass out from the college each year. “They work with me on projects
within India and overseas and get practical training,” he says. He is now among the few
torchbearers of this tradition that has stood the test of time for over a thousand years.
ASI restoring Markandeshwar temple in Maharashtra
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The restoration work of Markandeshwar temple in Maharashtra by the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) is in full swing. Known as the “Khajuraho of Vidarbha”, the temple of Markandadeo
is situated on the bank of River Wainganga in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
The temples are part of the Nagara group of temples of North India and, based on their style of
architecture, date back to 9-12th centuries CE. The temples belong to Saiva, Vaishnava and
Sakta faiths.
Most of the temples have a simple plan, with ardhamandapa, mandapa, antarala and garbhagriha
forming the component of the entire set up.
The temples have seen large scale destruction caused on the main shrine (garbhagriha) and the
very first recordings made by Sir Alexander Cunningham, who is known as the father of Indian
archaeology, states that - about 200 years ago the shikhara of the main shrine and mahamandapa
was struck by a lightning, which led to the partial collapse of the shikhara (the finial, north and
south facade).
Sir Alexander Cunningham, born on 23 January 1814 in London, joined the Bengal Engineers at
the age of 19 and spent 28 years in the British army in India, retiring as major general in 1861.
His interest in Indian history and architecture led to his taking part in the excavation of many
sites in India, including Sarnath and Sanchi. He also served as the first director of the Indian
Archaeological Survey (ASI). He died on 28 November 1893 in London.
The then Gond ruler renovated the temple about 120 years ago, trying to restore the fallen
portions as much as possible. This restoration attempt was, however, not as per the desired
conservation standards. However, the restoration of the temple by Gond ruler helped in the
preservation of the religious character of this temple and it continues to attract large gathering of
devotees.
The ASI initiated the largescale conservation work of the temple in November 2017. A detailed
documentation process was initiated to carry out the condition mapping of the temple in order to
carry out the conservation process. The documentation process revealed that originally a threeleaf masonry construction with iron clamps had been used to tie the adjacent stones of outer and
inner stone walls, also, the inner area between the two walls was filled of rubble masonry with
lime. Around 1,500 stone fragments were dismantled and later documented in the process.
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Detailed documentation of the architectural components, thickness of joints, their colour and the
quarry was investigated; including the mortar used for binding was also analyzed. Prior to the
conservation process, soil Investigation studies, foundation strengthening studies, studies of old
as well as new stones, beam studies with full scale testing, beam positioning, capacity of beam in
flexural and compression etc. were also carried out.
The conservation process was then started by numbering each stone and components of the
garbhagriha was numbered and detailed drawings / photographs of each part of the temple was
prepared, showing the numbered stones. This documentation was carried out before the
dismantling work, in order to restore back all the original stones in their original location
maintaining their authenticity.
The stones from the temple were then dismantled in one of the most strenuous and painstaking
process and they were thoroughly cleaned in order to remove dirt, dust, algae and mortar
remains.
In order to achieve high degree of accuracy, following the trial and error method, critical layers
of inner masonry were arranged and placed on ground for checking the exact position and then
placed and fixed at their original location on the temple.
The reconstruction of the temple in stone was then carried out to its original height and form
duly following the detailed drawings showing each numbered stone. The references from the
older photographs were also taken to check respective North, South and West side.
The old rusted iron clamps were replaced by new stainless-steel clamps which were fixed using
adhesive (hardener + resin + stone dust).
During the conservation process, all the original stone members, beams were retained and used
extensively, and wherever they were found broken, they were mended together. The broken
members beyond scope of mending and repairs were replaced with new ones.
As of now, the reconstruction process is in full swing and the ASI has completed the wall portion
and the sikhara portion has been taken up now.
The quarry site for the stones used in the original temple construction was also identified along
the banks of River Wainganga. A team of skilled craftsman are have been involved in the
process of chiseling, finishing the architectural members, planning to fix them in the original
form and shape.
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CHAPTER X
SOIL TESTING
Contents:
Chettinad’s masons slowly revive centuries-old lime-egg wall plaster technique
The practical preparations for building a temple are invested with great ritual significance and
magical fertility symbolism. The prospective site is first inspected for the ‘type,’ of the soil it
contains. This includes determining its color and smell. Each of these defining characteristics is
divided into four categories, which are then further associated with one of the four castes:
1. White Soil: Brahmin
2. - Red Soil: Kshatriya (warrior caste)
3. - Yellow Soil: Vaishya
4. - Black Soil: Shudra
5. Similarly for the smell and taste:
6. Sweet: Brahmin
7. - Sour: Kshatriya
8. - Bitter: Vaishya
9. - Astringent: Shudra (a reminder perhaps of the raw-deal which they have often been
given in life)
The color and taste of the soil determines the “caste” of the temple, i.e., the social group to which
it will be particularly favourable. Thus the patron of the temple can choose an auspicious site
specifically favourable to himself and his social environment.
After these preliminary investigations, the selected ground needs to be tilled and levelled:
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Tilling: When the ground is tilled and ploughed, the past ceases to count; new life is entrusted to
the soil and another cycle of production begins, an assurance that the rhythm of nature has not
been interfered with. Before laying of the actual foundation, the Earth Goddess herself is
impregnated in a symbolic process known as ankura-arpana, ankura meaning seed and arpana
signifying offering. In this process, a seed is planted at the selected site on an auspicious day and
its germination is observed after a few days. If the growth is satisfactory, the land is deemed
suitable for the temple. The germination of the seed is a metaphor for the fulfilment of the
inherent potentialities which lie hidden in Mother Earth, and which by extension are now
transferred to the sacred structure destined to come over it.
Levelling: It is extremely important that the ground from which the temple is to rise is regarded
as being throughout an equal intellectual plane, which is the significance behind the levelling of
the land. It is also an indication that order has been established in a wild, unruly, and errant
world.
The aroma of freshly ground spices, ginger and garlic wafts through the afternoon air as one
takes a stroll on the KB Street in Kottaiyur in Tamil Nadu’s Chettinad region. Chettinad is well
known for its spicy cuisine, which uses boiled egg as a garnish in most of the dishes. But the use
of eggs is not limited to food. Egg whites have also been an integral part of wall plasters of
Chettinad homes for centuries. The mirror-like, shiny interior walls not only reflect the age-old
way of beating the scorching heat but also carry the pride of masons, who have been passing on
the egg white plaster technique from generation to generation.On K B Street also stands the
house where mason SP Mookkiah used for the first time the centuries-old lime egg plaster
technique, which is slowly reclaiming its glory after being on the verge of extinction some years
ago.
Centuries-old legacy
Chettinad, in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district, is known for its majestic mansions and
concentrated clusters of Nattukottai Chettiars, a rich and affluent mercantile community. The
architectural style of the mansions has stood the test of time, modernity and convenience.
Just like cement plaster, Chettinad plaster is also used in the final stage of wall finishing. The
bricks are covered with multiple layers of white lime mortar and plastered with the egg-lime mix.
“This layer is different not only because of the composition of the plaster but also because the
final texture is soft, shiny yet firm,” Mookkiah says.
Besides, the wall doesn’t require regular painting unlike other plastered walls, points out
Visalakshi Ramaswamy, who started the M.Rm.Rm. Cultural Foundation in 2000 to support and
document works towards the revival of rural crafts, textiles and architecture. Her other projects
include kottan — the traditional palmyra basketry; kandanghi saris and athangudi tiles of
Chettinad.
73-year-old Mookkaiya from Karaikudi and his son, are among the last skilled masons practicing
this craft. Originally carpenters, the family has been keeping Chettinad plastering alive for four
generations now. Last year, the Crafts Council of India awarded Mookkiah for his contribution
towards the ‘Revival of Languishing Crafts’. Egg lime plastering technique
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Mookkiah explains that the plaster is made by grinding three portions of sand to one portion of
limestone. The dry mixture is allowed to settle for about 3-4 days. The masons procure conches
and shells from the coastal areas of Ramanathapuram and Thoothukudi. They are powdered and
added to the limestone mixture. Finally, kalmavu podi or whitestone powder is added to the dried
powder mix.Moreover, some people began to move away from the technique because some of
the raw materials are derived from animals. “While most of the cultural aspects of Chettinad
thrived and brought tourism to this place, the egg-lime plaster technique somehow found no
takers. “Most of the artisans who have mastered the techniques are over 50 years of age,” he
says.However, now Mookkiah as well as M.Rm.Rm. Cultural Foundation are working towards
restoration of this craft. Mookkiah’s son is following in his footsteps. The father-son duo has
completed projects in Pondicherry besides working for some clubs and hotels.
Currently, in Chettinad, there are seven skilled artisans, including Mookkiah, who are using this
technique. Students of architecture also come to him to learn and incorporate egg-lime plaster in
their work in the hope of becoming Chettinad architects some day.
Mookkiah has been training masons and workers from across the country, including Kerala,
Karnataka, Punjab, Odisha and Telangana. The M.Rm.Rm Cultural Foundation, flag bearer of
the revival of the craft, had also conducted workshops for masons.
The walls don’t require painting ever. But training is not enough. It is necessary that people
acknowledge this craft and commission the services of masons for the technique to grow. “It
ultimately depends on the people who choose to see its beauty and participate in its resurrection,”
Ramaswamy adds.
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Types of Soil tests for building construction works depend on properties of soil. Design of
the foundation is based on soil test report of construction site.
Soil tests for construction of buildings or any structure is the first step in construction planning to
understand the suitability of soil for proposed construction work.
Soil which is responsible for allowing the stresses coming from the structure should be well
tested to give excellent performance. If soil shouldn’t tested correctly then the whole building or
structure is damaged or collapsed or leaned like leaning tower of Pisa. So, soil inspection or
testing is the first step to proceed any construction.
Types of Soil Tests for Building Construction
Various tests on soil are conducted to decide the quality of soil for building construction. Some
tests are conducted in laboratory and some are in the field. Here we will discuss about the
importance of various soil tests for building construction. The tests on soil are as follows.
1. Moisture content test
2. Atterberg limits tests
3. Specific gravity of soil
4. Dry density of soil
5. Compaction test (Proctor’s test)
Moisture Content Test on Soil
Moisture content or water content in soil is an important parameter for building construction. It is
determined by several methods and they are
Oven drying method
Calcium carbide method
Torsion balance method
Pycnometer method
Sand bath method
Radiation method
Alcohol method
Of all the above oven drying method is most common and accurate method. In this method the
soil sample is taken and weighed and put it in oven and dried at 110o + 5oC. After 24 hours soil
is taken out and weighed. The difference between the two weights is noted as weight of water or
moisture content in the soil.
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Specific Gravity Test on Soil
Specific gravity of soil is the ratio of the unit weight of soil solids to that of the water. It is
determined by many methods and they are.
Density bottle method
Pycnometer method
Gas jar method
Shrinkage limit method
Measuring flask method
Density bottle method and Pycnometer method are simple and common methods. In Pycnometer
method, Pycnometer is weighed in 4 different cases that is empty weight (M1), empty + dry soil
(M2), empty + water + dry soil (M3) and Pycnometer filled with water (M4) at room
temperature. From these 4 masses specific gravity is determined by below formula.
Dry Density Test on Soil
The weight of soil particles in a given volume of sample is termed as dry density of soil. Dry
density of soil depends upon void ratio and specific gravity of soil. Based on values of dry
density soil is classified into dense, medium dense and loose categories.
Dry density of soil is calculated by core cutter method, sand replacement method and waterdisplacement method.
Core Cutter Method for Soil Dry Density Testing
In this methods a cylindrical core cutter of standard dimensions is used to cut the soil in the
ground and lift the cutter up with soil sample. The taken out sample is weighed and noted.
Finally water content for that sample is determined and dry density is calculated from the below
relation.
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Sand Replacement Method for Soil Dry Density Testing
In this method also, a hole is created in the ground by excavating soil whose dry density is to be
find. The hole is filled with uniform sand of known dry density. So by dividing the mass of sand
poured into the hole with dry density of sand gives the volume of hole. So we can calculate the
soil dry density from above formula.
Atterberg Limits Test on Soil
To measure the critical water content of a fine grained soil, Atterberg provided 3 limits which
exhibits the properties of fine grained soil at different conditions. The limits are liquid limit,
plastic limit and shrinkage limit. These limits are calculated by individual tests as follows.
Liquid Limit Test on Soil
In this test, Casagrande’s liquid limit device is used which consist a cup with moving up and
down mechanism. The cup is filled with soil sample and groove is created in the middle of cup
with proper tool. When the cup is moved up and down with the help of handle the groove
becomes closed at some point.
Note down the number of blows required to close the groove. After that water content of soil is
determined. Repeat this procedure 3 times and draw a graph between log N and water content of
soil. Water content corresponding to N=25 is the liquid limit of soil.
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Plastic Limit Test on Soil
Take the soil sample and add some water to make it plastic enough to shape into small ball.
Leave it for some time and after that put that ball in the glass plate and rolled it into threads of
3mm diameter.
If the threads do not break when we roll it to below 3mm diameter, then water content is more
than the plastic limit. In that case reduce water content and repeat the same procedure until
crumbling occurs at 3mm diameter. Finally find out the water content of resultant soil which
value is nothing but plastic limit.
In case of shrinkage limit, the water content in the soil is just sufficient to fill the voids of soil.
That is degree of saturation is of 100%. So, there is no change in volume of soil if we reduce the
shrinkage limit. It is determined by the below formula for the given soil sample.
Where M1 = initial mass
V1= initial volume
M2= dry mass
V2= volume after drying
Pw = density of water.
Proctor’s Compaction Test on Soil
Proctor’s test is conducted to determine compaction characteristics of soil. Compaction of soil is
nothing but reducing air voids in the soil by densification. The degree of Compaction is
measured in terms of dry density of soil.
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In Proctor’s Compaction Test
RIGHT Shrinkage Limit Test on Soil
In Proctor’s Compaction Test, given soil sample sieved through 20mm and 4.75 mm sieves.
Percentage passing 4.75mm and percentage retained on 4.75mm are mixed with certain
proportions.
Add water to it and leave it in air tight container for 20hrs. Mix the soil and divide it into 6 – 8
parts. Position the mold and pour one part of soil into the mold as 3layers with 25 blows of
ramming for each layer.
Remove the base plate and Weight the soil along with mold. Remove the soil from mold and take
the small portion of soil sample at different layers and conduct water content test. from the
values find out the dry density of soil and water content and draw a graph between them and note
down the maximum dry density and optimum water content of the compacted soil sample at
highest point on the curve.
FAQs
What are test conducted in soil before construction?
The important test conducted on soil before building construction are:
1. Moisture content test
2. Atterberg limits tests
3. Specific gravity of soil
4. Dry density of soil
5. Compaction test (Proctor’s test)
What is dry density of soil?
The weight of soil particles in a given volume of sample is termed as dry density of soil. Dry
density of soil depends upon void ratio and specific gravity of soil. Based on values of dry
density soil is classified into dense, medium dense and loose categories.
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Dry density of soil is calculated by core cutter method, sand replacement method and waterdisplacement method.
How to determine moisture content of soil?
Moisture content or water content in soil is an important parameter for building construction. It is
determined by several methods and they are:
1. Oven drying method
2. Calcium carbide method
3. Torsion balance method
4. Pycnometer method
5. Sand bath method
6. Radiation method
7. Alcohol method
Of all the above oven drying method is most common and accurate method. In this method the
soil sample is taken and weighed and put it in oven and dried at 110o + 5oC. After 24 hours soil
is taken out and weighed. The difference between the two weights is noted as weight of water or
moisture content in the soil.
Soil tests required for deep foundation to ensure the bearing capacity of the soil to support the
loads from deep foundation. Deep foundations are those where the depth of foundation is
generally greater than two times of width of footing (D = 2B).
Deep foundations are required due to various reasons. Read here about why deep foundations
are required and types of deep foundations. Types of soil tests for deep foundations are
discussed.
Soil tests required for deep foundations
While the composition and depth of the bearing layer for shallow foundations may vary from one
site to another, most pile foundations in a locally encounter similar deposits.
Since pile capacity based on soil parameters is not as reliable from load tests, as a first step it is
essential to obtain full information on the type, size, length and capacity of piles (including
details of load – settlement graph) generally adopted in the locality.
Correlation of soil characteristics (from soil investigation reports) and corresponding load tests
(from actual projects constructed) is essential to decide the type of soil tests to be performed and
to make a reasonable recommendation for the type, size, length and capacity of piles since most
formulae are empirical.
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Fig.1:soil tests for deep foundation
If information about piles in the locality are not available or reliable, it may be necessary to
drive a test pile and correlate with soil data. Generally, the following tests may be required to
obtain certain required data:
1. Direct shear test
It is conducted to estimated effective friction angle of cohesionless soil. Nonetheless, there are
correlations which are developed to evaluate effective friction angle of cohesionless soil. for
more information about shear strength test of soil click here.
Fig.2:Direct shear test
2. Standard penetration test (SPT)
It is performed to determine the cohesion (and consequently the adhesion) to determine the angle
of friction (and consequently the angle of friction between soil and the pile and also the point of
resistance) for each soil stratum of cohesion less soil of
soil.
3. Static cone penetration test (CPT)
This test conducted to determine the cohesion (and subsequently the adhesion) for soft cohesive
soils and to check with SPT result for fine to medium sands. Hence for strata encountering both
cohesive and cohesion less soils, both SPT and CPT tests are required.
4. Vane shear test
it is used to estimated undrained in-situ shear strength of impervious clayey soils.
5. Undrained triaxial shear strength
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It is carried out on undisturbed soil samples (obtained with thin walled tube samplers) to
determine cohesion ( ) and angle of internal friction ( ) for clayey soils. Procedures for
conducting this test is provided by ASTM D 2850-03, 2004.
In case of driven piles proposed for stiff clays, it is necessary to check with the ( ) and ( )
from re-moulded samples. Drained shear strength parameters are also determined to represent insitu condition of soil at end of construction phase. Details of this test procedure can be found in
ASTM D4767-02, 2004.
Fig.3:Triaxial shear test
6. Pressure meter test
It is performed to determine the stress- strain curve of horizontal loading. The equipment is
either inserted into pre-drilled borehole or a self-boring pressure meter is used. Unless the soil is
isotropic, the same value cannot be adopted for the vertical direction. This test is performed
specifically for piles that subjected to lateral loading.
7. Ground water condition and permeability of soil
Ground water condition and soil permeability influence the choice of pile type to be
recommended.
Hence the level at which water in the bore hole remains are noted in the bore logs. Since
permeability of clay is very low, it takes several days for water in the drill hole to rise upto
ground water table.
Ground water samples need to be tested to consider the possible chemical effects on concrete
and the reinforcement. Result of the cone penetration test for the same soil show substantial
scatter. Hence, they need to be checked with supplementary information from other exploration
methods.
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CHAPTER XI
Shaiva Tradition
The Bhakti movement refers to the theistic devotional trend that emerged in
medieval Hinduism[1] and later acted as the de facto catalyst to the formation of Sikhism. It
originated in eighth-century south India (now Tamil Nadu and Kerala), and spread northwards. It
swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reaching its zenith between the
15th and 17th century CE.
The Bhakti movement regionally developed around different gods and goddesses, and some subsects
were Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Shakti
goddesses),
and Smartism. Bhakti movement preached using the local languages so that the message reached
the masses. The movement was inspired by many poet-saints, who championed a wide range of
philosophical positions ranging from theistic dualism of Dvaita to absolute monism of Advaita
Vedanta.
The movement has traditionally been considered as an influential social reformation in
Hinduism, and provided an individual-focused alternative path to spirituality regardless of one's
birth or gender. The Bhakti movement began with the aim of reforming Hinduism.
Contemporary scholars question this traditional view and whether the Bhakti movement ever was
a reform or rebellion of any kind.[10] They suggest Bhakti movement was a revival, reworking
and recontextualisation of ancient Vedic traditions.[11] Bhakti refers to passionate devotion (to a
deity).
Scriptures of the Bhakti movement include the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavata Purana and Padma
Purana. While construction of stupas continued, Brahmanical temples and images of gods also
started getting constructed. Often temples were decorated with the images of gods. Myths
mentioned in the Puranas became part of narrative representation of the Brahmanical religion.
Each temple had a principal image of a god. The shrines of the temples were of three kinds—(i)
sandhara type (without pradikshinapatha), (ii) nirandhara type (with pradakshinapatha), and (iii)
sarvatobhadra (which can be accessed from all sides). Some of the important temple sites of this
period are Deogarh in Uttar Pradesh, Eran, Nachna-Kuthara and Udaygiri near Vidisha in
Madhya Pradesh. These temples are simple structures consisting of a veranda, a hall and a shrine
at the rear.
THE BASIC FORM OF THE HINDU TEMPLE The basic form of the Hindu temple
comprises the following: (i) sanctum (garbhagriha literally ‘womb-house’), which was a small
cubicle with a single entrance and grew into a larger chamber in time. The garbhagriha is made
to house the main icon which is itself the focus of much ritual attention; (ii) the entrance to the
temple which may be a portico or colonnaded hall that incorporates space for a large number of
worshippers and is known as a mandapa; (iii) freestanding temples tend to have a mountain-like
spire, which can take the shape of a curving shikhar in North India and a pyramidal tower, called
a vimana, in South India; (iv) the vahan, i.e., the mount or vehicle of the temple’s main deity
along with a standard pillar or dhvaj is placed axially before the sanctum. Two broad orders of
temples in the country are known— Nagara in the north and Dravida in the south. At times, the
Vesar style of temples as an independent style created through the selective mixing of the Nagara
and Dravida orders is mentioned by some scholars. Elaborate studies are available on the various
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sub-styles within these orders. We will look into the differences in the forms further on in this
chapter. As temples grew more complex, more surfaces were created for sculpture through
additive geometry, i.e., by adding more and more rhythmically projecting, symmetrical walls and
niches, without breaking away from the fundamental plan of the shrine. SCULPTURE,
ICONOGRAPHY AND ORNAMENTATION The study of images of deities falls within a
branch of art history called ‘iconography’, which consists of identification of images based on
certain symbols and mythologies associated with them. And very often, while the fundamental
myth and meaning of the deity may remain the same for centuries, its specific usage at a spot can
be a response to its local or immediate social, political or geographical context. Every region and
period produced its own distinct style of images with its regional variations in iconography. The
temple is covered with elaborate sculpture and ornament that form a fundamental part of its
conception. The placement of an image in a temple is carefully planned:
Shaiva Tradition: There is a one essential and fundamental question that arises when one see
Vaishnavs fighting with Shaiv and misconstruing and misrepresenting Dharma at global
level.But when one keeps Vaishnavs aside for a moment, and look only at Shaiv tradition, there
also one will find many conflicts with Shakta tradition in Shaiv.Some would claim Shiva is
supreme and is the greatest, like this there is another tradition of Shakta which believes that
Shakti, which is the divine feminine energy to be the supreme essence and through this Shakti all
forms of divinity and gross reality manifests and that Shakti is the fundamental energy driving
the cosmos responsible for creation, maintainance and dissolution of universe.When sadhana or
spiritual practices from Himalaya went forth in mainstream society, two distinct groups of
practitioners or sadhaka emerged in Shaiv traditions.A group emerged which gave prime and
sole importance to feminie principle with spiritual practices focused on this principle. This
Shakta tradition is very vast, amazing and magical. There are nine forms of Durga, the ten Maha
Vidyas or Consious Energies of the Universe, sixteen Matrikas or Divine Feminie Matrix, sixty
four yoginis, sixty four krityas, gandharvas, kinners, apsaras and many more shaktis working at
different dimensions and different levels of the cosmos comes under the Shakta tradtition.And
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another group emerged and gave sole and prime importance to Male principle, “Purush”. And
thus various spiritual practices based on this principle were evolved. This Shaiv tantra is no less
rich and equally expanive as Shakta. At some schools of Shaiv Tantra, there are 58 Bhairava, 52
Veer, many Yaksha, Gandharva, Kinners who come under the Shaiva tradition.Both these two
schools have their own specialties. But then the question about which is greatest among these
two still remains to be answered.
