Discovery Documentary - Lost Temples of India

[realdemigod]

Hello all,
I just finished watching a Discovery documentary on Lost Temples of India and it portrayed the greatness of South Indian temples especially Brihadeshwara Temple at Tanjore and the greatness of Raja Raja Chola. It also narrated about Vijayanagara and Madurai. After seeing the documentary I felt again that the richness of Indian architecture and the skills of the people in those days were clearly undermined and never appreciated by the rest of the world. Damn muslim invasions destroyed so many magnificent temples.

Anybody interested should definitely watch the documentary.

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste realdemigod,

I'll definitely check out the documentary sometime. It'll be good to see something in American media that actually portrays Hinduism in a positive light.

Jai Sri Krishna

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: We were sitting in Madurai at the NE corner of the Siva part on the inner prakaram just watching the people go by and softly chanting. A young girl (about 10 years) with her grandfather came by. We white Hindus piqued her curiousity so she came to sit with us. After a bit, she caught up to her grandfather and dragged him back. For about 20 minutes we sat together. She had those keen eyes and intellect rarely seen, and I felt she was teaching me. I don't think she ever stopped smiling the whole time as we discussed the nature of Siva, the magnificent temple, amongst other things. One of the astute comments the grandfather made was, "You know, we could never build this today." It struck me quite dramatically as he was so correct. Besides the sheer cost of cutting all that stone and putting machines in place, buying land, etc.there would be so much politics to wade through. Finding a silpi who could carve such tings as musical pillars would be nigh impossible! Finding a team of silpis to carve those huge heavy pillars would also be nigh impossible. It seemed so odd that despite our technological gains etc. it would now be more costly to build something like that than a 80 story skyscraper. Yet granite is so everlasting, especially off the coastline where erosion is so slow. These temples will last another 10 000 years or more. Besides that, they're still alive! Not some stone cold relics of the past.

For those of you who don't know, musical pillars are regular pillars carved into smaller pillars of various lengths and diameters to have each one of about 25 smaller ones maybe 4 inches in diameter have a different tone when knocked on. All this from a single long (8 meters maybe) single slab of granite. As you walk through such edifices you notice that each pillar is different in slight ways from the previous ones, mainly by the designs put on the square portions of pillars. Its not just making 1000 pillars all the same from some master one, but 1000 differently carved ones. One has to see it to believe it.

Aum Namasivaya

[codedlives]

OP i have been searching the net , but unable to find a place to dld it..plsss give me a link if u have
thanks
om namo venkatesaya

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: Here's a link to Tanjore virtual tour. http://www.view360.in/virtualtour/thanjavur/

Probably not what you're looking for, but its nice.

Aum Namasivaya

[codedlives]

Vannakkam: Here's a link to Tanjore virtual tour. http://www.view360.in/virtualtour/thanjavur/

Probably not what you're looking for, but its nice.

Aum Namasivaya

thanks bro

Om namo venkatesaya

[Ramakrishna]

Namaste,

I finally got around to watching this documentary. Although constant references to the "phallic Lingam" were a little annoying, it was still pretty interesting overall. It really shows the ingenuity and sheer advancement of the ancient Indians in regards to temple building. I also liked the frequent comparisons to European structures of the same time period, as it probably really opened the eyes of Euro-centric viewers to the magnificence and beauty of Hindu temples.

The documentary is available on Youtube in six parts:
Part 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCHeeGpy4eo&feature=related)
Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVHQPWxmdAM&feature=related)
Part 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfhesYL_wp0&feature=related)
Part 4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLRCFoQWuqM&feature=related)
Part 5 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-DqBiL2t__U)
Part 6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zKCecWTWJo&feature=related)

Jai Sri Ram

[AmIHindu]

Namaste,

This link shows 1000 year old Karnamukteshwar Mahadev Temple in Ahmedabad. I used to volunteer there. This temple was also robbed. There was a big diamond on the top of Shivling. Size of diamond could be at-least 2" diameter. Today we can see empty space of diamond on the top of Shivling



http://www.welcometoahmedabad.com/index.php?page=122

[anisha_astrologer]

indeed south indian temples are magnificent examples of architecture and silent proof of richness of Indian culture.