Krishnadeva Raya : India’s Temple

Krishnadeva Raya, the ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire, constructed The Vithala Temple at Hampi. it has a magnificent stone chariot in the courtyard of the temple. The large ranga mandapa is very impressive as it has 56 musical pillars, which resound with musical chimes when struck. The temple has variety of styles that is characterized in the shrines within the temple courtyard and in the delicacy of the carvings that embellish them. The temple stands over a large rectangular enclosure. The three lofty gopuras on the east, north and south sides are now in a dilapidated condition. The gopuram on the south is most ornate.

A pillared colonnade is surrounded all along the interior of the enclosing wall. The main shrine is in the center of the enclosed courtyard along with mandapa, amman sanctum, the kalyana mandapa, an utsava mandapa, a hundred-pillared mandapa and a stone ratha. There was a originally a lofty kipa-stambha, measuring 12.2 m in height, in front of the east gopuram. But now it is broken condition and lies on the ground. The main shrine was dedicated to Vishnu in the form of Vithala.

Hoysaleshwara Temple : India’s Temple

The Hoysaleshwara Temple at Halebid stands on a platform like a casket. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. it has two shrines connected by the pillared walls. Each of the shrine has the lingam of Hoysaleshwara and Shanthaleshwara. Ketumalla who was the chief of the staff of Vishnuvardhan built the temple in 1121 AD.

The temple is richly ornamented with most intricately detailed scrollwork in stone. Outside there is figure of Nandi or the Bull, the mount of Shiva outside the shrine over a hillock. The figure of mortals and immortals are larger here in comparison to Belur. They are beautifully chiseled in shining black stone. The walls of the temples are embellished with variety of sculptures of the gods and goddesses, animals, birds and dancing girls.

Brihadeswara Temple : India’s Temple

The Brihadeswara temple at Thanjaur is within a huge compound with walls rising above 15m. The temple is made over a 29 m square base and has a soaring vimana and a stunted gopuram. The inner sanctum and the gopuram were constructed over a period of 12 years. it was constructed from a single piece of granite weighing around 80 tones. The dome was hauled into place along a 4-km earthwork ramp in a manner similar to the Egyptian pyramids.

The lofty sanctum tower known as the Srivimana, is enclosed by a rectangular prakara or corridor consisting of two squares. The inner wall of the garbhagriha or the sanctum sanctorum has sculpted 108 dance poses called karmas performed by Lord Shiva himself. The Shiva lingam is called Peruvudaiya, Rasjarajeshwaramudvya. it is a huge lingam, which is set in a two-storeyed sanctum. Rajaraja Chola crowned it with 12.5 ft tall finial of 9.25 kilograms of choppers plated with 800 grams of gold.

A huge statue of Nandi measuring 6 m length and 3.7 m in height faces the inner sanctum. The statue of Nandi was created from a single rock piece and weighs 25 tones. it is in fact one of the largest statues of Nandi bulls in india. The temple also has a spacious ground, number of pillared halls, shrines and 250 lingams.

Vadakkumnathan Temple : India’s Temple

The Vadakkumnathan temple is one of the oldest temples in the state. it is a classical example of the Kerala style of architecture and contains many decorative murals and pieces of art. it stands on a beautiful hillock at the center of Trichur overlooking the town. The vast ground around the temple is called Tekkinkadu or forest of teak woods. The massive stonewall enclosing an area of nearly 9 acres forms a strong fortification. The our lofty gopuras around the main shrine indicate the four cardinal directions-North, South, East and West. A complex having three principal shrines dedicated to Siva or Vadakkumnathan, Sankaranarayana and Rama are in the center of this vast enclosure.

A striking feature of the temple is the Kuttambalam, which can be seen on the left side as one enters the temple through the western gopuram. This is the theatre hall for staging kuttu, an ancient dramatic form of art famous in Kerala. The temple opens at 3.00 in the morning and closes about 10.30 AM after the morning rites. it opens at 4.00 PM for the evening worship and closes at 8.30 PM at night after the Trippuka, the last rite for the day.

This is the venue of the world famous Pooram festival celebrated annually in April-May. The fireworks at the Pooram Festival are a spectacular sight. Non-Hindus are not allowed entry into the temple.

it is noteworthy that the Union Government under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act has declared the Vadakkumnathan temple a national monument.
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Triprayar Temple : India’s Temple

The Triprayar Temple is located towards the south of Trichur and is one of the important temples dedicated to Lord Rama. The temple was originally under the domain of the Zamorin rulers of Kerala and later came under the possession of the Dutch, the Mysore sultans and the rulers of Cochin.

The image of Rama similar to the Chaturbhuja Vishnu form with four arms, holding a conch, a disc, a bow and a garland respectively. it is believed that the deity possesses some of the features of Shiva too. The image is adorned with necklaces and other fine jewelry. images of Sridevi and Bhudevi are on the two sides of the image. The image of Dakshinamurti in the sanctum faces the south. it is also believed that the Rama portrayed with a garland in his hands is indicative of aspects of Brahma.

The deity is considered to be a manifestation of the Trimurtis. An invisible manifestation of Hanuman is worshipped in a mandapam across the hall from the sanctum. There is also a shrine to Ganapati in Triprayar temple. The shrine to Saasta or Ayyappan is in the outer courtyard of the temple. it is believed that the Saasta shrine was placed originally at the place corresponding to the temple’s sanctum.
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Chachhrauli Fort

Chachhrauli is small town in the state of Haryana near Karnal. it was once the capital of one of the india’s 562 princely states. The states have the forts palaces and samadhis of the ruling family, which talks about the lost glory of this small town of Chachhrauli in Haryana. These forts and palaces now have various government offices in them.

The Raja of Kalsia built a large, sprawling fort for himself, which comprised of a throne room, a khazana (treasury), and reception rooms. The whole of the fort was painted with murals. The artists had painted every part of the wall of the fort with designs of flowers, birds, and court scenes of indian kings and to some great extent incongruous modern views of railway stations, trains, churches and Europeans. The mural painters of Chachhrauli most probably had not actually seen churches and railway bridges, so they based their art on illustrations from books and magazines.

The Kalsia family donated the fort to the town of Chachhrauli for its own use in 1940.T he local authorities established two schools, the law courts and several municipal offices inside the fort. The fort again became alive, this time with children’s voices and office gossip and (almost certainly), legal battles.

The fort and its murals were in a fairly good state of preservation till some time ago. But over the years, the walls are crumbling down. We are also loosing the mural paintings on the walls of the fort. The dilapidation of the Chachhrauli Fort is taking along with it a very small piece of india’s history.

Yogini Temples : India’s Temple

Orissa has the distinction of preserving two of the outstanding temples of goddess Yogini, one at Hirapur, a village near Bhubaneswar and another at Ranipur-Jharial in Bolangir district. The temple was built in the 9th century AD and is the center of Tantricism and Shakti even till today. The Bhauma and Somavamsis rulers of Orissa built the Yogini temples. There was a gradual amalgamation of Shaivism, Shaktism and Avajrayana form of Mahayana Buddhism during this period in this region.

There are nine Chausanth Yogini temples in india out of which the best kept are at Jabalpur and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. They were built between 9th and 13th centuries AD.

The Yoginis were considered to be able to confer their devotees with the power to become small or gigantic in size, to control one’s body and mind of others, to fly, become invisible, and infinite other useful abilities. The devotees repeated the names of the Goddesses. in the subsequent centuries, when the active use of the shrines reduced, worshippers shifted their venerations to occult paper diagrams. The growth of Yogini cult can be traced to the rural and tribal form of worship.
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