At different times in the cosmos, different sages, rishis, at different places have praised Shaiv or
Shakta over the other to people with different mindset.
Where Shaiva tattva or essence is representative of the visible dimensions, Shakti tattva
represents the hidden dimensions.
Shiv is mass and inert, and presents all elements in gross form. Like water is Shiv tattva but the
waves and fluidity of water is the Shakti principle. Fire is Shiv Tattva and the burning is Shakti.
By looking at fire we can infer Shiv tattva, but when we look at this fire from a distance we
cannot experience the burning or the Shakti present in fire is not apparent from distance. By
looking at a lamp or lighted candle from a distance we can make out the form of the flame
burning but we cannot make out the temperature. Only when we go near the flame, and put our
hand on it then we can know about the temperature of that flame.Like this, Shiv tattva is
omnipresent, it is everywhere in the cosmos, and has Shakti tattva in its core.In devanagiri
varnmala or the alphabets of Sankrit, hindi and other such derived language, given by ancient
seers and rishis, we have some independent varna or akshar or for lack of proper term in english,
an alphabet. These independent varna or alphabet is Shiva like “a-kar”, “u-kar”, uptil “gya” are
all Shiva tattva. But the nasal varna or anunasik, bindu, and “ee-kar” are representing shakti
tattva.
It is no surprise that Energy also starts with “e”. And Shiv has “e-kar” in Shiv!
Therefore we can consider Shiv and Shakti as different, but actually they are one and
indistinguishable.
Looking across the vedic era to the modern times, there have been many different spiritual sects
or schools like Shaiv, Shakta, Vaishnav, ganpatya, or of Sun and Fire.But Gayatri sadhana, given
by Rishi Vishwamitra and Vashistha is considered mandatory in all schools.Gayatri is that Shakti
which is neither male principle or female principle. Gayatri is the sole Shakti which is called
“Ubhaylingi” or of both male-female principle. Gayatri by itself is that Shakti which is full male
principle, and also full female principle and is considered as the complete whole divine Shakti
Tattva.For an ordinary person it is difficult to understand Gayatri since what we see around us
are either males – with predominant male principle, and females- with predominant female
principle. “Ubhaylingi” principled beings do not exists amognst us. Shakta temples are found all
over South Asia. Many towns, villages and geographic landmarks are named for various forms of
the Devi. Major pilgrimage sites of Shaktism are called "Shakti Peethas", literally "Seats of the
Devi". These vary from four to fifty one.
Some Shakta temples are also found in Southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe, Australia and
elsewhere. Examples in the United States include the Kali Mandir in Laguna Beach,
California; and Sri Rajarajeswari Peetam a Srividya temple in rural Rush, New York
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Some feminists and participants in New Age spirituality who are attracted to Goddess worship",
suggest Shaktism is a "symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed
female power and sexuality." However, these are adaptions and do not share Shakta theology
Ardhanarishwar Shiv Shakti
There comes a unique and amazing manifestation or form which is called as “ArdhaNarishwar”.
At one end Ardhnarishwar is Purush or male and also Shakti or female.Since the dawn of
beginning whatever essential qualities were given priority or importance by males became
“Purush Tattva” and whatever qualities were favorites of females became “Shakti or Stri
Tattva”.But life runs with opposing principles. Therefore many followers of Shiv are women,
and majority of practitioner of Shakti tattva or Shakta tradition of divine feminine are actually
men.So practitioner of these two schools carry on their distinct path but fundamentally they are
the same.Now asking questions like out of Shiv and Shakti which is greater or supreme principle
is actually a very foolish question.It is like holding drops of water in both hands drawn from the
same source, and claiming that the drop of water in one hand is better water and the other hand’s
water is inferior.In Ardhanarishwar, at one half we have Shiv and other half is Shakti and in this
“ubhaylingi” form we have Shiv Shakti in gayatri tattva.Behind the apparent Gayatri tattva, there
is the Brahma Tattva. This formless, attributeless ParaBrahm which when experienced in
manifested form becomes Shiv and Shakti.
So because of distinct form, qualities, traits and practices, sectarian differences arise in Shiv and
Shakti but in truth it is one indistinguishable whole. When Shiva speaks to Shakti it is called as
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Agam and when Shakti listens it is called Nigam. This Agam and Nigam is the fountain from
which all tantra, yoga, infact all esoteric knowlege of spiritual worlds has sprouted forth. Asking
questions like out of “Agam” and “Nigam” which is greater is ridiculous. Without ‘Agam” there
is no “Nigam” and without “Nigam” there is no “Agam”.Shakti resides and functions in Shiv.
And knowing thus one would be free from conflicts on Shiv and Shakti.And after realizing this
unity, one would cease to see difference between Shaiv and Vaishnav.
Today, whatever differences and conflicts between different traditions are apparent will
disappear after realization. Vishnu tattva is the representation of continuity and Shiv tattva which
is the representation of its destruction, this when realized will cease to be seen as different from
each other. And Brahma who is the representation of creation will also become indistinguishable
from Shiv and Vishnu. It solely depends on the level of sadhana or spiritual practice.At what
depth or qualities the spiritual path is working will either show difference between these tattva or
no differences between these tattva.At lower levels these differences exists and the higher one
rises up in spiritual practices these differences cease to exists.It is therefore said that without
proper guru one should not even read Vedas, Puranas or other scriptures because there is high
probability to misconstrue the message. When doing sadhana under proper guidance, these
differences between Shiv and Shakti will cease to be and they will become one.
But all these one must experience directly to be true knowledge.
Shaktas approach the Devi in many forms; however, they are all considered to be but diverse
aspects of the one supreme Goddess. The primary Devi form worshiped by a Shakta devotee is
his or her ishta-devi, that is a personally selected Devi. The selection of this deity can depend on
many factors, such as family tradition, regional practice, guru lineage and personal resonance.
Some forms of the Goddess are widely known in the Hindu world. The common goddesses of
Shaktism, popular in the Hindu thought at least by about mid 1st-millennium CE,
include Parvati, Durga, Kali, Amba, Lakshmi, Rukmini, Sita, Yogmaya and Saraswati. The rarer
forms
of
Devi
found
among
tantric
Shakta
are
the Mahavidyas,
particularly Tara, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Kamala and Bhuvaneshvari. Other major Goddess
groups include the Sapta-Matrika ("Seven Little Mothers"), "who are the energies of different
major Gods, and described as assisting the great Shakta Devi in her fight with demons", and the
64 Yoginis. 8 forms of goddess Lakshmi called Ashtalakshmi and 9 forms of goddess Durga ,
the Navadurgas worshipped in Navratri
Shaktas conceive the Goddess as the supreme, ultimate, eternal reality of all existence, or same
as the Brahman concept of Hinduism. She is considered to be simultaneously the source of all
creation, its embodiment and the energy that animates and governs it, and that into which
everything will ultimately dissolve. According to V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar – a professor of
Indian history, in Shaktism theology "Brahman is static Shakti and Shakti is dynamic Brahman.
Shaktism views the Devi as the source, essence and substance of everything in creation. Its texts
such as the Devi-Bhagavata Purana states:
I am Manifest Divinity, Unmanifest Divinity, and Transcendent Divinity. I
am Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, as well as Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. I am the Sun and I am
the Stars, and I am also the Moon. I am all animals and birds, and I am the outcaste as well, and
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the thief. I am the low person of dreadful deeds, and the great person of excellent deeds. I am
Female, I am Male in the form of Shiva.
Shaktism's focus on tae Divine Female does not imply a rejection of the male. It rejects
masculine-feminine, male-female, soul-body, transcendent-immanent dualism, considering
nature as divine. Devi is considered to be the cosmos itself – she is the embodiment of energy,
matter and soul, the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe. Yet
in Shaktism, the cultural concepts of masculine and the feminine as they exist among
practitioners of Shaktism are aspects of the divine, transcendent reality. In Hindu iconography,
the cosmic dynamic of male-female or masculine-feminine interdependence and equivalence, is
expressed in the half-Shakti, half-Shiva deity known as Ardhanari.
The philosophical premises in many Shakta texts, states June McDaniel –
The earliest archaeological evidence of what appears to be an Upper Paleolithic shrine for
Shakti worship were discovered in the terminal upper paleolithic site of Baghor I (Baghor stone)
in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The excavations, carried out under the guidance of
noted archaeologists G. R. Sharma of Allahabad University and J. Desmond Clark of University
of California and assisted by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer and J.N. Pal, dated the Baghor formation to
between 9000 B.C and 8000 B.C. The origins of Shakti worship can also be traced to Indus
Valley Civilization. One of the earliest evidence of reverence for the female aspect of God in
Hinduism appears in chapter 10.125 of the Rig Veda, also called the Devi Suktam hymn:
I am the Queen, the gatherer-up of treasures, most thoughtful, first of those who merit worship.
Thus Gods have established me in many places with many homes to enter and abide in.
Through me alone all eat the food that feeds them, – each man who sees, breathes, hears the
word outspoken.
They know it not, yet I reside in the essence of the Universe. Hear, one and all, the truth as I
declare it.
I, verily, myself announce and utter the word that Gods and men alike shall welcome.
I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him nourished, a sage, and one who
knows Brahman.
I bend the bow for Rudra [Shiva], that his arrow may strike, and slay the hater of devotion.
I rouse and order battle for the people, I created Earth and Heaven and reside as their Inner
Controller.
On the world's summit I bring forth sky the Father: my home is in the waters, in the ocean as
Mother.
Thence I pervade all existing creatures, as their Inner Supreme Self, and manifest them with
my body.
I created all worlds at my will, without any higher being, and permeate and dwell within them.
The eternal and infinite consciousness is I, it is my greatness dwelling in everything.
–Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.3 – 10.125.8,
The Vedic literature reveres various goddesses, but far less frequently than
Gods Indra, Agni and Soma. Yet, they are declared equivalent aspects of the neutral Brahman,
of Prajapati and Purusha. The goddesses often mentioned in the Vedic layers of text include the
Ushas (dawn), Vāc (speech, wisdom), Sarasvati (as river), Prithivi (earth), Nirriti (annihilator),
Shraddha (faith, confidence. Goddesses such as Uma appear in the Upanishads as another aspect
172
of divine and the knower of ultimate knowledge (Brahman), such as in section 3 and 4 of the
ancient Kena Upanishad.
Hymns to goddesses are in the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata, particularly in the later (100 to
300 CE) added Harivamsa section of itThe archaeological and textual evidence implies, states
Thomas Coburn, that the Goddess had become as much a part of the Hindu tradition, as God, by
about the third or fourth century. The literature on Shakti theology grew in ancient India,
climaxing in one of the most important texts of Shaktism called the Devi Mahatmya. This text,
states C. Mackenzie Brown – a professor of Religion, is both a culmination of centuries of Indian
ideas about the divine woman, as well as a foundation for the literature and spirituality focussed
on the female transcendence in centuries that . De vi-Mahatmya is not the earliest literary
fragment attesting to the existence of devotion to a Goddess figure, states Thomas B. Coburn – a
professor of Religious Studies, but "it is surely the earliest in which the object of worship is
conceptualized as Goddess, with a capital G".
Other important texts of Shaktism include the Shakta Upanishads, as well as Shaktaoriented Upa Puranic literature such as the Devi Purana and Kalika Purana,[21] the Lalita
Sahasranama (from the Brahmanda Purana). The Tripura Upanishad is historically the most
complete introduction to Shakta Tantrism, distilling into its 16 verses almost every important
topic in Shakta Tantra tradition. Along with the Tripura Upanishad, the Tripuratapini
Upanishad has attracted scholarly bhasya (commentary) in the second half of 2nd-millennium,
such as by Bhaskararaya and by Ramanand.These texts link the Shakti Tantra tradition as a
Vedic attribute,[28] however this link has been contested by scholars.
The 18th-century brilliant Shakta bhakti poems and songs were composed by two Bengal court
poets, Bharatchandra Ray and Ramprasad Sen as well as the Tamil collection Abhirami
Anthadhi.
In addition, one of the most influensed Hindu reform-era figure
universalist Ramakrishna, for whom all were the same Mother Goddess.
became
shakta-
Diagram of cosmic pillar myth
In this myth Shiva asks Vishnu and Bramha to find the ends of the universe essentially. Vishnu
becomes as boar and digs into the earth and Brahma becomes a swan and flies into the sky.
When they both report back to Shiva, Vishnu obliges to not finding a definite end or beginning
whereas Brahma lies and says he has. Shiva knowing the quest is unanswerable curses Brahma
so that he may not be worshipped
because of his misplaced arrogance. This story is one of many stories that depicts Bramha’s fall
from grace and justifies his lack of temples and following in India
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CHAPTER XII
ANCIENT TEMPLES
Temples of East, West, and Central India (8th–13th Century). In Eastern India, particularly
in Orissa between 750–1250 CE and in Central India between 950–1050 CE, many
gorgeous temples were built. They were probably dedicated to a sun god, Shiva and Vishnu.
The temple were constructed using granite blocks and bricks, one with a small stepped pond. The
cultural sphere often called Greater India extended into South-East Asia. The word Hindu is an
exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners
refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धमा, lit. ''the Eternal way''), which
refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts.T
Hindus worship one Supreme Being called Brahman though by different names. This is because
the peoples of India with many different languages and cultures have understood the one God in
their
own
distinct
way. Supreme
God has
uncountable
divine
powers.
Once a dominant religion on the Indian subcontinent (before the rise of reform Hinduism in the
7th century CE), Jainism has fairly obscure origins.
174
Anshika
Jain
surviving-temples
India’s Oldest Surviving Temples
https://www.livehistoryindia.com/amazing-india/2019/11/06/indias-oldest-
Temples in India are usually elaborate structures, be it scale, ornamentation or both. Think
Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, the magnificent temples of Khajuraho, or the ornate Dilwara
Temple of Rajasthan. So it may be a bit of a surprise that the oldest surviving temple in the
country is a small, nondescript shrine in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh.The tradition of temple
building in India can be traced to the Gupta period (3rd to 6th century CE).
This does not mean that temples were not built before this time. Remnants of a Mauryan-era,
brick-and-stone structure believed to be a temple have been excavated in Bairat district in
Rajasthan and dated to the 3rd century BCE, and a similar oval, brick temple plan has been
excavated at Besnagar, Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh dated to the 2nd century BCE. Also, as living
shrines, many temples of great antiquity have undergone frequent renovation, making it very
difficult to trace their origins and history.
That’s why ‘Sanchi 17’, a Gupta-period shrine, is so significant. Dated to the 5th century CE, it
is the oldest surviving complete temple found in India to date. Sure, there are early apsidal
(round-ended) shrines like those from the Kushana period (30 CE to 375 CE) excavated at Sonkh
near Mathura by Dr Herbert Hartel, but once again they exist only on plan and not on elevation.
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The exterior of one of the Barabar Caves in 1870|British Library
We don’t find intact temples predating the Gupta period probably because the modes of worship
were different then or temples were built either from perishable materials like bamboo, wood,
mud brick or even burnt brick, or were cut out of rock as we see in Udayagiri in Odisha or
Barabar in Bihar.
Besides temple worship, yagyas were performed on fire altars, and one can see the influence of
these altars on the design and layout of the early temples. Since tradition dictated that these
sacrificial altars be built on the outskirts of a settlement and abandoned on completion of the
ceremony, they have been lost over time.
Still, we have a lot to go on. Considering the heights temple architecture later achieved, it is
difficult to imagine the simplicity of the earliest shrines but couched in that apparent simplicity
are the basic elements that define the elaborate temples of the later, medieval period.
Let us explore some of the earliest temples in the country and see how temple architecture
evolved from the 5th to the 7th centuries CE.
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Sanchi 17|Wikimedia Commons
Sanchi Temple 17: The oldest surviving temple in India
The town of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh is known for the Sanchi Stupa, an icon of ancient Indian
architecture and religion. Sanchi also houses another significant milestone in the development of
Indian architecture and religion, albeit a lot less glamorous. Located within the Stupa complex is
one of the oldest surviving stone temples in India. ‘Sanchi 17’ may look basic but it holds the
seeds of temple architecture in India.Sanchi 17 is dated to around 400 CE or the late 4th or early
5th century CE, during the reign of Gupta dynasty.
Most scholars agree that the temple was used for Buddhist worship. While temple-building in
Buddhism didn’t gain popularity, many of the elements of this temple would go on to be
incorporated into Hindu temple architecture. The structure of Sanchi 17 is extremely simple. It
has a square, flat-roofed sanctum with a porch that as four pillars in the front. The interior and
exterior of the temple are undecorated but the pillars are carved. They are carved with inverted
lotuses while the capital, which supports the roof, is carved with lions. Near Sanchi 17 is Sanchi
18, which might have been a stone-and-brick temple from the 2nd century CE but little of its
original structure survives.
The Kevalanarasimha Temple is the oldest extant Vakataka temple and the oldest stone temple
in Maharashtra. The temple, dated to the 5th century CE, is a little younger or contemporary with
Sanchi 17.The temple has a square garbagriha with a slightly smaller square mandapa in front. It
has a square doorway with rectangular door jambs carved with typical Vakataka-style ganas.
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Kevalanarasimha Temple, Ramtek, Maharashtra
Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh|Wikimedia Commons
Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh
The Dashavatara Temple is in Deogarh, in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. This temple is also a
Gupta-period shrine and dated to the late 5th century CE, between 475 and 500 CE. The temple
is dedicated to Vishnu and it is believed that his various avatars were once depicted here.
The temple has exquisite relief sculptures and the doorway is elaborately adorned. One can see
sculptures of Vishnu in his various forms here along with representations of deities like Ganga,
Yamuna, Indra, Shiva and Kartikeya.Archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham visited the site in
1875 and found several Gupta-era inscriptions here.
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The temple at Deogarh is the oldest-known Panchayatana-style temple in India, where a main
shrine is surrounded by four smaller shrines. Sadly, it is believed that most of the reliefs on the
walls were stolen during the first few decades of the 20th century. A few others were taken to
major museums such as the National Museum in Delhi and Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum in
Ahmedabad.
Bhitargaon Temple|
Bhitargaon Temple, Uttar Pradesh: Oldest surviving brick temple
This temple in Bhitargaon in Kanpur district in Uttar Pradesh is one of the largest ancient brick
temples to have survived. Like the one at Deogarh, this one too is a Gupta-era shrine dating back
to the 5th century CE. It also has one of the earliest shikharas seen in Indian temples. The temple
at Bhitargaon is also significant because it possibly has one of the earliest known ‘true arches’ in
the country.
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The Temple at Bhitargaon in 1875|British Library
The temple has depictions of Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha, Durga and scenes from Hindu mythology
on its walls. The temple has been heavily damaged over the centuries, most notably by a
lightning strike in the mid-1800s. In 1894, the local administration ‘repaired’ the temple, which
caused a bit of damage to the original structure. In 1909, many objects were sent from here to the
Lucknow State Museum. Facing official apathy for decades, it was only in the 1960s that
historians began taking an interest in the temple. Today, it is an ASI protected monument.
The Kapoteswara Temple in the present day in Chejerla, Andhra Pradesh|Wikimedia Commons
180
Kapoteswara Temple, Chejerla, Andhra Pradesh; and Trivikrama Temple, Ter,
Maharashtra
The Kapoteswara Temple at Chejerla in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, and the Trivikrama
Temple at Ter in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra are very similar in architecture and
relatively small. Both have been dated to approximatel 5th century CE. They are some of the
earliest examples of barrel-vaulted, apsidal temples (with a semi-spherical end) in India. They
are essentially built like rock-cut chaitya halls but freestanding and in brick.
According to some historians, the Chejerla Temple was built by the Ananda kings of coastal
Andhra, while the Trivikrama Temple was built during the Vakataka period (3rd to 5th century
CE), making it the oldest standing structure in Maharashtra.
Many scholars believe that these shrines may have been Buddhist chaityas or prayer halls that
were later converted for worship by Hindus. Today, the temple in Ter is used to worship
Trivikrama, a form of Vishnu, while the temple in Chejerla is used to worship Shiva as
Kapoteswara. The image inside the Ter temple is in the Vakataka style, which points towards it
being a Hindu shrine from its inception.
Shiva Temple, Bhumara in the 1920s|Wikimedia Commons// The temple at Gop in the 1870s|British LIbrary
Shiva Temple, Bhumara, Madhya Pradesh
The Shiva Temple in Bhumara in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh is dated to the 5th-6th
centuries CE and is ascribed to the Gupta period. This temple, built from red sandstone, has
some exquisite sculptures like the depictions of Ganga and Yamuna on the door jambs. The
Ekmukh Shivling inside is one of the most significant sculptures of the Gupta period.The temple
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also contains one of the oldest surviving images of Ganesha in India, along with the one at the
Udayagiri caves in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.
Although the temple is badly damaged and many of its sculptures have been taken to museums
across the world, the sanctum has survived and one can see the remnants of a mandapa.
Gop Temple, Gujarat
The Gop Temple is located in Jamnagar district of Gujarat. Dated to the 6th-7th century CE as
there is a lack of clarity about its exact dates, the temple is believed to have been built during the
Maitraka Dynasty. It is the oldest surviving temple in Gujarat.
Colloquially called the Gopnath Mahadev Temple, it is believed to have originally been a Sun
temple even though some believe that it may have always been a Shiva temple.
How to get there: Gop Temple is 60 km from Jamnagar city
The remains at Dah Parbatia|Wikimedia Commons
Dah Parbatia Temple, Assam
While most early temples are found in Central India and the Gangetic plains, with a few to the
west and south, an interesting find are the remains of a temple at Dah Parbatia, a village on the
banks of the Brahmaputra in Tezpur district in Assam. Only the base of the garba briha, door
jambs and lintel of the temple survive. It is considered a pre-Ahom period temple by art
historians and scholars, and is believed to date to the late 5th or 6th centuries CE.
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Lakshmana Temple, Sirpur|Wikimedia Commons
The Lakshmana Temple is a brick temple dated to the 7th century CE and is located in Sirpur
district of Chhattisgarh. The temple is surmounted by a brick shikhara. According to an
inscription found in the temple, it was constructed by Queen Vasata, the mother of King
Shivagupta Balarjuna of the Panduvamshis of South Kosala. Although the image of the deity
from the sanctum sanctorum has been lost, the depiction of Vishnu on the lintel and his various
avatars on different panels of the temple suggest that it must have been a Vaishnav temple.
How to get there: Lakshmana Temple is 80 km from Raipur city
Uttareshwara Temple, Ter|Dr. Kurush Dalal
Uttareshwara Temple, Ter, Maharashtra
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The Uttareshwara Temple is the oldest surviving brick temple in Maharashtra, dated to the
immediate post-Vakataka period of the 6th-7th centuries CE. The temple consists of a garbha
griha surmounted by a shikara with a small square mandapa in the front. The temple is
particularly noteworthy because of its moulded brickwork as well as the carved wooden door
frame of the sanctum, which is the oldest surviving wooden architectural feature in India.
How to get there: Uttareshwara is approximately 20 km from Osmanabad in Maharashtra
Mundeshwari Temple, Bihar|
Mundeshwari Temple, Bihar
The Mundeshwari Temple in Kaimur district of Bihar is regarded as the oldest temple in Bihar.
According to an inscription here, it is dated to the year 635 CE. The temple is made of stone and
has an octagonal plan. The original shikhara collapsed and was lost over the centuries. The
temple’s walls are elaborately carved with vases and foliage. The door jambs have the image of
Ganga, Yamuna and Dwarapalas on them. Inside the temple, a Chaturmukhi Shivling is
worshipped.
How to get there: Mundeshwari Temple is 102 km from Varanasi city in Uttar Pradesh
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Durga Temple, Aihole|Wikimedia Commons
Durga Temple, Aihole, Karnataka
The Durga Temple in Aihole, Karnataka, is an excellent example of an apsidal temple and has
been dated from the mid-6th to the mid-7th century CE. It is ascribed to the Chalukyan period.
The temple is very similar to the temples at Ter and Chejerla but lacks doesn't have a barrelvaulted roof. The temple was built on an elevated platform and surrounded by an open corridor.
The temple had many subsequent additions made to it, including the addition of a shikhara.
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CHAPTER XIII
Aesthetics Vs. Meaning: The Importance of Hindu Architecture
https://www.indictoday.com/long-reads/aesthetics-meaning-importance-hinduarchitecture/
The Perspective Heaven
Any student of architecture with reasonable skills in photography knows by instinct upon
entering the precincts of an Islamic monument like the Taj Mahal, Agra, or the Bibi Ka Maqbara,
Aurangabad that he has landed into perspective heaven.
The perspective here is easily coaxed out of almost any angle. Point the camera in the right
direction and the perspective lines are ready-made. The beautiful gardens with many layers of
fountains, water passages, shrub lines, and footpaths straddle throughout the monument.
The parallel and perpendicular lines that run across the precincts provide the third dimension to
the photograph by creating depth in space. The geometrical designs crisscross in perfect
symmetry in and around the monument framing it in a ready-made perspective from many
angles.
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Taj Mahal, Agra
Most of the Islamic monuments in India and abroad, much like their Renaissance counterparts
were built from this aesthetic perspective. They were created to dazzle and impress the visitor
with grandeur and power. They were built for beauty and beauty alone. Aesthetics is what drove
them. Much thought went into creating them so that they would look perfect from every angle.
This is not just true of the Indo-Saracenic or the Mughal monuments in India. Taj Mahal is not
the only one with the beautiful perspective lines. Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, Buland Darwaza in
Sikri, the tombs of the Barid Shahi Kings at Bidar, and the Bibi ka Maqbara in Aurangabad are
all built on the concept of perfect geometrical symmetry built to please the eye.
And this is where the Hindu temple differs from them.
In Search of Meaning
Of course, the Hindu temple is also built to please the eye. There is no art in India which violates
the basic principles of aesthetics. Indian craftsmen were always well-versed in the universal
principles which went into creating a piece of art that pleased the senses.
But this is not where they stopped. Beauty or aesthetics was the means, but it was not the goal of
Indian art. The goal of Indian art was to transcend the beautiful, transcend what merely looked
good to the eye. The goal of Indian art was to transport the viewer to the higher planes of
consciousness. Coomaraswamy says:
‘Just as Professor Masson-Oursel has pointed out, ‘Indian art is aiming at something quite other
than the copying of Nature. What we assume, quite superficially, to be the inspiration of art for
art’s sake, really proceeds from religious scholasticism that implies a traditional classification
of types established by convention. If here or there a relief or painting exhibits some feature
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drawn from life, it is only accidentally that the artist has, in spite of himself, transcribed
something from actual Nature: and this is certainly, from the indigenous point of view, the least
meritorious part of his work.’ Those who wish to study the ‘development’ of Indian art must
emancipate themselves entirely for the innate European tendency to use a supposedly greater or
less degree of the observation of Nature as a measuring rod by which to trace stylistic sequences
or recognize aesthetic merit. Indian art can only be studied as showing at different times a
greater or less degree of consciousness, greater or less energy; the criteria are degrees of
vitality, unity, grace, and the like, never of illusion. (Transformation of Nature… 117)
He makes it clear that aesthetics is incidental to Indian art; it is never its primary goal. The
primary goal is to guide the devotee towards the Ultimate Truth.
The Hindu temple is most certainly beautiful. Anyone who has ever laid his eyes upon the
majesty that is the Kailashnath, Ellora; or looked upon the stupendous achievement that is the
Brihadeeswar, Thanjavur; mused about the sheer will power and beauty personified that is the
Kandariya Mahadeva, Khajuraho; or wondered about the caves of Elephanta, will swear that
there is seldom anything in the Hindu temple that is not beautiful.
Shikhara of Kandariya Mahadeva with Miniature Shikharas creating the Main Shikhara
But the Hindu temple does not stop there. Beauty is a side product, but not the end goal of the
Hindu temple.
One will find perspective lines in the Hindu temple too. Not as many and not as readily available
to the camera as they do in an Islamic monument, but they are available. They are not the entire
point thought. Ritual symbolism is always more important to Hindu architecture than symmetry.
And thus you will find the temple pond always on the Ishana Kona of any temple which is
absolutely not mirrored on the Agneya or the Nairittya side.
Symmetry is not the point here. Similarly, the Hindu temple grows organically, and different
parts of the temple mirror different needs and symbolize different meanings.
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A Temple Pond, Kerala
So the perspective lines do exist in the Hindu temple but as soon as you approach the structure
your eyes start deciphering structures within the structure, temples within temples, rathas within
rathas, gavaksha within gavaksha, shikharas upon shikharas, motifs decorated with miniature
motifs.
There is action everywhere. You become mesmerized with a war scene and just then your eye
flits to another scene nearby in which a couple is in an amorous embrace. Then your eye catches
the beauty and the relaxed poise of the Vishnu in tribhanga just nearby.
Once again your eye flits across and you see a Shiva Dakshinamurthy. In between, there are
swans, elephants, horses, makaras, and other animals. There are doorways within doorways.
Monoliths with a thousand individual sculptures carved in it. Look away and you discern a
Puranic story being portrayed, an aspect of Rama’s or Krishna’s life portrayed.
You soon become overwhelmed. The Hindu temple is all action and yet it leads towards ultimate
inaction inside the garbha-griha. But the outer walls are all action. It is designed to not let your
eyes rest at one place. It is designed to make the disciple view the samsara in all its
ephemeral avataras; to realize that all that is worldly will disappear and is impermanent.
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Outer Walls of Laxman Temple, Khajuraho – Samsara in all its Complexity
The Hindu temple is not passive. It actively tells stories. It imparts meaning to every part of its
structure; it tells stories and teaches deep truths with every figure of its sculptures.
There is no icon, no niche, no part of the Hindu temple which does not exude meaning and this
meaning always leads to the realization of the Ultimate Truth, represented in its fullest by the
deity in the garbha-griha.
While a mosque or a tomb is nothing more than beautiful, with its beauty lying in its social use
and its historical details, the Hindu temple lends itself to many purposes, but most of all it readily
and passionately lends itself to meaning, meaning which is not directionless but which guides the
devotee towards the Ultimate Truth.
The intention of the creators of these great temples was never missed upon the audience that
visited them. The rules that governed the concept and creation of the temple also went to
condition the mind and the behavior of the devotee too.
Everyone who visited the temple had a certain expectation from it, and this expectation was
neither aesthetic nor intellectual. The devotee came to the temple for having ‘darshana’ of the
deity, for finding meaning in life and in the temple, as Coomaraswamy once again stresses:
“…whereas we make an aesthetic emotion the first and final end of art, medieval man was
moved far more by the meaning that illuminated the forms than by these forms themselves…”
(Christian and Oriental… 111)
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The meaning is not just confined to the sculpture that adorns its walls or to the vigraha in the
garbha-griha. The structural parts of the architecture also convey meaning. There is nothing
purely decorative in the Hindu temple. Every piece of sculpture and every structure of the
building conveys some meaning, tells some story. To a Hindu architect the adjective ‘decorative’
sounds pejorative, as Coomaraswamy explains:
“The product was not called “art”, but an “artifact,” a thing “made by art”; the art remains in
the artist. Nor was there any distinction of “fine” from “applied” or “pure” form “decorative”
art. All art was for “good use” and “adapted to condition”. Art could be applied either too
noble or to common uses but was no more or less art in the one case than in the other. Our use
of the word “decorative” would have been abusive as if we spoke of a mere millinery or
upholstery: for all the words purporting decoration in many languages, referred originally not to
anything that could be added to an already finished and effective product merely to please the
eye or ear, but to the completion of anything with whatever might be necessary to its functioning,
whether with respect to the mind or the body: a sword, for example, would “ornament” a knight,
as virtue “ornaments” the soul or knowledge the mind.” (Christian and Oriental… 111-112)
The meaning in a Hindu temple exudes from the plan of the elevation, from the material that is
used in the walls, and which is used to fashion the vigraha. The meaning is there in the Utsava
Murti of the temple, but also in the rituals that are being followed. The meaning is in how the
deity is worshipped; how the priests worship; and how the devotee has darshan.
The Hindu temple is beautiful, but it also transcends beauty. The Hindu temple is aesthetic, but it
goes beyond it. The Hindu temple is a representation of the cosmos, but its meaning goes beyond
even the cosmos and leads towards the timeless and the eternal; the Ultimate Consciousness.
The goal of the Hindu temple is not to impress its visitor by its architectural magnitude or even
by its sculptural beauty. Its goal is to elevate the consciousness of the devotee, to transport him
to higher planes of consciousness. The Hindu temple, like all other Hindu sciences, is a means to
reach higher stages of consciousness. It is a means for self-realization.
At first look, it seems surprising that something as concrete as architecture can transport
someone to sublime heights of philosophy, but the Hindu temple does just that. And it has
developed special techniques to achieve that.
The Aedicule in the Hindu Temple
In order to understand that we need to first understand the meaning of the term aedicule, this is
frequently used about the Hindu temple. In the context of the Hindu temple, the term aedicule
refers to the miniature shrine or a mini replica of the entire temple, temple shikhara or vimana,
which is to be found most prominently on its shikhara and outer walls of the garbha-griha.
It is found in all three major varieties of Nagara, Vesara, and Dravida and is so profusely used in
some architectural styles such as that of the Kalyani Chalukyas and Hoysalas of Karnataka that
Gerard Foekema calls the very style as ‘architecture decorated by architecture’.
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Kalleshvara Temple, Hire Hadagalli, Karnataka – Architecture decorated by Architecture
The aedicule is so universally present that it overwhelms the visitor, forcing him to constantly
keep shifting his attention from one miniature shrine to another, making it hard for him to
distinguish where one aedicule ends and another begins. It is this feature which led James
Fergusson to observe that “everywhere…in India, architectural decoration is made up of small
models of large buildings.” (Ferguson 285) Adam Hardy who considers the idiom of aedicule as
the fundamental concept behind Indian architectural thinking, says:
“…it was some time after my first trip to India that it gradually became clear to me that
aedicules are not just ornaments, but the basic units from which most Indian temple architecture
is composed. Temple design is conceived as containing numerous smaller temples or shrines,
arranged hierarchically at various scales, embedded within the whole or within one another.
Once this simple concept is understood, other things fall into place.” (Hardy 10)
The Hindu philosophy imagines macrocosm in microcosm (Yatha pinde, tatha brahmande
and this thinking is reflected in all art in India. It is also the basic idea behind the idiom of the
aedicule. The entire temple is reflected in its parts. Sometimes the aedicules are themselves made
up of smaller aedicules and this series continues up to the point where architecture allows it to. It
conveys the idea of an endlessly regressing series of aedicules, something like the fractal
geometry.
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Kashi Vishwanatha Temple, Lakkundi – Fractal Geometry at Display
As the temple is a representation of the universe, hence the entire universe is reflected again and
again in the smallest parts of the temple. The idiom of aedicule is most prominently used in the
shikhara of the temple. In some styles, like the Shekhari mode of the Nagara style, the shikhara is
made of its smaller versions, called urushringas (half shikharas). These urushringas crowd
together and rise to meet at the top beneath the amalaka.
Hindu Temple as Mount Meru
The Hindu temple architecture elevates the devotee to higher planes of consciousness by using
spiritual symbols. In one symbolism, the Hindu temple is built and perceived in the image of
Mount Meru, the sacred mountain.
Mount Meru represents ultimate knowledge and climbing it symbolizes attaining self-realization.
As a devotee enters a Hindu temple, such as the Kandariya Mahadev temple of Khajuraho, and
as he proceeds through the various parts of the temple, from mukh mandapam, to mandapam,
to mahamandapam, and then finally to garbha-griha, he symbolically climbs the Mount Meru,
leaving the world, its multiplicity and ignorance behind and proceeds towards the pinnacle of
knowledge, that is self-realization; he proceeds to have darshan of the deity in the garbha-griha,
where he realizes his oneness with the deity or the Supreme consciousness.
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Kandariya Mahadeva as Mount Meru
This process is mirrored in the symbolism. The outermost walls of the temple are full of every
kind of sculpture but as one goes inside the sculpture becomes more divine in nature and
gradually disappears in the garbha-griha except the main deity.
The garbha-griha is so named because it is literally the womb of the temple. It is the geometrical
centre of the temple site, with its centre, the brahmasthana, occupied by the primary deity. It is
called the womb because, under the deity, the ‘seed’ of the temple is inseminated in
a kalasha (pitcher) and buried. It is directly above this that the image of the deity is installed.
Hindu Temple as a Fire Altar
The temple vimana is imagined as the fire of a fire altar, of a Yajna vedi or Vedic fire altar. The
shape of the vimana which tapers, recedes, and coalesces into one point at the top with many of
half-vimanas, or half-shikharas or miniature aedicular vimanas decorating the ascent of
the vimana resembles the sacrificial fire of a fire altar.
The Temple as the Divine Tree
The symbolism of the seed is taken further. This seed is believed to have sprouted upwards in the
form of the temple vimana and branching out in various shoots, leaves, and branches, it again
coalesces at the top in one kalash, bearing fruit which again contains the seed from which it
came, and thus directly above this, outside the temple, over the vimana, another kalash is
installed which has the same ‘seed’ which is deposited in the kalash underground. Here the
temple vimana is imagined as a tree. As S. K. Ramachandra Rao puts it:
“The spot where the ‘womb’ is hidden would be the seat of the icon. The icon represents the sap
of the temple-tree, the four walls would indicate the spreading branches all around. The roof
resting over the wall is technically called ‘row of doves’ (kapota-pali or simply kapota), after the
birds that perch on tree-tops. The sanctum is thus a neat model of the growing tree.” (Rao 74)
The seed in the underground holds the seed of supreme consciousness. When this consciousness
sprouts, it takes the form of the deity in the garbha-griha. On the other hand, the consciousness
from above also descends and meets the consciousness that is rising from below. The ascent of
individual consciousness is complemented by the descent of the universal consciousness. It is a
symbolic way of showing the individual consciousness rising up to meet the universal or
supreme consciousness.
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Shikhara of Brihadeeswar Temple – Gangaikondacholapuram – Temple as a Divine Tree
This ascent and descent are taking on the vertical axis of the temple, in the garbha-griha and in
the vimana that tops it. The devotee that stands in the mandapam, in front of the deity lies on the
horizontal axis of the temple. It is his active desire, his deep faith which lets him partake in the
divine ascent and divine descent that is taking place in the garbha-griha.
Through the authority of the shastras; the agency of the temple as a Yantra to bring about desired
goals; through the worship offered by the priest on the behalf of the devotee; and through divine
grace, the devotee partakes in the ascent of consciousness. Deeply meditated upon, the ascent of
the consciousness in the garbha-griha becomes his own ascent.
“The shrine thus demonstrates the constellation of the human and the divine currents; matter
moves up and the spirit flows down. The devotee that stands in front of the icon is expected to
partake in this transaction. The emanations that proceed from the icon must be picked up by the
faith in his heart. Devotion is the transformer. The rituals conducted within the shrine involve
these ideas and attempt to facilitate transformation along the horizontal axis of icon-devotee.
The devotee represents active matter and the icon passive spirit. The two are brought together in
the creative act of worship.” (Rao 80)
This is why darshan holds such importance for a Hindu devotee visiting a temple. More than
prayers, more than signing devotional hymns, it is the act of darshan which is central to a temple
visit and which transforms the individual consciousness of the devotee having darshan to higher
levels.
The symbolism of the temple vimana as the tree is also understood by its etymology. The very
Sanskrit word ‘vimana’ has two connotations: “that which is without comparison” and “that
which brings about fruit”. Hence the word ‘vimana’ means the one which bears fruit.
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Hindu Temple is all about Meaning
To come back to the point where we started, the Hindu temple is not just a monument. It is a
living institution but even more than that it has a meaning and a goal. Through its imagery and
play with sculpture and architecture, it elevates the devotees to higher planes of consciousness.
It is not just there to be seen and to be impressed with. It is not just a geometrical marvel. It is not
just a photographer’s delight. It is more than the perspective that it offers. It is more than the
faith that it commands. It speaks in the language of symbols. It aims to transcend the concrete.
It aims to carry the devotee towards truth through its brilliant imagery and potent symbols. The
Hindu temple is not silent. It speaks. The Hindu temple is not passive. It acts. The Hindu temple
is not just a place. It is a process: the process of self-realization.
The Hindu temple is all about meaning. It is a device which means to decipher the deepest
secrets of life and existence to its devotees, through the most elaborate system of sculptural and
architectural symbols.
This is where it differs from both the church and the mosque. But the philosophy behind the
Hindu temple is also very different from the modern concept of architecture .
Destruction of Hindu Temples: Loss of Physical Spaces for Hindus
It was this enduring, prosperous and robust temple ecosystem that the first wave of alien Muslim
armies encountered when they knocked on the doors of Bharatavarsha. The incisive historian and
scholar, Sita Ram Goel describes[i] this encounter vividly:
On the eve of Islamic invasions, the cradle of Hindu culture was honeycombed with temples and
monasteries, in many shapes and sizes. The same sources inform us that many more temples and
monasteries continued to come up in places where the Islamic invasion had yet to reach or from
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where it was forced to retire for some time by the rallying of Hindu resistance. Hindus were
great temple builders because their pantheon was prolific in Gods and Goddesses and their
society rich in schools and sects, each with its own way of worship. But by the time we come to
the end of the invasion, we find that almost all these Hindu places of worship had either
disappeared or were left in different stages of ruination. Most of the sacred sites had come to be
occupied by a variety of Muslim monuments-masjids and îdgãhs (mosques), dargãhs and ziãrats
(shrines), mazãrs and maqbaras (tombs), madrasas and maktabs (seminaries), takiyãs and
qabristãns (graveyards).
From the earliest destructions of Hindu temples that roughly began with the Martanda-Surya
Devalaya at Moolasthana (today’s Multan in Pakistan), the subsequent eight hundred years of
India’s history is in many ways just one single, long tale of ceaseless, large-scale temple
destructions. Sita Ram Goel has also meticulously documented this tragic record in his twovolume “Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them.” These volumes cite seventy primary-source
Muslim histories and estimate that about three thousand temples have been destroyed across the
vast geography of Bharatavarsha including what is today Afghanistan and Pakistan. The volumes
conclude that this number is just the “tip of the iceberg.” It is estimated that the actual figure is at
least ten times this number.
De st ro yi n g t he S ens e of S an ct i t y
Of the prominent temples destroyed, only the Shiva Devalaya at Somanath, Gujarat has been
fully rebuilt and restored. And among Kashi, Mathura, and Ayodhya, only Mathura has been
partially recovered and restored notwithstanding the splendid Krishna Janmasthana
Temple that stands on the site today.
The design and intent behind the destruction of these sites most sacred to Hindus was clear: to
shake the foundations of the faith of Hindus in their three most revered deities viz, Shiva (Kashi
and Somanatha), Rama (Ayodhya), and Krishna (Mathura).
This protracted history is also witness to several of these temples being rebuilt. But that is only
by way of an aftermath of sorts. What should also be examined are the associated and ancillary
destructions that occurred as a consequence of this primary destruction of the physical structure
of temples. As also the widespread and permanent erasure of physical and cultural memory. The
immediate examples that come to mind is the present condition of the entire region of the
erstwhile Greater India (Brihadbharata), and in recent memory, of Undivided India.
Both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, little if anything remains of its Dharmic past. The
aforementioned Moolasthana, after it was repeatedly attacked and razed to the ground, lost its
original identity when the Ismaili ruler replaced the Sun Temple with a mosque in the late
10th century. The Persian scholar Al Beruni visited Moolasthana in the 11th century and reported
that it was no longer being visited by Hindu pilgrims because the Sun Temple lay in ruins
without being rebuilt. This loss was accompanied by an irreversible loss of all its unique local
customs, traditions, dialect, texts, art forms, apparel, technical and other skills, cuisine, utsavas
and so on. Needless to say, Moolasthana’s instance played out in exactly the same fashion in
temples destroyed in every single region even in what is known as India today. We can cite a few
representative examples.
Um m at u r
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Ummatur is today a small village about 170 kilometres by road from Bangalore. It was once the
capital of the Ummatur king, a feudatory of the Vijayanagara Empire. Ummatur is also the place
from where Sri Krishnadevaraya began his campaign of Digvijaya or imperial conquest. To
commemorate his trail of victory, Sri Krishnadevaraya later endowed the Bhujangeswara and
the Ranganatha Swamy Temples with land grants and other bounties. The Ranganatha
Swamy temple has his bust engraved on one of its pillars. Both temples face each other and are
now under the state government’s control are in a condition of significant disrepair.
Note: Click on the gallery to view the images
Barring the postmaster of its local post office, hardly anybody in the village is aware of or
interested in the historical significance of their own place. This official also doubles up as the
Purohita of the Ranganatha Swamy temple.
Um ar i
The next example is a superb eighth or ninth century Surya Temple built by
the Pratihara rulers in Umari in the Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. In keeping with
tradition, this Nagara-style temple faces east and is built on an elevated platform, and the plan
comprises a Garbha Girha, Antarala and a Maha Mantapa. It is adorned with fine sculptures
of Ganesha, Kartikeya, Vishnu, Sapta Matrikas, the ten avataras of Vishnu, and various
figures of Surya among others.
When the present author visited it about eight years ago, it was largely inaccessible and its
Moola Murti was reported to be stolen. It was hardly maintained and one is doubtful as to how
much longer it will survive.
Ant ri
Vir Singh Bundela was a powerful, able and valiant Bundela Rajput king who ruled the
kingdom of Orchha between 1605—27 CE. He threw an open challenge to the might
of Akbar who was at the height of his power by attacking and murdering at Antri Abul
Fazl, considered one of the "nine gems" of Akbar's court.
Vir Singh was also a prolific temple builder and commissioned numerous temples in the
Brajmandal region that comprises today’s Mathura and Vrindavan. He was also the patron of
the Bhakti Saint Keshavdas.
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Grave of Abul Fazl at Antri
Although local legends abound about the brave Vir Singh, little if any of the physical spaces that
he created remains today in Antri. However, the tomb of Abul Fazl has been preserved intact.
R aj or ga r h
The badly-ruined Neelakantha Temple in Rajorgarh in the Alwar district
of Rajasthan showcases the prowess of the Pratihara architecture. An inscription dated 961 CE
recovered by the Archaeological Survey of India shows that it was built by Maharajadhiraja
Mathanadeva, a Pratihara feudatory. In its present condition, notes the ASI record, the temple is
a
…three-shrined complex of which the central one facing west and dedicated to Siva-linga, has
preserved its full elevation including sikhara, while the lateral shrines are now bereft of their
superstructures. The three shrines are pancharatha and share a common rangamandapa,
supported on four central pillars and preceded by a porch. The temple has a pitha which
supports a vedibandha with niched figures. The jangha of the central shrine bears figures of
Narasimha (north), Harihararka (east) and Tripurantaka (south) on the bhadra niches and those
of surasundaris and dikpalas on other projections. The rangamandapa has a concentric ceiling
of coffered cusps of the padmasila type while all the pillars are laden with figural ornaments of
surasundaris and gandharvas in multiple zones.
However, today it remains largely inaccessible, atop a steep mountain with hardly any directions
to locate it easily. When the present author visited it, it was home to animals and found that
priceless sculptures were carelessly strewn around, and it was hard to clearly make out the details
of the sculptures. Its heritage has all but been permanently lost.
Indeed, one can add any number of such temples of considerable antiquity to this list including
the magnificent Shiva temple at Malwai on the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat border built by the
Bhils in the 12th Century. These temples are only symbolic and symptomatic of the same
phenomenon which can best be described in an oblique fashion.
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It is striking that when one visits a Kugrama (a dilapidated village) far away from “civilisation,”
one suddenly witnesses a temple of immense grandeur or a monument of great antiquity. But
there seems to be no logical explanation as to why all of them still lie in utter ruin and
unforgivable neglect long after the vandals have departed and seventy years after India attained
freedom. When we observe the simple fact that almost no temple of the classical era exists in the
entire Ganga-Yamuna region, it is hard to avoid the inescapable conclusion as we shall see.
But if this is the fate of the aforementioned temples of antiquity, we must also examine the
condition of restored temples at say, Konark, Khajuraho, Ellora and
numerous Chalukya and Hoysala temples. Apart from a handful of Chalukya and Hoysala
temples, none of the others have active worship, which is a sure sign of a lapsed cultural
heritage. They have become mere tourist attractions, accompanied by the familiar detrimental
elements at a typical tourist site in India. The fabled UNESCO World Heritage site, Hampi for
example, has witnessed[v] considerable drug trade, the hippie culture, murders, and other crimes.
This is another form of the same cultural negligence and apathy noted in the examples cited
earlier.This phenomenon is but one more facet of civilizational and cultural persecution that
Hindus have internalized and even normalized.
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CHAPTER XIV
Continual and Continuing Loss of Hindu Physical
Spaces
One can also consider the impact of large scale temple destructions from another
perspective. Dr. J K Bajaj, India’s foremost demographer and scholar, in his researches,
provides some conclusions. In the same Ganga-Yamuna belt—or North India, broadly
speaking—there is not a single village or town that has remained in the same place for more
than four hundred years.
In his study tours, Dr Bajaj found[vii] only one village near Hissar, Haryana, which remained
intact for more than six hundred or so years. He also found that it almost exactly resembled a
typical South Indian village in terms of its plan and layout: for example, where and how the
temple, water bodies, burial grounds, fields and farmland, boundary, etc should be located. This
was completely unlike any typical North Indian village falling in the entire stretch of Punjab to
Bihar to Bengal.
To understand the impact of temple destructions, it is important to understand what’s known as
the “rooted” Indian psyche. An honest study of Hindu history and culture shows that this psyche
is one which is deeply rooted to their tradition (Sampradaya) and the intimacy that their
immediate surrounding provides them. Unless violently forced, Indians typically never moved
out of their villages for generations. Until very recently, the term "mera gaon" (or "namma
ooru/halli" in Kannada) was a term connoting attachment and conveying a sense of
belongingness. This has been used in countless books, stories and movies as a recurrent theme.
Indians typically never traced their roots to an urban centre.
Thus, when a Nalanda University which was economically and otherwise supported by over
two hundred villages (apart from royal patronage) is mercilessly destroyed with one body blow,
when Chidambaram, Rameswaram and countless such temples are razed, it automatically
destroys all this substructure including people, traditions, customs, and way of life. Today, the
local populace of even these celebrated temple towns and heritage sites know very little of their
own place.
Or to state the obvious, destruction of temples is the destruction of memory and connections. The
history of every civilisation and culture also lies in its physical spaces which are both the
incubators and resting places of its arts and way of life.
Con cl u d i n g R e ma r k s
Of course, one can rationally explain the religious motives of alien faiths destroying Hindu
temples and everything associated with them. Yet, what explains the fact that in the modern
time, Hindus are themselves stealing their own Deities and selling them to the very people whose
religious tenets ordain them to destroy idols? The enormous wealth accruing from trade in stolen
antiques and idols is one of the major fuels for the ever-expanding terror activities across the
globe.Dr. S L Bhyrappa explores this phenomenon in his epic Kannada novel, Thantu very
artistically using the theft of the Saraswati Murti (belonging to the Hoysala era) as a motif.
Similarly, the Telugu poet and novelist Viswanatha Satyanarayana also explores this cultural loss
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and alienation in a different way in his Veyyi Padagalu. The Devadasi in the novel who performs
the last dance of her life as her regular Seva in the temple of her village dies on the stage. Her art
form dies forever with her death.
In Dr. S L Bhyrappa’s other novel Mandra, the same Mahadeva temple in which the protagonist
learnt classical music in his youth has transformed into a place of debauchery in his own
lifetime. In his youth, the Mahadeva temple epitomized a sacred space of music. In his old age,
the Atma Linga has morphed into a phallus. He is himself a helpless eyewitness to this
transformation.
The conception, origin, evolution, and development of temples as physical, architectural
structures is perhaps as old as the dawn of human civilisation as we know it. Temples represent
one of the finest, deepest, grandest, and most profound expressions of the Human Spirit of awe,
wonderment, and a timeless yearning for spirituality, philosophy, art and creativity etched in
stone, wood, and other mediums.
Indeed, when we notice the various forms of temples from the earliest of civilisations—Minoan,
Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Mayan, Chinese, Incan, and most certainly, Bharatiya—we notice
precisely this same spirit of yearning. In fact, the etymology of the word, “temple” can be traced
to the Latin term, “Templum” meaning, a shrine, sacred place, an open area meant for augury,
and so on. However, almost no temple of the non-Bharatiya antiquarian civilisations survives
today thanks largely to their destructive encounter with Christianity and Islam. But it is also
notable that these two Prophetic religions with their zealous abhorrence against and prohibition
of what they call “idol worship,” “but,” etc, nevertheless have countless mosques, dargahs,
churches, cathedrals, shrines, etc. In a way, this represents the triumph of the aforementioned
innate spiritual longing over manmade, prophetic prohibitions.
The role, significance and eminence of Hindu temples becomes abundantly clear when we regard
them in this protracted historical backdrop. As is well known, the words for “temple” in Sanskrit
and Bharatiya Bhasha are variously, “Devalaya,” “Devasthanam,” “Aalya,” “Mandir,”
“Kovela,” “Koil,” and so on. A quick derivation of the etymology of “Devalaya” is as
follows: Devasya (Devaanaam) Alayah. This means, “a place in which resides light, sport,
victory, transaction, prayer (stuti), joy, bliss, dream, beauty, and dynamism.” For an excellent
and more detailed exposition, one can refer Devalayatattva by Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh.
While the pre-Christian Western civilisations developed temple culture largely as places for
public congregation, divination, and augury, Bharata elevated it in an all-encompassing sense.
For instance, the English word, “temple” also means the locations spanning the two sides of the
forehead, which is flat, akin to a sacred altar. In the Bharatiya conception, the entire body is itself
a temple suggested by slokas such as Dehah devalayah proktah jivo devah sanatanah, hrudya
tadvijaaneeyaat vishwasyaayatanam mahat, and so on. Thus, the feet are the main doors, the
reproductive
organ
the Dhwajasthambha, the
stomach
the Balipeeta, the
heart
the Navaranga, the neck the Sukanasi, and the head the Garbhagriha. In short, a temple
represents and encompasses all three staras or stages: Adhibhuta, Adhidhaiva, and Adhyatma.
The following quotations elegantly and accurately capture the essence of the philosophy
underlying Devalaya (Note: I shall use the terms “temple” and “Devalaya” interchangeably in
this essay).
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I] The underlying philosophy of temples is rooted in an attempt to experience the Brahmanda—
which is space-time neutral—that is ensconced in the Pindanda, which is subject to the vagaries
of space and time.
II] Temples are built in order to remind the devotee of Parameswara’s creation and the Human
Being’s body and the evolution of his Jiva [life, life-force] by carving sculptures and Murtis.[ii]
More fundamentally, the earliest conceptions of temples emanated from the Vedic vision of the
heart as a cave—for example, nihitam guhaayaam, hrudayam tadvijaaneeyaat, the
extraordinary Jnana Yagna verses occurring towards the end of the Mahanarayana
Upanishad. The summary of these conceptions is a visualisation that in our heart resides the
Parameswara (or the highest knowledge) in the form of light and it should be our goal and aim to
realise this light. This conception strikes us when we notice the fact that the Mula-Murti resides
in the Garbha Griha, which is the heart of any temple.
On the physical plane, it is undeniable that temples as we know them originated[iii] from Yagna
Vedis. For a comprehensive discussion on this topic, one can again refer to Shatavadhani Dr.
Ganesh’s Devalayatattva.
T h e D ev al a ya E c os yst e m
The foregoing introduction serves to illustrate the sort of the firm foundation which in turn paved
the way for the evolution of what can be called as the Devalaya Ecosystem. The Devalaya
Ecosystem is a socio-cultural accomplishment and a civilizational summit that is unparalleled
anywhere in human history. The fact that even today there is a new temple being built, some old
temple being renovated in some corner of Bharata almost everyday testifies not only to the
endurance and longevity of its roots but is also an eminent proof that as long as Sanatana
Dharma survives in the world, it will invariably find its expression in temples.
From the perspective of the Trigunas (basic attributes or qualities of human nature),
namely, Sattva (balance, serenity, etc), Rajas (activity, passion, vigour, etc, and Tamas (laziness,
indolence, stupor, etc), a Devalaya is the purest architectural, sculptural, and artistic embodiment
of the Sattva Guna. By itself, it does nothing, it takes no action. But by its mere existence it
inspires, motivates and guides all noble human endeavours in multiple realms. A Devalaya thus
becomes the pillar and the rest house supporting, accommodating, and enabling the attainment of
Dharma and fulfilling the various duties and activities related to Artha. the realm of Dharma, it is
the
place
to
perform Acaras (customs,
ceremonies,
rituals,
celebrations)
like Namakarana (naming ceremony), aksharabhyasa (initiation ceremony where a child learns
to write alphabets), vivaha (wedding), and so on. These ceremonies are part of the individual
discharging his/her Dharmic duties. In the realm of the community, the Devalaya is the place for
conducting mass marriages, Utsavas, Jatras, Annadanam, and other such celebrations. Indeed,
not too long ago, the Devalaya was also the place where justice was dispensed as seen even
today in Dharmasthala.
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On the plane of the Adhidaivika (divine, spiritual), we can consider the Deity
of Vastushastra, Viswakarma. His nine sons including Malakara, Darukara, Kuvindaka,
Kumbhakara, Sutradhara and others represent the respective professions of garland-maker,
carpenter, weaver, potter, and sculptor. These apart, we also have the farmer, chef, runner (or
messenger), singer, artisan and accountant among others. In other words, we do not fail to notice
in these instances, how these professions are sanctified by making them the descendants of a
particular Deity. Every profession had its rightful place and every professional could make a
living through honest labour. Needless, it’s equally clear how all of these professions make up an
entire economic system spawned and supported solely by a temple.
It is precisely this that we observe in every temple town across Bharatavarsha: Kashi, Mathura,
Kanchi, Chidambaram, Tirumala-Tirupati, Madurai, Palani, Pandarapura, Badirnath, and Puri.
We can also consider a tangential facet here: any Daana (donation, endowment, gift) given to a
temple became what’s known as Devasva or the property of the Deity over which nobody
(including the donor and the king) had the right. This in a way illustrates how well thought out
the system of checks and balances that were implemented. Dr. S Srikanta Sastri explains[iv] the
various facets of the Devalaya Ecosystem quite picturesquely in a passage that merits quoting at
length:
…temples occupied a prominent place from the perspective of education, fine arts, [reflected
the] economic condition [of the kingdom] and social service.
Thus, people had a firm belief and faith in the pious act of donating to temples. [Donors
included] everybody from the monarch to the most ordinary citizen…temples were governed and
maintained by a duly elected board. They distributed money, food grain, and seeds to farmers
from the Deity’s Treasury…[temples] were also engaged in moneylending…temples conducted
various celebrations like Pakshotsava [fortnightly utsavas], Maasotsava [monthly utsavas],
Brahmotsava, and oversaw the distribution of the harvest derived from temple lands.
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Theatre and dance halls organized dramas during Utsava days in both Sanskrit and Desha
Bhashas. Music and dance recitals offered as Seva for the Deity immensely enriched art forms
like classical music, Bharatanatyam, and Vastushilpa [sculpture art]. Moral and spiritual
discourses by learned scholars, Yatis, and such other eminences were drawn from the Vedic and
Puranic lore thereby instilling and reinforcing Dharma among the pilgrims and others who
visited the temple.
There were also lecture halls for imparting higher education in Veda, Vedanga, Medicine and
other subjects by teachers and scholars employed by the temple. Students were given free
scholarship and boarding and lodging…
Massive temples were secure like fortresses and contained an abundance of food grain, water
and other supplies and provided shelter to refugees during wartime…Because Hindu kings
regarded temples as sacred spaces, they deferred harming or despoiling them even slightly even
if this caution meant certain defeat in war….
Temples in island nations like Java, Bali, Sumatra, Burma and Cambodia were built following
the ideals and physical plan of various Indian temples.
As with most facets of our culture and society, temples also show a remarkable sense of
unbroken continuity and cultural unity in that they are still a living memory. The majestic
Somanatha Devalaya that was rebuilt in 1951 is a superb testimony to this inherited knowledgeheritage, traditions, and rituals which were preserved intact even after hundreds of years of its
repeated destruction and alien rule of India. Similarly, many of the ancient temple towns that
have also survived brutal shocks but still continue to thrive also echo the same.
Art forms such as Natyamelas, Harikata, Yakshagana, Kudiyattam, and Kathakali are the direct
offshoots of this same, sprawling Devalaya Ecosystem. For centuries, these art forms became the
immensely popular and excellent vehicles for transmitting a towering, beautiful, and sublime
culture. One can refer to Rallapalli Anantakrishna Sarma’s evocative and vividly descriptive
essays to glean valuable details and insights about the contribution of the Devalaya Ecosystems
especially during the Vijayanagara Era.
Notes:
[i] Devalayatattva: Pg 166: Shatavadhani Dr. R Ganesh
[ii] Bharateeya Samskruti: Pg 171: Dr. S Srikanta Sastri
[iii] Other excellent works include Prof S K Ramachandra Rao’s Indian Temple
Traditions, Stella Kramrisch’s The Hindu Temple (in two volumes), and Ananda K
Coomaraswamy’s writings on Indian art and sculpture.
[iv] Ibid: PP 171-72
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CHAPTER XV
The History of Hindu Temples
Famous Hindu Temples Through the Ages The remains of the earliest temple
structure were discovered in Surkh Kotal , a place in Afghanistan,...
Famous Hindu Temples Through the Ages
The remains of the earliest temple structure were discovered in Surkh Kotal, a place in
Afghanistan, by a French archeologist in 1951. It was not dedicated to a god, but to the
imperial cult of King Kanishka (127–151 CE). The ritual of idol worship which became
popular at the end of the Vedic age may have given rise to the concept of temples as a
place of worship.
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Surkh Kotal, a place in Afghanistan
The Earliest Hindu Temples
The earliest temple structures were not made of stones or bricks, which came much later. In
ancient times, public or community temples were possibly made of clay with thatched roofs
made of straw or leaves. Cave-temples were prevalent in remote places and mountainous
terrains.
Historians say Hindu Temples did not exist during the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE).
According to historian Nirad C. Chaudhuri, the earliest structures that indicate idol worship
date back to the 4th or 5th century CE. There was a seminal developm ent in temple
architecture between the 6th and the 16th century CE. This growth phase of Hindu temples
charts its rise and fall alongside the fate of the various dynasties that reigned in India
during the period—majorly contributing and influencing the building of temples, especially
in South India.
Hindus consider the building of temples an extremely pious act, bringing great religious
merit. Hence, kings and wealthy men were eager to sponsor the construction of temples,
notes Swami Harshananda, and the various steps of building the shrines were performed as
religious
rites.
Temples of South India (6th–18th Century CE)
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Kailashnath Temple
The Pallavas (600–900 CE) sponsored the building of the rock-cut chariot-shaped temples
of Mahabalipuram, including the famous shore temple, the Kailashnath, and Vaikuntha
Perumal temples in Kanchipuram in southern India. The Pallavas style further flourished
with the structures growing in stature and sculptures becoming more ornate and intricate
during the rule of the dynasties that followed, particularly the Cholas (900–1200 CE), the
Pandyas temples (1216–1345 CE), the Vijayanagar kings (1350–1565 CE) and the Nayaks
(1600–1750 CE).
The Chalukyas (543–753 CE) and the Rastrakutas (753–982 CE) also made major
contributions to the development of temple architecture in Southern India. The cave
temples of Badami, the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal, the Durga Temple at Aihole, and
the Kailasanatha temple at Ellora are standing examples of the grandeur of this era. Other
important architectural marvels of this period are the sculptures of Elephanta Caves and the
Kashivishvanatha temple.
During the Chola period, the South Indian style of building temples reached its pinnacle, as
exhibited by the imposing structures of the Tanjore temples. The Pandyas followed in the
footsteps the Cholas and further improved on their Dravidian style, as evident in the
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elaborate temple complexes of Madurai and Srirangam. After the Pandyas, the Vijayanagar
kings continued the Dravidian tradition, as evident in the marvelous temples of Hampi. The
Nayaks of Madurai, who followed the Vijayanagar kings, hugely contributed to the
architectural style of their temples, bringing in elaborate hundred or thousand -pillared
corridors and tall and ornate 'gopurams', or monumental structures that formed the gateway
to the temples, as evident in the temples of Madurai and Rameswaram.
Temples of East, West, and Central India (8th–13th Century)
Jagannath Temple in Puri, 12th Century, Orissa, India. Jagannath temple hosts the
annual procession of massive chariots, juggernauts, a Hindu festival.
In Eastern India, particularly in Orissa between 750–1250 CE and in Central India between
950–1050 CE, many gorgeous temples were built. The temples of Lingaraja in
Bhubaneswar, the Jagannath temple in Puri, and the Surya temple in Konarak bear the
stamp of Orissa's proud ancient heritage. The Khajuraho temples, known for its erotic
sculptures, and the temples of Modhera and Mt. Abu have their own style belonging to
Central India. The terracotta architectural style of Bengal also lent itself to its temples, also
notable for its gabled roof and eight-sided pyramid structure called the "aath-chala."
Temples of Southeast Asia (7th–14th century)
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Angkor Wat Temple before sunset, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Malcolm P Chapman
Southeast Asian countries, many of which were ruled by Indian monarchs, saw the
construction of many marvelous temples in the region between the 7th and 14th century
that are still popular tourist attractions today. The most famous amongst them are the
Angkor Vat temples built by King Surya Varman II in the 12th century. Some of the major
Hindu temples in Southeast Asia that still exist include the Chen La temples of Cambodia
(7th–8th century), the Shiva temples at Dieng and Gdong Songo in Java (8th–9th century),
the Prambanan temples of Java (9th–10th century), the Banteay Srei temple at Angkor
(10th century), the Gunung Kawi temples of Tampaksiring in Bali (11th century), the
Panataran (Java) (14th century), and the Mother Temple of Besakih in Bali (14th century).
Hindu Temples of Today
Akshardham Temple in Delhi, India is a monument in salmon-colored sandstone and
white marble by the Hindu Swaminarayan Group. The temple complex was opened in
2005 and covers an area of over 8,000 square me
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ters.
Today, Hindu temples across the globe form the cynosure of India's cultural tradition and
spiritual succor. There are Hindu temples in all almost countries of the world, and
contemporary India is bristling with beautiful temples, which hugely contribute to its
cultural heritage. In 2005, arguably the largest temple complex was inaugurated in New
Delhi on the banks of river Yamuna. The mammoth effort of 11,000 artisans and volunteers
made the majestic grandeur of the Akshardham temple a reality. It's an astounding feat
which the proposed world's tallest Hindu temple of Mayapur in West Bengal is also aiming
to accomplish. https://www.thehinduportal.com/2020/10/the-history-of-hindu-temples.html
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Buildings were constructed which could house a sacred symbol of a particular god, which could
be decorated with sculptural figures of them so recalling episodes from their mythological
adventures, and which provided a space for worshippers to leave offerings and perform rituals
such as bathing and dancing by professional female dancers (devadasi). The temple was
considered the dwelling place of a particular god (devalaya). It was, therefore, a sacred place
(tirtha) where heaven and earth meet and, as a god's home, it must be a suitably
splendid palace (prasada). The needs of the god would, additionally, be supervised by a
dedicated body of priests (pujaris) who attended the temple.
TEMPLES WERE BUILT TO HOUSE A SACRED SYMBOL OF A PARTICULAR GOD
AND WERE DECORATED WITH SCULPTURAL FIGURES RECALLING EPISODES
FROM MYTHOLOGY.
Hindus need not attend regular services, but an occasional walk around the temple interior
(circumambulation), known as pradaksina and done in a clockwise direction, was considered
auspicious. Further, they could say prayers, look at the god's representation – a specific act of
piety known as darsan – and leave offerings of food and flowers (puja). Temples, inevitably,
became the very centre of a community and, accordingly, their upkeep was guaranteed by land
grants and endowments from the ruling class, as indicated by inscriptions on many temples.
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CHAPTER XVI
Tracing the evolution of temples Abroad
Trade and Transcendentalism of Hinduism in
America
Three-day national workshop on temple architecture begins
A three-day national workshop on ‘Temple architecture and iconography: in Sthapatis’
Perspective’ got under way here on Monday with experts delving on the evolution of
temples from prehistoric times to the standardisation of the architecture.
The workshop has been organised by the Department of Ancient History and
Archaeology, University of Mysore. Delivering the keynote address, A. Sundara, retired
professor, Department of Ancient History and Epigraphy, Karnatak University, Dharwad,
traced the growth of temples to when they were idols being worshipped in the open.
Vedic period
There is no evidence of the existence of temple architecture during the Vedic period
though there is evidence of cults in prehistoric times.
Over generations, this was systematised and paved the way for the evolution of temple
structures.
There is evidence of figurines worshipped in the open and in later periods, people thought
it fit to construct a shrine to protect main deities, Professor Sundara said. This continued
and over the centuries, new components, including enclosures, were added to the sanctum
sanctorum, besides a mantapa to accommodate the needs of rituals that became more
complex with the passage of time.
Vijayanagar period
Temple architecture evolved fully during the Vijayanagar period and the Virupaksha
temple, complete with a shrine and a mantapa, was the best example of the fullest
expression of such evolutionary trends. Though early Hindu shrines were made of brick
and kiln, Buddhist and Jain shrines were made of stone since they evolved from the
around 1st Century BC.
What are some iconic Hindu temples outside India?
Hinduism is not only restricted to India but is embraced by the world and has nearly billions of
followers across the globe. With so many Indians settling down globally, there was bound to be a
rise in the number of temples that were built to support the faith.
A follower or not , here are a few Hindu temples located outside India that will take your breath
away , a must visit !
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Shooting cakes into the ice house, c.1903 – LOC
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in
the eastern United States. A core belief is in the inherent goodness of people and nature, and
while society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, people are at their
best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. Transcendentalists saw divine experience inherent
in the every day, rather than believing in a distant heaven. Transcendentalists saw physical and
spiritual phenomena as part of dynamic processes rather than discrete entities.
Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe
that individuals are capable of generating completely original insights with little attention and
deference to past masters. It arose as a reaction, to protest against the general state
of intellectualism and spirituality at the time.[4] The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught
at Harvard Divinity School was closely related.
Transcendentalism emerged from "English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism
of Johann Gottfried Herder and Friedrich Schleiermacher, the skepticism of David Hume",and
the transcendental philosophy of Immanuel Kant and German Idealism. Miller and Versluis
regard Emanuel Swedenborg and Jakob Böhme as pervasive influences on transcendentalism. It
was also strongly influenced by Hindu texts on philosophy of the mind and spirituality,
especially the Upanishads.
The Ice Trade and Migration of Hindu Thought to USA: Producing upwards of 8 million
tons a year, the annual harvest in ice was more than just toil, but a harvest like any other.
Seasonal shifts in temperature would define each annual yield relative to the depth and re-freeze
rate of the ice. Along with a new industry, new techniques, tools and storage houses had to be
developed if the competitive edge was to be retained.
To harvest ice, the first job was to obtain access to a lake frozen to a depth substantial for
harvesting. The surface would then be marked out for the relevant sized “cakes” (American
shipped ice cakes were around 22 inches square with blocks destined for India or the West Indies
much a larger size) before being deeply scored by a specialised horse drawn plough with metal
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teeth. Blacksmiths shod spiked shoes for horses while men wore corked soles to gain purchase
when on ice. Once finished, these blocks could be prized apart by bespoke long handled picks,
pry bars and chisels each designed relevant to the job required. A classic ice harvester’s arsenal
would commonly comprise of such tools as the ice plough, ice saw, grapple, jack-grapple,
breaking off bar, caulk-bar, packing chisel, house bar, fork bar, float hook and line maker, etc
(see below). Once separated, these cakes would be manipulated with gaff hooks down
predefined ice channels towards a mechanism which extracted the blocks and load either into an
ice house for storage or a cart for transportation.
Despite centuries of subterranean ice houses having been built for the wealthy and privileged f
Persia and China, a truly effective means of storage was not developed until ice harvesting’s
founding father, Frederic Tudor, gave specific details of a building of his own design when first
built in Havana, Cuba in 1807. The outer timber walls were 25 feet square with an interior of
19×16 feet. An upper floor sales room was built with a central trap door to gain access to the ice
below and included a neighboring room as accommodation for the ice house keeper. The house
was insulated by packed sawdust and peat and had a natural draining floor to carry away the melt
water. The most revolutionary element was its location above ground contrary to early Roman
and Chinese ice house designs which were located below ground. Initial inspiration for this
came from Frederic’s observations
Chennai:
As early as in 1833, ice came to Madras and changed desserts on the dining table forever. It also
lowered to a great degree the homesickness of the East India Company officials and sustained
their empire-building efforts. Till then, affluent families had a servant called the aubdar whose
job was to turn the flasks to be cooled in a dish filled with saltpetre and water. But still, it wasn’t
ice.
A seafront building in Madras proudly flew the American flag for decades. And the stars and
stripes proudly fluttered at the ingenuity of the enterprise within. Though details are largely
forgotten today, the building (and the locality too), though renamed several times, remembers by
memory as “the ice house”.
The circular building stored and sold something we all take for granted in today’s tropical
Chennai. But in the 1800s only a handful of people in Madras had ever seen a piece of ice (if
they had been lucky enough to be outdoors during a hailstorm or made a visit to the Himalayas.)
Frederic Tudor, the American who unleashed such a frosty indulgence on a presidency
unacquainted to it, came from an affluent Bostonian family which wanted him to study in
Harvard. But young Fredric dropped out of the preparatory school as he entered his teens.
On a trip to Cuba, he found all the drinks bland at room temperature and decided exporting ice to
the Caribbean would be a profitable enterprise. On paper, it seemed so. The ice was free, the
slaves aplenty, there was ample sawdust for insulating the ice from lumber trade, and many ships
returned empty from Boston. But it just wasn’t easy, the town thought him crazy and he was
saddled with derision and debt. He almost went mad, it is recorded.
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But the genius in him worked all independently on the ways to harvest ice using blade-fitted
sleds, ships, insulation material and specially-designed buildings in places where it could be
stored and sold. One of them which still survives was in Madras, perhaps the hottest of places he
sold his ice. Nearly 150 tonnes of ice, cut in blocks from frozen American lakes, four months
earlier in the year, arrived in Madras after crossing two oceans and the equator twice and losing
around a third of the cargo. The ship would dock opposite the building, but two kilometres away,
and boats used to transfer them to the shore. Coolies would then carry the ice to the basement of
the ice house, which was a double-shelled structure and could hold around 150 tonnes of ice.
The cargo realised a profit of $3,300, which was stupendous in 1830s.
Tudor negotiated priority Customs rights in Madras so more ice wouldn’t melt while the ship
stood in a queue to be inspected. Ice was such a welcome gift for the Europeans in Madras that
there were no duties, no Customs house formalities and Tudor’s ships were allowed to unload ice
at night. The Tudor Ice Company-owned icehouses in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Galle,
Singapore in Asia and Tudor might have received subsidies to develop these houses from an icegreedy public.
While the Frozen Water Trade was lauded and while the world marvelled at the ingenuity of the
enterprise, Madrasis, who had never seen ice before, wondered if ice grew on trees in America.
They were amazed at the giant, icy cubes as they were unloaded from the ships and some of the
Indians who dared to touch a piece of the ice, believed their fingers had been scorched. Soon,
this fantastic piece of commerce was immortalised in literature.
Henry David Thoreau, who witnessed ice harvesting in Walden Pond, wrote in 1854 that “the
sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta drink at
my well.”
Kipling in his Second Jungle Book mentions it in an imaginary banter between a bird, a
crocodile and a jackal in which the bird describes his feelings after having swallowed a huge
lump of ice. Frederic Tudor came to be called the “ice king” and his business survived till one
small technological change – the refrigeration process – put an end to this trans-Atlantic trade.
The ice house on the Marina, where the American flag flew once, became a home for widows
and later had an important guest, Swami Vivekananda, after whom it was renamed.
The frozen-water trade that lasted till refrigeration process was invented/ Venkatesh
Ramakrishnan
Ice House or Castle Kernan, is a historical building in Chennai, India was rechristened as
Vivekanandar Illam, It was constructed in 1842 by Frederic Tudor. Indian Saint Swami
Vivekananda stayed in the building when he visited Chennai in 1897 and was later renamed in
his honor. It is currently maintained by Ramakrishna Math and houses an exhibition on the life
of Vivekananda. In 1842, Frederic Tudor constructed the building facing the Bay of Bengal as a
facility to store ice. In 1880, the business collapsed and the building was sold to Biligiri Iyengar,
an advocate in the Madras High Court. Iyengar re-modeled the house and named it Castle
Kernan after his friend and judge in Madras High Court.[1] When Swami Vivekananda visited
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Madras in 1897, he stayed in the building between 6 and 14 February 1897. Later, Ramakrishna
Math functioned from the building from 1897 to 1906.
In 1914, the building was acquired by the Government of Madras and functioned as a hostel and
training school for children run by R. S. Subbalakshmi. In 1963, on the birth Centenary
of Swami Vivekananda, the Government of Tamil Nadu renamed the building as 'Vivekanandar
Illam' meaning 'Vivekananda House' in Tamil. In 1997, Government of Tamil Nadu leased the
building to Ramakrishna Math and it currently houses an exhibition on the life of Swami
Vivekananda.
https://www.dtnext.in/News/City/2020/02/02040428/1212806/The-frozenwater-trade-thatlasted-till-refrigeration-.v
pf
217
Chennai Ice House then known as MADREAS ICE HOUSE
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Photograph of the ice house at Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, taken by Frederick Fiebig in
c.1851. The photograph is one of a series of hand-coloured salt prints. The ice house stood
beside the road on the foreshore next to Marina Beach. It is a handsome circular building with
ionic pilasters and a pineapple finial. The ice house was erected in 1842 to store large blocks of
ice which were imported from America by the Tudor Ice Co., formed in 1840. Following the
construction of local ice factories it was later converted into a home for Brahmin widows and is
now a hostel for the Lady Willingdon Training College, known as Vivekananda House.
The one in Kolkata
Hindu influence in the United States likely started with trading ships that traveled between ports
in India and New England in the early 19th century. Prominent transcendentalist writers and
thinkers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, were also influenced by
Hindu teachings and sacred texts.
The ideas and culture of Hindu India have had an impact on America for nearly two centuries.
The history of relations between India and America probably begins with the trading ships that
sailed back and forth from Salem and Boston to India in the early nineteenth century, carrying
“missionaries and ice” and returning with textiles and spices. In 1841, for example, one John
Christian Frederick Heyer and three missionary couples left Boston bound for the East on a
freighter with a cargo of 260 tons of ice packed in sawdust. By the middle of the nineteenth
century, there were reports of Hindus participating in Salem’s Fourth of July parade. Today, the
Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem houses a large collection of Indian arts and artifacts expressive
of this rich period of commerce between India and New England.
In the nineteenth century, Hindu texts and ideas also became an active part of the intellectual life
of New England’s most famous literary figures, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David
Thoreau. As early as the 1820s Emerson wrote of India in his journals. By the 1830s he had
copies of Hindu sacred texts—the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Laws of Manu. He
was especially attracted to the teachings of the Upanishads and the Vedanta, which speak of the
unity of spirit linking the human soul and the Transcendent, the “unbounded, unboundable
empire.” Emerson and his circle came to be called Transcendentalists, because of their emphasis
on this transcendent oneness of spirit. By the 1840s, Emerson began to publish excerpts from
what he called the “Ethnical Scriptures” in the transcendentalist journal, The Dial.
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Henry David Thoreau clearly had the Bhagavad Gita with him during his sojourn at Walden
Pond, and it was no doubt through his book Walden that many Americans first encountered its
ideas. “In the morning,” he wrote, “I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal
philosophy of the Bhagvat-Geeta… in comparison with which our modern world and its
literature seem puny and trivial.” In the winter, Thoreau marveled at both the physical and
mystical connection between the land of the holy Ganges and his beloved Walden. As he
contemplated the Bhagavad Gita from his hut, big ice-blocks of the pond he called “God’s drop”
were cut and sent by rail to Boston and thence by ship to Madras.
Many New Englanders, especially those of the liberal Unitarian tradition, were drawn to what
they learned of India’s religious ideas—its insistence on the oneness of the Divine, the deep
linkage of the soul and the Divine, and the transcendent unity of diverse paths and ways. There
were early connections between the Unitarians of Boston and some of the reformist “Hindu
renaissance” movements in Bengal. The Unitarians particularly admired the reformer Rammohan
Roy for his Vedanta idealism and his critique of Hindu polytheism in favor of what seemed for
all the world a Unitarian perspectivre.
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Vivekananda at the Parliament
Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu religious reformer who spoke in Chicago at the 1893 World’s
Parliament of Religions, made an impression in America as one of the first Hindus to speak for
his own religious tradition before a large audience. Vivekananda traveled across the country
and spoke in various public and religious contexts, including two speaking engagements at
Harvard.
Despite more than fifty years of interest in Indian thought, few Americans at the close of the 19th
century had yet met a Hindu. So in the late summer of 1893, when a handsome, young Hindu
reformer, Swami Vivekananda, arrived in Boston before the opening of the World’s Parliament
of Religions in Chicago, he attracted a great deal of attention.
Vivekananda had taken a ship from Calcutta to Vancouver and then traveled by train to Chicago,
arriving more than a month early for the Parliament. He quickly ran out of money. Fortunately,
on the train from the west coast he had met a Boston woman, Kate Sanborn, who had graciously
invited him to her house in the country outside Boston. It was at her estate, Breezy Meadows,
that Swami Vivekananda was introduced to a number of Bostonians, including Harvard Classics
professor J.H. Wright. At Professor Wright’s invitation, Vivekananda came to Annisquam on
Boston’s North Shore, where he delivered his first public lecture at the Universalist Church. He
subsequently spoke at Wesley Chapel in Salem and caused a stir wherever he appeared on the
North Shore in his silk tunic and turban.
At the Parliament, Vivekananda was received with enthusiasm. He was surely the first Hindu
most Americans ever heard speak in his own voice, on behalf of his religious tradition.
Influenced by modernizing religious currents in India, he called for a universal religion “which
would have no place for persecution or intolerance in its polity, and would recognize a divinity
in every man or woman, and whose whole scope, whose whole force would be centered in aiding
humanity to realize its Divine nature.”
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In the two years following the Parliament, Vivekananda toured the United States, speaking in
Madison, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Detroit, and many other places. At a summer encampment
called Green Acre in Eliot, Maine he taught daily lessons in Vedanta, sitting cross-legged under
a large pine tree. Swami Vivekananda also returned to Boston and Cambridge, where he
discussed everything from spirituality to women’s suffrage, developed a friendship with William
James, and lectured twice at Harvard. In 2013, the Center for the Study of World Religions and
the Hindu Students Association at Harvard University commemorated Swami Vivekananda’s
150th birthday by hosting a conversation on campus in the very room in which he lectured over a
century before.
Swami Vivekananda opened the first American Vedanta Society in New York in 1894, and the
second Vedanta Society in San Francisco in 1899. Vivekananda’s teachings through these
societies focused on Vedanta and on yoga practice. The Vedanta society contributed to yoga’s
later rise in popularity.
In 1894, Swami Vivekananda founded the first American Vedanta Society in New York. The
following year, after an intensive training retreat held on one of the islands of the St. Lawrence
River, he initiated two Western followers as sannyasis, or “renouncers.” They, too, came to be
called “swamis.” In 1896, Vivekananda returned to India and sent Swami Abhedananda, a
brother monk from Calcutta, to take over the reins of the small New York community.
Abhedananda was a vigorous organizer and a fine lecturer who taught Vedanta three times a
week at New York’s Mott Memorial Hall.
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Back in India, Vivekananda launched the Ramakrishna Mission, named after his renowned
mystic teacher, Ramakrishna. Its “mission” was to revitalize the Hindu tradition for the task of
service, education, and nation-building. When Vivekananda returned to the United States for a
second stay in l899, he concentrated his efforts in Los Angeles and San Francisco. In San
Francisco, he formed America’s second Vedanta Society. Vivekananda returned to India after a
lecture tour to many major cities, leaving two Indian Ramakrishna monks in charge of the two
major centers of the Vedanta Society, Swami Turiyananda in San Francisco and Swami
Abhedananda in New York. After Vivekananda’s death in 1902, the Ramakrishna Mission in
India continued to take the lead in sending swamis to lead the growing number of American
Vedanta Society centers.
The Vedanta Society appealed greatly to nominal, liberal Christians, who came to see
Christianity anew in the context of the Hindu claim to the equality of all religious traditions. It
also appealed to secular seekers with no previous stake in any religious tradition. Vivekananda
emphasized both Vedanta philosophy and the practice of yoga, especially raja yoga, which he
described as a “psychological way to union” with the Divine. It involves bodily postures, breathcentered meditation, and the cultivation of concentration so that the mind does not fritter away its
energies in the rush of thoughts. The Vedanta Society did not gain wide attention; by l930, its
membership probably numbered only in the hundreds. Nonetheless, it was influential as
America’s first form of Hinduism and it laid the groundwork for a much wider and more popular
knowledge of yoga.
Yogananda and American Yoga
Paramahansa Yogananda (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was
an Indian monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya
Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) / Yogoda Satsanga Society
(YSS) of India, and who lived his last 32 years in America. A chief disciple of the Bengali yoga
guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri, he was sent by his lineage to spread the teachings of yoga to the
West, to prove the unity between Eastern and Western religions and to preach a balance between
Western material growth and Indian spirituality. His long-standing influence in the American
yoga movement, and especially the yoga culture of Los Angeles, led him to be considered by
yoga experts as the "Father of Yoga in the West."
Yogananda was the first major Indian teacher to settle in America, and the first prominent Indian
to be hosted in the White House (by President Calvin Coolidge in 1927);[5] his early acclaim led
to him being dubbed "the 20th century's first superstar guru," by the Los Angeles
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Times.[6] Arriving in Boston in 1920, he embarked on a successful transcontinental speaking tour
before settling in Los Angeles in 1925. For the next two and a half decades, he gained local fame
as well as expanded his influence worldwide: he created a monastic order and trained disciples,
went on teaching-tours, bought properties for his organization in various California locales, and
initiated thousands into Kriya Yoga.[4] By 1952, SRF had over 100 centers in both India and the
US; today, they have groups in nearly every major American city.[6] His "plain living and high
thinking" principles attracted people from all backgrounds among his followers.
He published his book Autobiography of a Yogi in 1946 to critical and commercial acclaim;
since its first publishing, it has sold over four million copies, with HarperSan Francisco listing it
as one of the "100 best spiritual books of the 20th Century".Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs had
ordered 500 copies of the book for his own memorial, for each guest to be given a copy.[8] The
book has been regularly reprinted and is known as "the book that changed the lives of millions."
A 2014 documentary, Awake: The Life of Yogananda, won multiple awards at film festivals
around the world. His continued legacy around the world, remaining a leading figure in Western
spirituality to the current day, led authors such as Philip Goldberg to consider him "the best
known and most beloved of all Indian spiritual teachers who have come to the West....through
the strength of his character and his skillful transmission of perennial wisdom, he showed the
way for millions to transcend barriers to the liberation of the soul.
Though Paramahansa Yogananda was a Hindu teacher who came to America to attend the
International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston in 1920, he stayed to found a religious
movement. Yogananda promoted yoga as an intersection of science and religion that emphasized
the mind-body relationship. Yogananda wrote The Autobiography of a Yogi, which was
published in 1946; at the time of his passing in 1952, his organization the Self-Realizaiton
Fellowship was the most prominent Hindu organization in the United States.
Paramahansa Yogananda was another Hindu teacher who came to America for a conference and
stayed to found a religious movement. The title Paramahansa, “The Great Wild Swan,” was
bestowed by his teacher in India, Swami Yukteswar. The wild swan is the symbol of the
liberated soul, and it is the title given to those rare teachers who have achieved this state of
freedom. Yogananda was from Bengal and came to the United States to attend a meeting of the
International Congress of Religious Liberals held in Boston in 1920. After the conference,
Yogananda, like Vivekananda, stayed in the United States, launching the Self-Realization
Fellowship (SRF) in 1925. While Vivekananda returned to India after a few years, Yogananda
spent the rest of his life in the United States, returning to India only to visit.
Yogananda used the language of science to teach yoga and saw the Self-Realization Fellowship
as uniting science and religion through realization of the unity of their underlying principles.
Yogananda was among the first to emphasize the “mind-body” relation, especially for health and
healing. Decades later, the yogic knowledge that the focus of the mind can alter the state of the
body would become a presupposition of the “new age” and of new perspectives in medicine.
Yogananda’s teachings foreshadowed this development. His short collection of “Scientific
Healing Affirmations” stresses the role of mental affirmation in the healing of the body.
Yogananda made Los Angeles the center of the Self-Realization Fellowship. He had a knack for
organizing and promoting yoga and “self-realization” through dozens of local centers and
through a correspondence course available to those who did not live near a center. The popularity
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of the movement and of Yogananda was enhanced with the publication of his book, The
Autobiography of a Yogi (l946). At the time of Yogananda’s death in 1952, the SRF was the
most important and extensive Hindu organization in the United States.
The Rush of Gurus
The 1960s and 1970s mark the popularity of the guru or swami movement in the United States.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, new streams of Hindu religious life came to the United States with
the arrival of new gurus or spiritual teachers.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, new streams of Hindu religious life came to the United States. The
term guru, or spiritual teacher, became a household word. Becoming a swami or a guru is not a
matter of academic degrees or book learning, but deep spiritual insight that must be confirmed by
the authority of one’s own teacher.
Many gurus came from India to America in these years. In India, it is taken for granted that
some gurus are more genuine representatives of their traditions of learning than others. In
America, all had a chance to attract a following. Some came and went quickly, sometimes amidst
controversy. Others came and settled into the American landscape, where their influence is still
felt today.
Among the first to arrive was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a student of the Shankaracharya of
Jyoshimath in the Himalayas, who became the guru of the Beatles and started the Students
International Meditation Society (SIMS) in 1965. He was the first to popularize a discipline of
meditation he called TM, Transcendental Meditation, insisting that it was not “Hindu,” but
scientific and universal. In the fast-paced, stress-filled life of mid-20th century America, a simple
and accessible meditation routine came to many as a welcome relief. By 1975, Dr. Herbert
Benson of the Harvard Medical School had monitored TM meditators and confirmed the
physiological benefits of the hypometabolic state produced by meditation. The TM movement
continues today in what it describes as a “secular,” and not specifically Hindu, form.
A very different guru of the 1960s was Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada whose teacher in
India had instructed him to carry the message of Krishna to the West. His story is, in one sense, a
great “American” story. Having arrived nearly penniless in New York in 1965, he began
chanting “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama” in Tompkins Square Park. Within a few months, he opened
a storefront temple on Second Avenue, which was America’s first Krishna temple of the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
The movement became known more popularly as “Hare Krishna” for its public chanting of
Krishna’s name. Unlike other groups that emphasized meditation or yoga, this was a
distinctively bhakti style of Hinduism, emphasizing the devotional love and service of Lord
Krishna. Such a fervent piety did not, at first, seem a likely magnet for young Americans in the
turmoil of the sixties, but, astonishingly, it attracted a dedicated group of young people. The
Krishna temples of the late sixties and seventies were all devotional communities in which the
daily round of pujas honored Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha with incense and bells, oil
lamps and flowers, and song and dance. When post-1965 immigrants came from India, the Hare
Krishna temples were often the first, and usually the only Hindu temples they found.
The 1960s and 1970s saw many other gurus. There was the young Guru Maharaj-ji, whose
meteoric rise began in 1971 and started to decline almost as quickly after a disastrous rally in the
Houston Astrodome in 1973, which left his Divine Light Mission deeply in debt. Bhagwan Shree
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Rajneesh also attracted a visible following, both at his ashram in Pune, India and in the United
States. His fortunes began to decline in the wake of controversy when he and his followers
moved en masse to the small town of Antelope, Oregon, which they renamed Rajneeshpuram.
The ashram disintegrated in 1985.
Swami Satchidananda was another leader who helped to shape this spiritual trend in the United
States. He spoke at Woodstock in 1969 and later taught yoga at his Yogaville ashram in rural
Virginia, the headquarters of Integral Yoga International. In 1969, Swami Rama came to the
United States and demonstrated the voluntary bodily control of yoga at the research department
of the Menninger Foundation. He started the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania to
bring East and West together in the practice of holistic health and yoga.
Swami Muktananda came to the U.S. and launched the Siddha Yoga Dham Movement in 1970.
By 1976, Siddha Yoga had eighty meditation centers and five ashrams, and claimed thousands of
followers. His second visit lasted from 1974 to 1976 and saw the institutionalization of Siddha
Yoga Meditation in America with the establishment of the SYDA (Siddha Yoga Dham
Associates) Foundation. It continues today under the leadership of Muktananda’s spiritual
successor, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, an Indian-born woman who leads the SYDA
central ashram.
In addition to gurus from India, there were American-born seekers who themselves
became gurus in the 1970s. Richard Alpert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University,
found his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, in the Himalayas and became Ram Dass. He became a
teacher himself, drawing on both Hindu and Buddhist dharma to articulate a teaching of service
in a growing organization called Seva, simply “Service.” Joyce Green was a Jewish housewife in
Brooklyn when she became a student and devotee of Christ, Swami Nityananda, and Neem
Karoli Baba. As Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, she was the spiritual teacher of Kashi Ashram in
Florida and, like Ram Dass, directed her teaching toward service, especially to those living and
dying with AIDS. Swami Chetanananda of the Nityananda Institute, based in Portland, Oregon,
is a student of the late Rudrananda. Rudrananda, an American, had an eclectic background,
studying with the Shankaracharya of Puri, with Swami Nityananda, and then with Swami
Muktananda, before striking off on his own path as a teacher.
Despite the sometimes controversial histories of the many Hindu teachers who have attracted an
American following, one thing is clear: yoga, meditation, and a Hindu “turn of mind” have had
an impact on America
The New Hindu Immigrants
Increasing numbers of students and professionals immigrated from diverse regions in India
during the 1960s and 70s. Once in the United States, they often formed associations based on
their regional origins—associations that later became the basis for collaborations between
different immigrant groups.
During the 1960s and 1970s, students and professionals from India were attracted to America by
new policies, specifically the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which encouraged the
immigration of professionals. Since the worship and rituals of the Hindu tradition are largely
performed at home, the small altars of Hindu homes and apartments were surely the first altars
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where Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha, and Devi were worshipped in such places as Chicago and
Houston. For more communal worship, the “Hare Krishna” temples and Vedanta Societies
became a welcome, if often temporary, home for newly arrived students and immigrant Hindus.
Many of the Hindu students and professionals who came to the United States in the late 1960s
and 1970s thought of themselves, at first, as temporary residents. They were here to get an
education or to get started on a career, work for a few years, and then return home. By the midseventies many of these immigrant couples had successful careers and children in grade school.
It became clear that they would not return to India, at least not soon. If their children were to
retain anything of their Hindu heritage, these young professionals would have to take active steps
to create the centers and temples where that heritage could be tasted by the new generation.
With South Asian immigration also came gurus to serve those communities. One striking
example is the Swaminarayan community whose adherents and teachers came largely from
Gujarat. The leadership and the spirit of voluntarism of this community enabled the creation of a
month-long Cultural Festival of India on a campus in Edison, New Jersey in 1991. It attracted
more than a million visitors and was a milestone in the introduction of Hinduism to a wider
public.
In addition to religious communities, regional associations of Tamils, Gujaratis, or
Bengalis formed, providing a context in which the language, dance, music, and festivals of the
various regions of India might be enjoyed and introduced to the next generation. The Gujarati
Association would meet to celebrate Divali and enjoy an evening of garba dancing. The Marathi
Mandal would rent a hall for the observance of Ganesha Chaturthi. The Bengali Association
would sponsor a gala observance of Durga Puja. Beginning especially in the 1970s, these
regional associations proliferated in every cosmopolitan American city. National associations
also emerged, each with its pattern of national summer conferences—the American Telugu
Association and the Orissa Society of America, for example. Many of these cultural associations
are not specifically “Hindu,” but they are implicitly so. For example, the Association of Indians
in America (AIA) held a Divali observance at South Street Seaport in New York City in 1995,
attracting more than 85,000 people.
The early post-1965 Hindu immigrants met in rented halls and churches for festivals. Some
groups met on a more regular basis in one another’s homes to study the Bhagavad Gita or
conduct a puja. Eventually, these immigrants began to think on a grander scale about raising the
money to build full-scale Hindu temples. In order to succeed, the scattered Hindu communities
and regional societies had to begin to work together.
Hindu “temple societies” were non-profit associations dedicated to building the first
generation of temples in the United States. The first Hindu temples were built in the 1970s. The
organizations behind the temples blended Hindu traditions with American values like
volunteerism.
The temple movement began in rented halls, school auditoriums, and church basements. The first
permanent temples were suburban homes, storefronts, former churches, and even warehouses
and office buildings transformed into temples. Finally, Hindu “temple societies” were
incorporated as nonprofit associations to build America’s first generation of Hindu temples.
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America has two “first” Hindu temples. The first to get started in the temple building process
was the Hindu Temple Society of North America, formed in 1970 in Flushing, Queens. They
worked for seven years to make the dream of a temple a reality, consecrating the Ganesha
Temple on July 4, 1977. The first temple to be consecrated, however, was the Sri Venkateswara
Temple in Pittsburgh, which got a later start but was consecrated on June 8, 1977.
By the time these two landmark temples were consecrated, there were already temple societies at
work in such cities as Detroit, Albany, Houston, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles, laying plans
for the building of a temple. The decades of the 1980s and 1990s saw large Hindu temples built
in all these cities, as well as in Nashville, Dayton, San Antonio, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.,
Livermore, California, and many others. Temples have continued to be built, expanded, and
renovated throughout the U.S. well into the 21st century. The Queens temple itself was
renovated in a $4 million project that began in 2007.
India has a multitude of temples, but traditionally family rituals were performed at home. In
many areas of India, this is beginning to change today as temples become the venue of private
rituals. In the United States, many observe that this trend is continuing. Temples have assumed
an extremely important role in the life of a scattered Hindu community, for preserving both
religious and cultural identities. Hindu families will come to the temple for life cycle rituals,
such as the upanayana, or sacred thread ceremony, and the wedding. The community gathers at
the temple for new rituals as well, such as a Mother’s Day puja. Once the sanctuaries of the Gods
have been built, the community has a second phase of construction in mind: the social hall with
its large kitchen and auditorium. In some cases, financial considerations and the need for a
community center have reversed the priorities. In Louisville, Kentucky and Orlando, Florida, for
instance, the community hall was built first, with the full-scale temple construction planned as
the next phase.
America’s great new Hindu temples signal the presence of a religious community that has taken
to American ways, with the spirit of voluntarism that is so typical of America’s many religious
traditions. Temple membership drives and fundraisers, temple publications and newsletters,
videos of temple festivals, and audio clips of devotional music are all now part of the American
temple milieu. The Hindu tradition has taken firm root in the cities and suburbs. How the next
generations appropriate the ritual and community life of the Hindu tradition, both at home and in
the temple context, remains to be seen.
American Hinduism
The number of Hindu temples in the United States has grown rapidly in the last decades,
creating a landscape of varied expressions and structures within American Hinduism that
parallels both the sites and histories of India and the value of pluralism in the United States.
As the Hindu tradition has grown in America, the landscape of Hindu America has come to
duplicate the sacred geography of India. Just as the Pilgrims spoke of “New England” and named
Boston, New London, and New York for places back home in England, so do today’s Hindu
Americans recreate the significant features of Hindu India. Vishnu Balaji’s great shrine at
Tirupati in South India can be found in Pittsburgh at the Sri Venkateswara temple. Rama’s
birthplace and capital at Ayodhya is in the suburbs of Chicago. In the hills of West Virginia is
New Vrindavan, named for the hometown of Krishna in India. In Schuylkill Haven,
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Pennsylvania and Holbrook, Massachusetts, there is Vraj (or Braj), also Krishna’s homeland.
The temple in Holbrook is unique in its adaptation—the mandir itself is a renovated Friendly’s
restaurant. In Austin, Texas is a lavish temple called Barsana Dham, named for the hometown of
Radha, Krishna’s sweetheart. And in Flint, Michigan there is a Pashchima Kashi Temple,
literally the “Kashi of the West,” bringing Shiva’s sacred city to America’s midwest. The Geeta
Temple in Elmhurst, New York includes all twelve of India’s famous Shiva shrines, called
the jyotirlingas or “lingas of light”, as well as a recreation of the hilltop shrine of Vaishno Devi
from northwest India.
As Hindus put down roots in America, they also articulate a distinctively Hindu vision of
America: the pluralism of many religious traditions and ways. “America is based on an important
Hindu ideal,” said a Michigan businessman. “We say ‘Truth is one, the ways are many.’ America
is one country, with one ideal of freedom and democracy. But the religions of America are many.
There is room for all ways here.” https://pluralism.org/american-hinduism
The Hart-Celler Act in 1965 greatly expanded America’s geographical boundaries for
immigration, shifting from a Euro-centric emphasis to one that allowed for more Asian arrivals -especially those who were highly trained. This change brought many new residents from the
predominantly Hindu country of India.
At first, many new Hindu immigrants worshipped in their homes. In the mid-1970s, as Hindu
communities grew, they sought their own worship centers. On June 8, 1977, the Sri
Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills outside of Pittsburgh was consecrated, followed the next
month by the consecration of a temple in Flushing, N.Y. Over the next few years, temples
opened in such cities as Malibu, Ca.; Chicago; Troy, Mich.; Boston; Middleton, Conn., and
Raleigh, N.C.
Temples are only one sign of Hindu presence in the U.S. In 2012, Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii)
became the first Hindu elected to Congress.
The Hart–Celler Act of 1965 marked a radical break from U.S. immigration policies of the past.
Since Congress restricted naturalized citizenship to "white persons" in 1790, laws restricted
immigration from Asia and Africa, and gave preference to northern and western Europeans over
southern and Eastern Europeans. The Immigration Act of 1924 had permanently established the
National Origins Formula as the basis of U.S. immigration policy, largely to restrict immigration
from Asia, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe. According to the Office of the Historian of the
U.S. Department of State, the purpose of the 1924 Act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S.
homogeneity" by limiting immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. The U.S. was the
global leader in codified racism, and its race laws fascinated the Germans. The National Socialist
Handbook for Law and Legislation of 1934–35, edited by the lawyer Hans Frank, contains a
pivotal essay by Herbert Kier on the recommendations for race legislation which devoted a
quarter of its pages to U.S. legislation, including race-based citizenship laws, anti-miscegenation
laws, and immigration laws.[6] Adolf Hitler wrote of his admiration of America's immigration
laws in Mein Kampf, saying:
The American Union categorically refuses the immigration of physically unhealthy elements,
and simply excludes the immigration of certain races.
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In the 1960s, the United States faced both foreign and domestic pressures to change its nationbased formula, which was regarded as a system that discriminated based on an individual's place
of birth. Abroad, former military allies and new independent nations aimed to delegitimize
discriminatory immigration, naturalization and regulations through international organizations
like the United Nations. In the United States, the national-based formula had been under scrutiny
for a number of years. In 1952, President Truman had directed the Commission on Immigration
and Naturalization to conduct an investigation and produce a report on the current immigration
regulations. The report, Whom We Shall Welcome, served as the blueprint for the Hart–Celler
Act. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement the restrictive immigration laws were seen as an
embarrassment. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 act into law at the foot of
the Statue of Liberty, ending preferences for white immigrants dating to the 18th century.
The immigration into the country of "sexual deviants", including homosexuals, was still
prohibited under the legislation.[3] The INS continued to deny entry to homosexual prospective
immigrants on the grounds that they were "mentally defective", or had a "constitutional
psychopathic
inferiority"
until
the Immigration
Act
of
1990 rescinded
the
provision discriminating against gay people. The Hart–Celler Act amended the Immigration and
Nationality Act of 1952, or McCarran–Walter Act, while it upheld many provisions of the
Immigration Act of 1924. It maintained per-country limits, which had been a feature of U.S.
immigration policy since the 1920s, and it developed preference categories.[11]
One of the main components aimed to abolish the national-origins quota. This meant that it
eliminated national origin, race, and ancestry as basis for immigration.
It created a seven-category preference system, which gave priority to relatives of U.S.
citizens and legal permanent residents and to professionals and other individuals with
specialized skills.
Immediate relatives and "special immigrants" were not subject to numerical restrictions.
Some of the "special immigrants" include ministers, former employees of the U.S.
government, foreign medical graduates, among others.
It substituted hemispheric limits for the earlier national quota system; for the first time,
immigration from the Western Hemisphere was limited, while the Eastern Hemisphere saw
an increase in the number of visas granted.[2]
It added a labor certification requirement, which dictated that the Secretary of Labor needed
to certify labor shortages.
Refugees were given the seventh and last category preference with the possibility of
adjusting their status. However, refugees could enter the United States by other means as
well, such as through seeking temporary asylum.
As per the rules under the Immigration and Nationality Act, U.S. organizations are permitted to
employ foreign workers either temporarily or permanently to fulfill certain types of job
requirements. The Employment and Training Administration under the U.S. Department of
Labor is the body that usually provides certification to employers allowing them to hire foreign
workers in order to bridge qualified and skilled labor gaps in certain business areas. Employers
must confirm that they are unable to hire American workers willing to perform the job for wages
paid by employers for the same occupation in the intended area of employment. However, some
unique rules are applied to each category of visas. They are as follows:
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H-1B and H-1B1 Specialty (Professional) Workers should have a pay, as per the prevailing
wage – an average wage that is paid to a person employed in the same occupation in the area
of employment; or that the employer pays its workers the actual wage paid to people having
similar skills and qualifications.
H-2A Agricultural Workers should have the highest pay in accordance to the (a) Adverse
Effect Wage Rate, (b) the present rate for a particular crop or area, or (c) the state or federal
minimum wage. The law also stipulates requirements like employer-sponsored meals and
transportation of the employees as well as restrictions on deducting from the workers' wages.
H-2B Non-agricultural Workers should receive a pay that is in accordance with the
prevailing wage (mean wage paid to a worker employed in a similar occupation in the
concerned area of employment).
D-1 Crewmembers (longshore work) should be paid the current wage (mean wage paid to a
person employed in a similar occupation in the respective area of employment).
Permanent Employment of Aliens should be employed after the employer has agreed to
provide and pay as per the prevailing wage trends and that it should be decided on the basis
of one of the many alternatives provisioned under the said Act. This rule has to be followed
the moment the Alien has been granted with permanent residency or the Alien has been
admitted in the United States so as to take the required position
The proponents of the Hart–Celler Act argued that it would not significantly influence
United States culture. President Johnson said it was "not a revolutionary bill. It does not
affect the lives of millions." Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other politicians,
including Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), asserted that the bill would not affect the U.S.
demographic mix. However, following the passage of the law, the ethnic composition of
immigrants changed, altering the ethnic makeup of the U.S. with increased numbers of
immigrants from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the West Indies.[2] The 1965 act also
imposed the first cap on total immigration from the Americas, marking the first time
numerical limitations were placed on immigration from Latin American countries,
including Mexico.
Before 1965, immigrants to the U.S. had mostly come from Europe; 68 percent of legal
immigrants in the 1950s came from Europe and Canada. However, in the years 1971–
1991, immigrants from Hispanic and Latin American countries made up 47.9 percent of
immigrants (with Mexico accounting for 23.7 percent) and immigrants from Asia 35.2
percent. In the twenty years following passage of the law, 25,000 professional Filipino
workers, including thousands of nurses, entered the U.S. under the law's occupational
provision.
Family reunification under the law greatly increased the total number of immigrants,
including Europeans, admitted to the U.S.; Between 1960 and 1975, 20,000 Italians
arrived annually to join relatives who had earlier immigrated. Total immigration doubled
between 1965 and 1970, and again between 1970 and 1990.[2] Immigration constituted 11
percent of the total U.S. population growth between 1960 and 1970, growing to 33
percent from 1970 to 1980, and to 39 percent from 1980 to 1990.[27] The percentage of
foreign-born in the United States increased from 5 percent in 1965 to 14 percent in
2016.[28]
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The elimination of the National Origins Formula and the introduction of numeric limits
on immigration from the Western Hemisphere, along with the strong demand for
immigrant workers by U.S. employers, led to rising numbers of undocumented
immigrants in the U.S. in the decades after 1965, especially in the Southwest. Policies in
the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 that were designed to curtail migration
across the Mexico–U.S. border led many unauthorized workers to settle permanently in
the U.S. These demographic trends became a central part of anti-immigrant activism from
the 1980s, leading to greater border militarization, rising apprehension of undocumented
immigrants by the Border Patrol, and a focus in the media on the criminality of
undocumented immigrants.
The Immigration and Nationality Act's elimination of national and ethnic quotas has
limited recent efforts at immigration restriction. In January 2017, President Donald
Trump's Executive Order 13769 temporarily halted immigration from seven majorityMuslim nations. However, lower federal courts ruled that the executive order violated the
Immigration and Nationality Act's prohibitions of discrimination on the basis of
nationality and religion. In June 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court overrode both appeals
courts and allowed the second ban to go into effect, but carved out an exemption for
persons with "bona fide relationships" in the U.S. In December 2017, the U.S. Supreme
Court allowed the full travel ban to take effect, which excludes people who have a bona
fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.[33] In June 2018, the
Supreme Court upheld the travel ban in Trump v. Hawaii, saying that the president's
power to secure the country's borders, delegated by Congress over decades of
immigration lawmaking, was not undermined by the president's history of arguably
incendiary statements about the dangers he said some Muslims pose to the United States.
The Hart–Celler Act was widely supported in Congress. Senator Philip Hart introduced
the administration-backed immigration bill which was reported to the Senate Judiciary
Committee's Immigration and Naturalization Subcommittee. Representative Emanuel
Celler introduced the bill in the United States House of Representatives, which voted 320
to 70 in favor of the act, while the United States Senate passed the bill by a vote of 76 to
18. In the Senate, 52 Democrats voted yes, 14 no, and 1 abstained. Among Senate
Republicans, 24 voted yes, 3 voted no, and 1 abstained. In the House, 202 Democrats
voted yes, 60 voted no and 12 abstained, 118 Republicans voted yes, 10 voted no and 11
abstained. In total, 74% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans voted for passage of this
bill. Most of the no votes were from the American South, which was then still strongly
Democratic. During debate on the Senate floor, Senator Ted Kennedy, speaking of the
effects of the Act, said, "our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants
annually. ... Secondly, the ethnic mix of this country will not be upset."[
Sen. Hiram Fong (R-HI) answered questions concerning the possible change in the
United States' cultural pattern by an influx of Asians:
Asians represent six-tenths of 1 percent of the population of the United States ... with
respect to Japan, we estimate that there will be a total for the first 5 years of some
5,391 ... the people from that part of the world will never reach 1 percent of the
population ... Our cultural pattern will never be changed as far as America is concerned.
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— U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on
the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965, pp.71, 119.
Democrat Rep. Michael A. Feighan (OH-20), along with some other Democrats, insisted
that "family unification" should take priority over "employability", on the premise that
such a weighting would maintain the existing ethnic profile of the country. That change
in policy instead resulted in chain migration dominating the subsequent patterns of
immigration to the United States.[18][19] In removing racial and national discrimination the
Act would significantly alter the demographic mix in the U.S.
On October 3, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation into law, saying,
"This [old] system violates the basic principle of American democracy, the principle that
values and rewards each man on the basis of his merit as a man. It has been un-American
in the highest sense, because it has been untrue to the faith that brought thousands to
these shores even before we were a country."
Here are some of the most beautiful Hindu temples outside India:
1. Prambanan Temple (Java, Indonesia)
The Prambanan temple is in Central Java of Indonesia and is the largest Hindu temple site in
Indonesia. And is also one of the biggest in Southeast Asia.
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‘Prambanan’ or ‘Candi Prambanan’ or ‘Candi Rara Jonggrang’ is a Hindu temple in Central
Java, Indonesia containing idols of Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu. It is the largest
Hindu temple site in Indonesia and one of the biggest one in Southeast Asia.
Built in 850 CE, it’s composed of 8 main shrines called the ‘gopuras’ towering 47-metre-high
(154 ft) inside a large complex of individual temples. They are further surrounded by 250 smaller
gopuras. Prambanan attracts many visitors from across the world.
Nearly, all the walls of the temple are covered with hand carved art. All narrate the stories of the
incarnations of Lord Vishnu’s Dasavataram, the Ramayana, adventures of Lord Hanuman and
about other Hindu legends.
2. Angkor wat, Cambodia.
The name “Angkor Wat” translates to capital temple. It was built in the early 12th century in
Cambodia by the King Suryavarman II of Khmer kingdom. It took 27 years to complete the
construction and was first called “Varah Vishnu-lok”. The world famous temple was first a
Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Later it hosted both Hindu & Buddhist cultures starting
in 14th century.
The western world paid a visit this marvel in 16th century during the British & Portuguese
colonization era.
Tourists visiting Angkor Wat also pay a visit to the nearby ruins of Angkor Thom and Bayon.
These 2 fantastic Hindu temples served as the ancient capital of Khmer empire.
3. Tanah Lot Temple, Bali, Indonesia.
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Situated on a large rock on the sea at Indonesia the Tanah Lot is one of the most famous Hindu
temples in Bali. This temple is one of the 7 sea temples, each within eyesight of the next, which
form a chain along the south-western coast of Bali. It is a revered tourist destination drawing
millions of tourists and is one of the most photogenic places of Bali. The Tanah Lot temple has
been a part of Balinese mythology for centuries.
4. Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple, Victoria, Australia.
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This temple is located in the suburb of Carrum Downs in the state of Victoria, Australia. Also the
largest Hindu temple in the state. This is temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.
It was established in 1982 and was built and designed in Dravidian architecture, a south Indian
architectural style. The first prayer meeting was held at 6:00 PM on November’s last Saturday in
the year 1982. It is considered to be one of the most popular temples in Australia.
5. Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Atlanta, U.S.A.
This 32,000 square feet temple sits on 30 acres land which currently makes it the largest Hindu
temple in the U.S.A. The tower of the temple stands at 75 feet making it the tallest building in
the city. More than 1,300 craftsmen and 900 volunteers dedicated their time in putting this
34,450-piece stone building together. Most of the temple’s work was hand carved. Furthermore,
4,500 tons of Italian Carrara marble, 4,300 tons of Turkish limestone, and 3,500 tons of Indian
pink sandstone was shipped to this location.
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6. Akshardham temple, New jersey, U.S.A.
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The Akshardham temple in Robbinsville of New Jersey is presently under construction. It started
in 2014 and is expected to be finished and opened by 2016. Based on the two colossal
Akshardhams of Delhi and Gujarat, it is dedicated to Vishnu temple.
When finished it will be larger than its parent structures spreading over 162 acres of land. Thus,
making it the largest Hindu temple in the world in terms of area. Currently, the largest Hindu
temple is the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. And it will be surpassed
by the new temple by 14 acres in area. This will surely be one of the best Hindu temples outside
India.
7. Sri Subramaniar Swamy Devasthanam, Batu Caves, Malaysia.
Batu Caves are a series of limestone caves situated at a distance of 13 km north of Kuala
Lumpur. Outside India it is one of the most popular and tallest Statues of Lord Murugan,
standing 42.7 meters in height. It was constructed in 1890 by Tamil trader K. Thamboosamy
Pillai. It eventually became a tourist destination ever since.
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The famous yearly Hindu festival of Thaipusm in Malaysia is celebrated in this temple complex.
It attracts a large number of pilgrims from Malaysia as well as from India, Australia and
Singapore.
8. Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple, Birmingham, U.K.
Designed to replicate the Tirupati Thirumala Temple in Tirupati, India, Sri Venkateswara Balaji
Temple was opened in August 23, 2006. It is the first temple of Lord Venkateswara in Europe.
The main shrine houses 12 feet statue of Lord Venkateswara, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
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9. Pashupatinath temple, Nepal.
Pashupathinath Temple is one the most important temples of Lord Shiva in the world. It is the
oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu and was constructed in 753AD by King Jayadeva. But, it was
reconstructed in 12th century and 17th century after that.
It is the oldest Hindu temple of Kathmandu though it is still not clear when it was founded. There
are many legends related to the foundation of the temple however, till date nothing has been a
confirmation regarding its erection or how long it has been in existence.
The temple is famous for the fact that wishes get fulfilled here. One can also see a sprawling
collection of other temples, ashrams, images and inscriptions around Pashupatinath.
It has a Nepalese Pagoda style of architecture, different from the traditional Hindu temples of
India. Only followers of Hinduism can enter the main temple and the other buildings are
available for foreigners to visit. One of the astonishing Hindu temples outside India.
10. Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Glass Temple, Tebrau, Malaysia.
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Sri Rajakaliamman Glass Temple is one of the oldest temples and probably the only Hindu glass temple in
Malaysia and also in the world.
The temple is an important tourist attraction in Johor and has been drawing hordes of local and
foreign visitors since its construction. The temple had its humble beginnings as a hut-like
structure dating back to 1922. At least 90% of the temple is embellished by a mosaic of 300,000
pieces of glass of different colours.
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It contains the Athma Lingam sanctuary of Lord Shiva as a lotus. Devotees can pour rose water
on it and perform their prayers. The Siva lingam is the first of its type in Malaysia which is
designed with ‘Mukni’rudraksha beads. It happens to have an unusual embossed texture. Each
‘Rudraksha’bead is embedded in the walls with a chanted prayer. The temple also has 10 goldfinished sculptures. Surely, one of the must visit Hindu temples outside India.
11. New Vrindaban Temple, West Virginia, U.S.A.
New Vrindaban temple is part of the ISKCON International Community of West Virginia. New
Vrindaban is named after the Indian city of Vrindavan which is also called Brindavanam. The
temple is also called as The Palace of Gold opened in 1979, great acclaim from people. The
Washington Post called the place ‘Almost Heaven’ and have been adored by Hindus and nonHindus equally ever since.
12. The Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
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The Venkateswara temple of Pittsburgh is located in Penn Hills of Pittsburgh, USA. It is one of
the earliest traditional Hindu Temples built in the United States. Sri Venkateswara Temple
organization was established on Aug 7, 1975.
13. Dhakeshwari National Temple, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Dhakeshwari National Temple is a Hindu temple in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is state-owned,
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hence the distinction of being Bangladesh’s ‘National Temple’. The name ‘Dhakeshwari’ means
‘Goddess of Dhaka’. Since the destruction of Ramna Kali Mandir in 1971 by the Pakistan Army
in the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Dhakeshwari Temple has assumed status as the most
important Hindu place of worship in Bangladesh.
14. Shri Kali Temple, Burma
Shri Kali Temple is a Hindu temple located in Little India of Yangon downtown in Burma. So if
you are planning to take the new highway to Thailand, you might want to stop by here and check
this heritage site. It was built by Tamil migrants in 1871 while the Burma Province was part of
British India.
15. Sri Siva Subramaniya temple, Nadi, Fiji.
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The Sri Siva Subramaniya temple is a Hindu temple in Nadi, Fiji. Yes in Fiji! It is at the southern
end of Nadi is the largest Hindu temple in the Southern hemisphere. It was first constructed in
1926 and the temple was again totally rebuilt in 1986. The temple was built in the best traditions
of ancient Dravidian Indian temple architecture.
16. Sagar Shiv Mandir, Mauritius.
Sagar Shiv Mandir is a Hindu temple sitting on the island of Goyave de Chine, Mauritius. It is a
place of worship for Hindus settled in Mauritius and it is also visited by tourists. The temple was
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constructed in 2007 and it hosts a 108 feet height bronze coloured statue of Shiva. The location is
an epitome of beauty.
17. Shri Krishna Temple, Darsait, Oman.
Shri Krishna Temple is situated near Church in Darsait and is about 28-30 kms from Seeb
Airport. This temple was constructed by Merchant Community from Gujarat settled in Muscat,
in the year 1987. Subsequently, it was extensively renovated in the year 2013 having all the
facilities for devotees to worship. A Multi Purpose Hall having a capacity of 500-700 worshipers
to take part in the function is organised by the Management.
18. Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, Singapore.
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The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, better known as the Chettiars’ Temple is one of the Singapore
Hindu community’s most important monuments. It was gazetted as a national monument on 21
October 2014. It was built in 1859 by the Tamil Chettiar community. This Shaiva temple,
dedicated to the six-faced Lord Subramaniam (Muruga) is most active during the festival of
Thaipusam.
19. Varun Dev Temple, Manora, Karachi.
This 1000 year old Varun Dev Temple in Pakistan which was once a very celebrated entity is
now lying in a dilapidated state due to the negligence of government. The structure still appears
grand from afar, while the leftover tile work and craftsmanship gives a sense of its glorious past.
Sad part is that the cold hatred on Hinduism in Pakistan resulted its walls and rooms serving as
toilets for the locals of Manora’s sandy beach.
20. Nallur Kandaswamy temple, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka.
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Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil also called as Nallur Murugan Kovil is one of the most notable Hindu
temples in the Jaffna District, Sri Lanka. Located in the town of Nallur. The presiding deity is
Lord Murugan in the form of the holy Vel. The idol of the Nallur Devi or goddess was given to
the temple in the 10th century CE by the Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, in the style of
Sembian bronzes.
21. Erawan Shrine, Bangkok, Thailand.
The Erawan Shrine is a Hindu shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, that houses a statue of Phra Phrom,
the Thai representation of the Hindu creation god Brahma. A popular tourist attraction, it often
features performances by resident Thai dance troupes, who are hired by worshippers in return for
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seeing their prayers at the shrine answered. On 21 March 2006, a man vandalised the shrine and
was killed by bystanders. However, two months after the incident a new Brahma statue was
completed and placed in the shrine on 21 May 2006.
22. Murugan Temple, Sydney, Australia
Murugan Temple situated on the Mays Hills of New South Wales of Sydney, Australia is one
famous temple of Hindus. Lord Murugan is the Lord of Tamils. He is also known as the Lord of
the hill region and his abode is usually located on hills. In Sydney, the deity is also known as the
‘Sydney Murugan’.
The temple of Sydney Murugan was built by Tamils residing in Australia. It is taken care of by a
Hindu society called ‘Saiva Manram’.
The ‘Saiva Manrams’ have made great efforts to establish this temple. The temple also provides
great opportunities for the Hindus in Australia
.
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23. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London (Neasden Temple), United States
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, London is dedicated to Lord Swaminarayan.
He is the central figure of a modern sect of Hinduism known as Swaminarayan Hinduism. This
sect is a form of Vaishnavism.
The Neasden Swaminarayan Mandir is known to be Britain’s first authentic Hindu temple built
in a traditional manner with stone unlike other converted secular buildings. The BAPS as initials
in the name of the temple is the name of the ‘Sanstha’ with which it is associated –
Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha.
The temple was inaugurated in 1995 and consists of a ‘mandir’ and a ‘haveli’. The temple is
highly appreciated for its stone architecture.
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24. Mother Temple of Besakih, Bali, Indonesia
Mother Temple of Besakih or ‘Pura Besakih’ is the most important, largest and holiest Hindu
temple in Bali. It is an extensive complex of 23 distinct temples. Out of these, the largest one is
the Pura Penataran Agung, the main sanctuary of the complex, which is built on six levels,
terraced up the slope.
There is no confirmed information about the origin of the temple however, it is said to be from
prehistoric times.
This temple was nominated as a World Heritage Site. Each year around 70 festivals are
celebrated in the complex of this temple.
25. Radha Madhav Dham(Texas, USA)
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Radha Madhav Dham’or ‘Barsana Dham’ is the temple of Lord Krishna. It is the oldest Hindu
temple in Texas and the largest in North America. It is also one of the largest Hindu temple
complexes in the Western Hemisphere.
The temple was built as a representation of the holy land of Braj in India where Radha and
Krishna are believed to have lived 5000 years ago.
Areas around the temple are built as places for meditation. All the major Hindu festivals are
celebrated in the temple. Janmashtami celebrations of Radha Dham are the biggest one in entire
North America.
26. Katasraj Temple
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The Katas Raj Temples near Chakwal in the now Pakistan are attributed to the eras of the Hindu
kings dating from about 615-950 CE. These temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva and are being
considered for the world heritage site list. It is also said that during their exile period, this temple
is where the Pandavas dealt with Yakshas questions.
29. Munneswaram Temple, Sri Lanka
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With a complex linking five temples, this temple can remind the time of Ramayana, where it is
recognized that here Lord Rama requested to Lord Shiva and prevailed the fight against the
Ravana.
30. Sri Sri Radah Krishna Temple (Utah, United States)
The Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple has situated in US. Actually it was built to assemble the two
communities like the Hindu society in Utah province. Behind this, the Sri Sri Radha Krishna
temple has brought the awareness of their (akin of ISCON culture) religion along with the Indian
culture to wider world.
Variety of Hindu festivals has celebrated in this temple like holi, janamstami etc.
It is the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia and also one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. It
also has the smaller shrines which are
Kataragama Temple/ Kathirgamam Murugan Temple - Sri Lanka
Kathirgamam Temple is one of the most venerated shrines for Lord Muruga/Karthikeyan. This is
one of the temples like Munneshwaram Temple where there is a shrine for Hindu and Buddhist
deity. The temple is venerated by Muslims as there are many legends associated with the temple
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Thirukoneswaram Temple - Triconamalee, Sri Lanka
Thirukoneswaram Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva who is known as Thirukoneswarar (
● Korea: two temples are built in Pyongyang city.
I believe there are more than 5,000 Hindu Temples in Nepal.
Most iconic ones are as follows:1. Pashupatinath, Kathmandu (Greatest Shiva Temple)
2. Changunarayan, Bhaktapur (Oldest, 325 AD)
3. Suryavinayak Temple, Bhaktapur (7ht century)
4. Nyatapola, Bhaktapur (unique 5 story pagoda)
5. Krishna Mandir, Patan
6. Haleshi Mahadev, Khotang
7. Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu
8. Muktinath, Mustang
9. Doleshwor Mahadev, Kathmandu
10. Dakshinkali, Kathmandu
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CHAPTER XVII
10 Mosques in India that were built over Hindu Temples
India’s history ranges thousands of years and it is something that makes all Indians proud to be a
part of it. India is the same country where people proudly boasts its history that includes epics
like Mahabharata and Ramayana that mentions the rich archives of knowledge, grand
infrastructures, the vast wealth and many many temples. However, many are lost or destroyed
due to the age long invasion and rules of the Mugals and British empire. What is more sad is that
the temples were not just destroyed but converted into Mosques. Places which once used to echo
in the songs and chants of ancient Sanskrit music, prayers and slokas have no trace of even a
Hindu dust around today.
The Muslim rule in India robbed off India from some its most precious treasures in terms of
temples and knowledge centres. It is said that almost 3000 temples were either destroyed and left
in ruins or it were used to construct Islamic Dargahs, Mosques, Khanqahs, Mazars, Tombs.
Out of thousands of them, here is the list of 10 of such popular temples converted into a
Mosque.
1. The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Ayodhya – Babri Masjid
2. The Kashi Vishwanath – Gyanvapi Mosque
3. The Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple – Shahi Idgah Mosque
4. Rudra Mahalaya – Jami Masjid
5. Bhojshala – Kamal Maula Mosque
6. Adinath Temple – Adina Mosque
7. Bhadrakali Temple – Jama Masjid
8. Vijay Temple – Bijamandal Mosque
9. Somnath Temple – Temple Restored
10. Several Hindu & Jain Temples – Qawwat al-Islam Mosque
1. The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Ayodhya – Babri Masjid
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According to the Hindus, the land on which the Babri mosque was built in 1528 is the ‘Ram
Janmabhoomi’ (birthplace of the Shri Rama). But, Mir Baqi, one of Mughal king Babur’s
generals, is said to have destroyed a pre-existing temple of Rama and built a mosque called Babri
Masjid (Babur’s mosque) at the site. Both the communities have worshiped at the “mosquetemple”, Muslims inside the mosque and Hindus outside it.
Some say that the Temple of Lord Rama at Ayodhya was pulled to the ground by Babur but
some believe that the temple was destroyed by previous Islamic rulers as the mosque structure
does not belong to that era. However, it is doubtless that a temple existed and people from
centuries used the site to worship Lord Rama. With strong archaeological evidence now
available a large temple base was found at the Babri Masjid site.
2. The Kashi Vishwanath – Gyanvapi Mosque
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Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva and
is located in Varanasi, the Holiest existing Place of Hindus, where at least once in life a Hindu is
expected to do pilgrimage, and if possible, also pour the remains (ashes) of cremated ancestors
here on the River Ganges. The main deity is known by the name Vishwanatha or Vishweshwara
meaning the Ruler of the universe. The temple town that claims to be the oldest living city in the
world, with 3500 years of documented history.
However, the original Jyotirlinga of Kashi Vishwanath is not available. The old temple was
destroyed as a result of the Mughal invasion. Historical records suggest that it was destroyed
many times by Muslim rulers.
A choice target for Muslim invaders, the prominent edifice was destroyed in 1194ce, then rebuilt
20 years later, only to be demolished again in the 15th century. Under the reign of the unusually
tolerant Akbar in the 16th century, it was rebuilt once again; but Akbar’s grandson, Aurangzeb,
destroyed it yet again in 1669, building Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. The present temple was
erected a few feet from the mosque in 1780 by Maratha queen Ahilya Bai Holkar. The gold roof
seen in the photo below was donated in 1839 by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler of Punjab.
3. The Krishna Janmabhoomi Temple – Shahi Idgah Mosque
The Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, also simply called the Krishna Janmabhoomi, Krishna
Janmasthan or Kesava Deo Temple is located in the holy city of Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. Like the
Dwarkadish Temple in Dwarka, Gujarat, the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple is also said to have
been built by the Lord Krishna’s grandson, Vajra. Legends say that Mathura is said to be the
birthplace of the god, and locals believe that the temple was made 5,000 years ago. While the
mythical Yadava king is credited for its creation, the temple underwent a significant upgrade
during the reign of Chandragupta II, around 400 AD.
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After being demolished in 1017 AD, the temple was rebuilt by Bir Singh Bundela or Vir Singh
Deo, an Orchha king under the Mughal Empire. The Krishna Janmbhoomi temple was
also destroyed by emperor Aurangzeb and Shahi Idgah mosque was built above the
Keshava Deo Temple. It was a majestic temple and still can be seen from miles away. With the
next temple only being built in 1965 after a long political dispute that is still ongoing. This fourth
temple is what you see today, but the historical center of this place remains unchanged; you can
still see the ancient prison cell where it is said that Krishna was born on a dark, rainy night.
Inside the mosque, broken and defaced sculptures inside the mosque made up of temple ruins.
There is stone installed by ASI that proudly states the fact that this site was actually made by the
ruins of the temple.
4. Rudra Mahalaya – Jami Masjid
A ruined temple complex of Rudra Mahalaya is located at Siddhpur in the Patan district of
Gujarat. Siddhpur is an ancient holy town on the banks of river Saraswati. The town of Siddhpur
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derives its name from the ruler of Gujarat, named Siddhraj Jaisinh, who built a magnificent
Rudra Mahalaya temple in the 12th century AD.
The construction of Rudra Mahalaya was started in 943 AD by Mularaja Solanki and was
completed in 1140 AD by Siddharaj Jaisinh. The temple was dismantled by Allauddin Khilji
during 1410-1444 and later Ahmed Shah I demolished this temple and converted some part of it
into the conjoint mosque. In the 10th century Mularaja Solanki, the founder of the Solanki
dynasty of Gujarat, began the construction of Rudra Mahalay temple. As per the local folklore,
Muladev’s crimes hung heavily on his mind during his old age. To get rid of his bad deeds he
built Rudra Mahalaya. However, the construction remained incomplete due to unknown reasons.
Siddharaj Jaisinh established the temple complex during the 12th century and it became the
prime temple complex of Siddhpur.
According to another legend, Govinddas and Madhavdas took up their haunt among the grass
that covered the neighborhood of the Rudra Mahalaya. They found a shrine and Shiva Linga.
This led to the erection or completion of the temple. Then the astrologers had predicted the
destruction of the building. Then Siddharaj put up the images of many great kings in the temple,
along with a representation of himself in the attitude of supplication, with an inscription saying
that, even if the land was laid waste, this temple will never be destroyed. In 1296 AD, Mughal
king Alauddin Khilji sent a strong army under Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan Jalesri who
destroyed the temple complex. The temple was further demolished and the western part was
converted into a Jami Masjid by Ahmed Shah I of Muzaffarid dynasty.
5. Bhojshala – Kamal Maula Mosque
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Bhojshala is an ancient temple of Mata Saraswati. The temple was built in the year of 1034
AD by Raja Bhoj, the mighty Hindu King whose empire stretched from Rajasthan to Odisha and
from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra. This temple of Mata Saraswati is situated at Dhar district
in Madhya Pradesh, which was the capital of Raja Bhoj. Bhojshala was home to thousands of
students and scholars and it was the main center of education.
The process of Islamic attack started 36 years before the attack when a Muslim fakir named
Kamal Moulana entered Malwa in 1269 AD. He used treacherous ways and converted many
Hindus to Islam. He collected detailed information of Malwa region for 36 years and handed it
over to Alauddin Khilji.
Bhojshala was first attacked by infamous and cruel Muslim invader Alauddin Khilji in 1305
AD. After the sacrifices of Hindu king Raja Mahakaldev and his soldiers in the battle, Khilji
killed 1200 Hindu students and teachers in Bhojshala as they refused to convert to Islam.
A Muslim emperor named Dilawar Khan destroyed Vijay Mandir (Surya Martand temple) and
tried to convert part of Saraswati Temple Bhojshala into dargah. Today Muslims offer Namaz in
this same Vijay Mandir and now conspiracy is hatched to prove that it is actually a dargah named
‘Lat Masjid’. Again, Mehmudshah attacked Bhojshala and tried to convert it into dargah. He
encroached land outside Saraswati Temple and built ‘Kamal Moulana Makbara’ after 204 years
of the death of Kamal Moulana. On this ground only, conspiracy is hatched to prove that
Bhojshala is actually a dargah.
Before 12 March 1997, Hindus were allowed to take darshan but were not allowed to perform
puja. CM Digvijaya Singh issued a draconian order allowing Muslims to offer Namaz in
Bhojshala on every Friday and barred Hindus even from entering Bhojshala. However, Hindus
are now allowed only one day on Vasanta Panchami to enter and perform puja in Bhojshala.
6. Adinath Temple – Adina Mosque
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Location at Pandua, West Bengal, Adina mosque was built by Sikandar Shah in 1358-90 AD
over a grand ancient Hindu temple which is now said to be one of India’s biggest mosques.
Legend says that the mosque was originally a Hindu temple of Lord Shiva which was broken
down and rebuilt into a mosque. The Adina Mosque has many distinct remnants of Hindu deities
on the gateways and the walls of the mosque. Also, the interiors of the mosque had Hindu
carvings and designs. It is one of the finest architectural structure built in Bengal.
There are ample signs to show that the there was Hindu influence on this structure. One stone
slab displays Ganesh while another depicts the Nataraj statue of Lord Shiva. There are several
others including the crests of doorways at the entrance of the northern as well as the eastern face.
Inside the mosque, the stonework is equally convincing that the original building was a temple.
The name “Adina” of Adina mosque is also believed to come from the word “Adinath” depicting
Lord Shiva.
7. Bhadrakali Temple – Jama Masjid
Jama Masjid, which was built during 1424 CE in Ahmedabad (originally known as Karnavati)
made by Ahmed Shah I is originally a Hindu temple of Goddess Bhadrakali. Ahmedabad city’s
original names were Bhadra, Karnavati, Rajnagar, and Asaval in different eras. The name Bhadra
was named after the Goddess, whose temple was built by Rajput Parmar kings of Malwa
(Rajasthan), who ruled this area in between 9th-14th centuries. Jama Masjid Ahmedabad
Bhadrakali Temple.
Filigree carvings of flower and Paisley motifs, lotus flowers and creepers, mandalas, elephants,
coiled serpents representing the kundalini, celestial dancers and bells are found carved on the
100 odd surviving pillars that line the temple complex. If this was originally supposed to be a
mosque built with a large hall for mass prayers, then there would be no purpose of having so
many pillars in between. Most of the pillars are carved in typical Hindu temple style. Mosques
have large halls or open places where many can offer namaz (prayer) at a time. The pillars cause
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an obstruction while offering Namaz whereas many Hindu temple pillars are usually carved with
stories from the Puranas, Vedas, and Itihasas like Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The original Bhadra fort still exists in a distorted shape. Jama Mosque is situated outside Bhadra
Fort area, along with the south side of the road extending from Teen Darwaza to Manek Chowk.
Ahmedabad was named after Ahmad Shah I of the Muzaffarid dynasty who captured Karnavati
in 1411. He established Ahmedabad as the new capital of Gujarat Sultanate and built Bhadra Fort
on the east bank of the Sabarmati river.
8. Vijay Temple – Bijamandal Mosque
Vidisha is a city in the state of Madhya Pradesh, around 60km from the capital city of Bhopal.
Vidisha is famous for its Bijamandal Masjid and its interesting history. In India, many rich and
marvelous Hindu temples were destroyed and converted into mosques during Islamic rule. The
Bija Mandal Mosque is another example of the Hindu temples that were robbed, plundered,
demolished, destroyed and converted into mosques using the same raw materials from the
demolished temples.
Today, Bijamandal having lost all its ancient grandeur stands still through the passage of time as
a bitter, painful and sad reminder of the invasions and brutality of Mughals and Islamic invaders.
The Bijamandal mosque was constructed using the raw materials of a demolished Hindu temple,
dedicated to Goddess Charchika, which was built by the erstwhile Paramar Kings.
One of the pillars at the site bears an inscription which suggests that the original temple was
dedicated to the presiding deity Vijaya, the goddess, and granter of victory, and was built by
King Naravarman of Malwa. This is clearly mentioned by ASI at the site. The etymology of the
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word Bija or Bijaya is a distortion of the original name of the Goddess Vijaya Rani. Bija Mandal
or Bijaya Mandir was a temple dedicated to a Hindu goddess.
Aurangzeb looted, plundered and demolished the temple in 1658-1707 AD. He buried all the
treasured idols at the northern side of the temple and converted it into a mosque. For around 300
years, the now protected ASI monument was used as a central prayer hall and mosque for
celebrations and large gatherings, especially during Eid.
9. Somnath Temple – Temple Restored
Located in Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Saurashtra on the western coast of Gujarat, Somnath
Temple is believed to be the first among the twelve Jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva. It is an
important pilgrimage and tourist spot of Gujarat. Destroyed and reconstructed several times in
the past, the present temple was reconstructed in Chaulukya style of Hindu temple architecture
and completed in May 1951. The reconstruction was envisioned by Vallabhbhai Patel and was
completed under K. M. Munshi, the then head of the temple trust.
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The entire temple priests were massacred and the temple valuables looted during the sack by
Ghazni.
There is also an interesting story that Muslim invaders believed that the devils idols are kept in
the temple of Al-Lat etc. and that is why it was sacked again and again. It is known that many
pre-Islamic Arabians came to this temple for pilgrimage as the god here represented their moon
god.
In AD 1026, Mahmud of Ghazni first looted the temple, and then came Afzal Khan, the
commander of Alauddin Khilji and later Aurangzeb. It is said that the temple was looted and
destroyed as many as seventeen times. The great Temple was sacked again and again from
Ghazni to the Muslim dynasties of Gujarat to the Portuguese and up till Aurangzeb. A symbol of
a great civilization laid in ruins till Vallabhai Patel decided to rebuild it.
10. Several Hindu & Jain Temples – Qawwat al-Islam Mosque
Dhruv Stambh/Vishnu Dhwaj – Qutub Minar
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Qutub Minar in Delhi was actually Dhruv Sthambh or Vishnu Dhwaj that existed even before
the times of King Vikramaditya and had Arabic scripts and motifs retro-installed by Qutb-ud-din
Aibak between 1191 – 1210 AD, followed by his successors Iltutmish, Alauddin etc till 1315
AD. If we look at Qutub Minar from the top angle, it shows a lotus of 24 petals. Lotus is
definitely not Islamic symbol, but it is an ancient Vedic symbol and the creator Brahma is said to
have been born from a lotus that emerged from Lord Vishnu’s navel.
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There is a township adjoining the Kutub Minar is known as Mehrauli. That is a Sanskrit word
Mihira-awali. It signifies the township where the well-known astronomer Varaha-Mihira of
Vikramaditya’s court lived along with his helpers, mathematicians, and technicians. They used
the Qutub tower as an observation post for astronomical study. Around the tower were
pavilions dedicated to the 27 constellations of the Vedic Astrology. Qutubuddin has left us an
inscription that he destroyed these pavilions. But he has not said that he raised any tower. The
ravaged temple was renamed as Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque.
The first mosque of Delhi is Qubbat al-Islam or Quwwat al_Islam which, Qutubud-Din Aibak
constructed after demolishing the Hindu temple built by Prithvi Raj Chauhan and leaving certain
parts of the temple outside the mosque proper; and when he returned from Ghazni he started
building, under orders from Shihabud -Din Ghori, a huge mosque of inimitable red stones, and
certain parts of the temple were included in the mosque.
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Hindu Gods and Goddesses
Hindu Gods and Goddesses
Hindus acknowledge that, at the most fundamental level, God is the One without a second — the
absolute, formless, and only Reality known as Brahman, the Supreme, Universal Soul. Brahman
is the universe and everything in it. Brahman has no form and no limits; it is Reality and Truth.
Thus Hinduism is a pantheistic religion: It equates God with the universe. Yet Hindu religion is
also polytheistic: populated with myriad gods and goddesses who personify aspects of the one
true God, allowing individuals an infinite number of ways to worship based on family tradition,
community and regional practices, and other considerations.
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Here are just some of the many Hindu gods and goddesses:
Shiva, the Destroyer
Shiva is the third member of the Hindu Trinity, tasked with destroying the universe in order to
prepare for its renewal at the end of each cycle of time. Shiva’s destructive power
is regenerative: It’s the necessary step that makes renewal possible.
Hindus customarily invoke Shiva before the beginning of any religious or spiritual endeavor;
they believe that any bad vibrations in the immediate vicinity of worship are eliminated by the
mere utterance of his praise or name.
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Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning
Saraswati is the consort of Brahma the Creator and is worshiped as the goddess of learning,
wisdom, speech, and music. Hindus offer prayer to Saraswati before beginning any intellectual
pursuit, and Hindu students are encouraged to offer prayers to her during the school/college term
and especially before and during examinations.
Brahma, the Creator
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Brahma is the first member of the Hindu Trinity and is “the Creator” because he periodically
creates everything in the universe. (The word periodically here refers to the Hindu belief that
time is cyclical; everything in the universe — except for Brahman and certain Hindu scriptures
— is created, maintained for a certain amount of time, and then destroyed in order to be renewed
in ideal form again.)
Ganapati, the Remover of Obstacles
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Ganapati, also known as Ganesha, is Shiva’s first son. Lord Ganapati, who has an elephant head,
occupies a very special place in the hearts of Hindus because they consider him the Remover of
Obstacles. Most Hindu households have a picture or statue of this godhead, and it’s not
uncommon to see small replicas of Ganapati hanging from rearview mirrors of cars and trucks!
Vishnu, the Preserver
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Vishnu is the second member of the Hindu Trinity. He maintains the order and harmony of the
universe, which is periodically created by Brahma and periodically destroyed by Shiva to prepare
for the next creation.
Vishnu is worshiped in many forms and in several avatars (incarnations). Vishnu is an
important, somewhat mysterious god. Less visible than nature gods that preside over elements
(such as fire and rain), Vishnu is the pervader — the divine essence that pervades the universe.
He is usually worshiped in the form of an avatar (see below).
Lakshmi
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Lakshmiis the goddess of good fortune, wealth, and well-being. As the consort of Vishnu, she
plays a role in every incarnation. (She is Sita, wife of Rama; Rukmini, wife of Krishna; and
Dharani, wife of Parashu Rama, another avatar of Vishnu.)
Durga Devi
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Durga Devi is a powerful, even frightening goddess who fights fiercely in order to
restore dharma(moral order). Yet, while Durga is terrifying to her adversaries, she is full of
compassion and love for her devotees.
Surya, the sun
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Surya (or Soorya) is a golden warrior arriving on a chariot pulled by seven white horses.
© All rights reserved by Id Web To Print Advanced Solutions ltd 2019
Made with
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by Ondema
ABOUT THE AUTHOR- S
RISHTIDOKRAS
An Architect by choice and design, she completed a BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE Degree
from the now famous Institute of Design Education and Architectural Studies, Nagpur,India.
Her distinguished design and architectural experience has taken her to Mumbai, Pondicherry and
Hyderabad. She has also visited Dubai, Australia and Seattle, USA as a visiting architect. Srishti
has worked for Vivek Varma Architects , Mumbai ,Uday Dighe and Associates , Mumbai, Ashok
Mokha Architects Nagpur ,and Shama Dalvi in Auroville.Currently working in the REVIT
domain in BASE 4 corporation at Nagpur, the main work center of Base4,USA. She has been a
part of the design map of the Nagpur Metro; Google corporate office Hyderabad, residential
houses in the city of Pondicherry –AUROVILLE, India and Nagpur, India. Restaurant Designs
for Kettle and Brew Beverages Pvt Ltd, PUNE,India
She has attended the bamboo and earth construction workshop , Auroville • Attended
construction workshop organizedby Indian Institute of Engineers • Participated in N.A.S.A. 2015
• Held 1st position in Product Design/Competition “ Light em up ” at Regional Level •
Shortlisted for S.A. Deshpande Trophy/organized by Indian Institute of Architects , Nagpur
Visiting Architectural scholar at Melbourne, Sydney , Australia and Seattle, Deira Dubai and
New Jersey USA
Srishti has published 46 research and allied papers and 5 books on CREATIVITY &
ARCHITECTURE. She also contributed a chapter on REVIT software for the book Human
Resources in Project Management. Her particular area of interest is INTERIORS DESIGN.
Some of the Collected works of Srishti: 1. The GREAT WALL of CHINA an Architectural
Foray 2. Architecture of Hotels 3. The Vastu-Purusha-Mandala in Temple Architecture 4.
Prambanan, a Hindu temple in Indonesia-general architectural and morphological analysis 5.
HINDU TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE of BHARAT-SOME MUSINGS 6. Autodesk Revit for
Project Management 7. VERTICAL GARDENS - an Architectural Perspective.pdf 8. Theme
Park and Architecture 9. Philosophy and Architecture 10. AYODHYA in ITS ARCHITECTURE
Myth and Reality 11. The Nagara Architecture of Khajuraho 12. Hotel Design- Architectural
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Breviary 13. Hindu Temple Architecture 14. Lanka 15. Cambodia and Angkor Vat 16. reativity and
Architecture
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ms. Kinjal Shah
A brilliant student, Kinjal has assisted the authors on various assignments especially
dealing with JAINISM. A practicing Jain, she possesses a deep knowledge of the concept
and practice of Jainism. In this book she transcribes this knowledge in unraveling the
Mysteries of Buddhism associated with the remarkable structure in focus.Soon going to
join a prestigious Law School.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR DR UDAY DOKRAS
About the Author
The author has worked for 30 years in the human resources arena in India and abroad. He
was Group Vice -President of MZI Group in New Delhi and has anchored Human
Relations in Go Air and Hotel Holiday Inn;was General Manager-Health Human
Resources at the Lata Mangeshkar Hospital amd Medical college. Is currently Consultant
to Gorewada International Zoo,Nagpur and visiting Faculty at the Central Institute of
Business Management and Research, Nagpur.
In Sweden he anchored HR in Stadbolaget RENIA, SSSB and advisor to a multi
millionaire. He has studied in Nagpur, India where he obtained degrees of Bachelor of
Science, Bachelor of Arts(Managerial Economics) and Bachelor of Laws. He has done
his Graduate Studies in labour laws from Canada at the Queen's University, Kingston; a
MBA from USA, and Doctorate from Stockholm University, Sweden. Apart from that he
has done a Management Training Program in Singapore.
A scholar of the Swedish Institute, he has been an Edvard Cassel Fund and Wineroth
Fund Awardee.A scholar for the Swedish Institute for 5 years.
In 1984 he was involved with the Comparative Labour Law Project of the University of
California, Los Angeles, U.S.A. He was also visiting lecturer there. In 1985 he was
invited by the President of Seychelles to do a study of the efficacy of the labour laws of
Seychelles.
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Author of a book on a Swedish human resource law, his brief life sketch is part of the
English study text book of 7 th Class Students in Sweden -“Studying English.
SPOTLIGHT 7”- and 8th Class students in Iceland - “SPOTLIGHT 8- Lausnir.”
RESEARCH PAPERS-320 + in Researchgate and academia.edu & scribd
Followers(readers) 65,000 consolidated as on 26 th September,2020.
Authors-DR Uday DOKRAS
Dr. Uday Dokras
B.Sc., B.A. (Managerial Economics), LL.B., Nagpur University, India
Certificat'e en Droit, Queen’s University. Ontario, Canada,
MBA, CALSTATE,Los-Angeles, USA,
Ph.D. Stockholm University, Sweden,
Management and Efficacy Consultant, India
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Reviews of the Book PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
The authors highlight the benefits of paying attention to human resources and offer success and
failure factors guideline for a variety of potential practitioners and students in global project
marketplace.
Ms.Ylva Arnold, Head HR- Norstedts Publishers, Stockholm SWEDEN
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From
24, 2018
the Newspaper Times of India March
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Iceland Sweden both countries use the English Text SPOTLIGHT-one of the lessons in
which is about Dr Uday Dokras
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Prof. S.Deshpande,President of the Indian Instituye of Architects, New Delhi INDIA
releasing the book of Dr Dokras HINDU TEMPLES on the web in CARONA
gimes( May 2010)
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286
287
Some of my books
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289
290
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Unravelling the
SCIENTIFIC BORUBUDUR
Dr Uday Dokras-Srishti Dokras - Kinjal Shah
Indo Nordic Author’s Collective
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SCIENTIFIC
BORUBUDUR
Dr Uday Dokras and 2 others
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54 BOOKS BY DR UDAY DOKRAS
Published by
The Indo Swedish Author’s Collective Stockholm
The Indo Nordic Author’s Collective Finland
Dr. Uday Dokras
Tamil People as Traders and Voyagers
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The Cambodian Trilogy
I.HINDU CAMBODIA
II.HYDROLOGY of ANGKOR
ANGKOR is known as a Hydraulic city- full or canals and river and
waterways. It is this water system they say that brought the downfall of this
intrinsic kingdom. But is that TRUE?
III.ENTER…… THE KINGDOM THAT
VANISHED- Angkor
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Building Materials of the Hindu Temple
Indo Nordic Author's collective, 2021
In depth study of how Building Materials of the Hindu Temple was used in
India,Indonesia and Cambodia and India
The Art & Architecture of THE GOLDEN TEMPLE
COMPLEX, AMRITSAR
Mathematics in Temple Designs
296
Jain ART
Book on Jain Art and Iconography
Jain Temples- Part I -Complete CompendiumBook I
A to Z of the architecture, Design,Cosmology,Philosophy of Jain temples in
Jain Temples II
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF JAIN TEMPLES AND THE
ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS(ORIGINAL) OF 3JAIN TEMPLES of Nagpur
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DWARKA- CELESTIAL MYSTERIES of the Lost
CITY of KRISHNA
TIRUPATI TEMPLE Book part I
TIRUPATI TemplePart II
Vahanas- the vehicles of Hindu Gods
Vahanas- the vehicles of Hindu Gods. Animals in Hinduism. demi Gods
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SATYANARAYAN PUJA-The Complete Compendium
Satyanarayan Puja or 9 Graha Puja( a puja of 9 planets) has been
performed by most Hindus not only now but for 1,000’s of years.
MAHALAXMI Puja
Hindu Goddess MAHALAXMI Puja
ARCHITECTURE OF PALESTINE
Palestine my Love
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Palestine my Love is about the culture arts and crafts of palestine so we
recognize it as a entity that is fighting for recognition of not only its
legitimacy but also its cultural heritage
QUINTET (5) BOOKS ON MANDALA
Unravelling the MAZE of the MANDALA BOOK I
First part of a two book treatise on MANDALAS. This introductory phase
introduces mandalas
Maze of MANDALA BOOK II
Advanced Mandala routine for those who want to know more about
MANDALAS
Mandala BOOK III on Nakshatra
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BOOK IV MANDALA & ARCHITECTURE
The Use of Mandalas in Building Temples and Modern Buildings
Book V on Mandala of the Oriental Kingdoms
Islamic Architectureal Arts of of Imam Ali's 2
Shrines
Hindu Gods in Scandinavia
301
Did the Hindu Gods originate or live in Scandinavia once? Find out
Book on Divinity and Architecture
What is divinity? How has man tried to harness architecture to create magic
in space
Virat Hridaya Padma-sthalam CHIDAMBARAM
Temple -Celestial Mysteries
This book is about a mysterious and revered tempe built by the Chola
Kings of South India 2000 years ago
T2- Temple Tech. A Book
How are Hindu temples built and the technology that follows this craft.
From A to Z Complete Guide.
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Rendezvous with Sri RAM Portfolio of Temple Art
by Srishti Dokras, Architect Special section on
Hindu Foods by Karan Dokras, Product Guru
Best Foot Forward
The story of Footwear through the ages up to COVID times
Hindu Temple Panorama-Celestial
Mysteries
A to Z of Temples. A total Panoramic View of design and architecture of
Hindu temples in 350 page...
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DUOLOGY (2) on JAINISM
Ativir
ATIVIR means Very Brave and is the name given to Lord Mahavir the 24 th
Saint(TIRTHANKAR) Contains rare translations of the Dialogue of the
Mahavir with his disciples called GHANDHARVAVAD
Vardhaman-िधामान
IThis book is about Jainism- written by a non-
THE TRILOGY(3) on DEVRAJA The God kIngs of
Khemer
Book I DEVRAJ- The God Kings of Indo ChinaCambodia.
This is the first Book of a Trilogy that traces the growth of Hinduism in
South East Asia.
BOOK I I DEVRAJA- The Great Civilizations of
South East Asia -HINDU Era
304
How Hinduism reached Cambodia and how the Hindu Kings called Devraj
Built these magnificent structures
Devraja BOOK II I Devraja and Raj Dharma God
King and Kingly Religion The HINDU Era of
Great Civilizations of Khemer
Book 2 of a Trilogy that traces the advent of Hinduism on South East Asian
and Indo-Chinese
Vayu- Man's taming of the winds
Man's conquest of nature spans a million years. How was wind tamed by
him. Here is the full story... more
VIMANA Ancient Conquests of Wind
305
Ancient flying machines of Gods and Men(?) Were they true. Did they really
exist. 7000 years ago?
LIGHT HOUSES In words and pictures
BOOK Architecture of the Lighthouse of
Alexandria-BOOK
Indo Swedish Author's Collective, 2020
The lighthouse was built on an island off the coast of Alexandria called
Pharos. Its name, legend
Cosmology of lotus
Indo Nordic Author's Collective, 2020
The Lotus is the king of the flower world but few know it as a part of
creation. Find out the Cosmology.
306
Celestial Mysteries of the Borobudur Temple
Borobudur remains a mystery even today. The largest Buddhist Stupa in
the world has many unanswered...
Win with this new DIET
Hindu tempel of India , Cambodia and Indonesia
Hindu Temples dot India, Cambodia and Indonesia
DISRUPTION-Book
307
Book Architecture Creativity
Creativity and Architecture are linked and go hand in hand. This Book is a
culmination of 16 publications that have been put together as a book
Project HR Management
Indo Swedish Author's Collective
PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/'Dr UDAY DOKRAS The
project sphere has not been valued appropriately
Human Resource Engineering in Theme Parks.
by Dr. Uday Dokras and Mansse Bhandari
As theme parks evolve into facilitating for greater thrill seeking
audience,the role of human res... more
Health Human Resource Management
308
Management of Health care workers in hospitals and the human resource
practices to be followed in hospitals.
WIN DIET Lose fat-Diet and Exercise Book ONLY
BODY SHAPING GUIDE YOU NEED
The Act on Co-determination at Work – an Efficacy
study
Thesis of the Author for the degree of Doctor of Law
Stockholm University, SWEDEN 1990
309
Did Gods Walk the Earth
Dr Uday Dokras
Indo Nordic Author’s Collective
310