Leave more than just footprints!

My wife is on a donation drive. A small Hindu temple in our neighbourhood is on the verge of morphing into something big. Initially starting as zinc shed with a few deities, with ever-increasing congregating believers, its presence came to be felt by the surrounding occupants. They did not mind the occasional minor inconveniences caused by its presence as they thought the divine power that it represents would, in turn, protect them. 

Soon the temple coffers grew bigger, and the pressure to flaunt their presence became necessary. Architects were summoned in, and a grand design was put forth. But then, if only they had a few hundred thousand ringgits more…

That was when the drive started. 

The general public was not so forthcoming to part with their hard-earned moolah. They have had enough of schemes that never got off the ground. And the number of holy men in sheep's clothing is just too numerous to be enumerated. They would like to see money spent on education and social causes. The lay public fails to see how big erections, loads of flowers and metric tonnes of milk in the name of fetting the Gods will improve the community. 

But wait. 

Let us look at the country's history. As time goes on, we can notice the nation's story is written and re-written to trim and prune the actual events to satisfy the majority ethnic group in the country. Slowly, the deeds of the minority are erased and slowly forgotten from the annals of Malaysian history. 

The discovery of Hindu icons in Indian mosques set the records straight of the hidden history behind these monuments. The discovery of Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan tells us about the land's glorious past. Asoka's Pillar is the testimony of a glorious Mauryan Empire that existed long ago.

It is pertinent for all communities to leave their legacy to mark their territory, especially in the modern world. As the majority try to dominate the rest in their rapacious desire to create a New World Order, they try to control the narrative and whitewash the contributions of the rest. These Hindu architectural marvels will seal the presence of Hindu culture in this region.

For those who have a compelling desire to contribute to this course, please submit your donations to:

PERSATUAN PENGANUT SRI DEVI KARUMARIAMMAN

RHB BERHAD ACCOUNT: 21209500071462

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

What happened to all the knowledge?

Shanti Stupa at Dhaulagiri

India has always struck to everyone as the land of mysticism. In its area lies the secret of its many centuries of civilisation and the many forgotten treasures and wisdom of yesteryear. Everyone goes there, in his full view, is yet another splendour of a previously well advanced enlightened with advancement in engineering, sciences, mathematics and ethics so sophisticated that is beyond compare. Some of the things that we see are just mind-boggling. Some of the tales narrated to us are beyond belief, wanting of rational scientific explanation.

At the turn of last year, I had the opportunity to gaze at a fraction of these wonders during a short trip to Odiya. Besides Emperor Asoka and his Kalinga Kingdom which is often mentioned in our textbooks, this tropical climate state is also well known for two other mammoth structures with its logic-defying features.

'The masses' lulling themselves with the notion that their nation, at one time, did rule the world
spiritually, economically and epistemologically. Never mind if it just a 'has been' story. 
At least the past glory can be a nidus the spark for the future.

The river in Dhauli, now just a stream which just saw a flow of crimson tide following the massacre of Kalinga.

Dhauli is the place where Asoka, after all the killings of his siblings, enemies and army, was enlightened here when he saw a river, instead of having running water had a sea of sanguine effluent. This, together with a few pre-forewarned sign reformed him into a Buddhist and a man of peace. In this place stands a stupa built by a Japanese to commemorate that event.

Another structure that is quite jaw-dropping is the 12th century Sun Temple whose construction showcases the richness of Odiya architecture. The people, the Sun-worshippers (not the Californian type), considered the Sun as the reason for their existence. A temple was built to honour it. The architectural outlay is basically to calculate sun positions and to ascertain the time and the seasons.

























At a time when the sciences were rudimentary, and pieces of machinery were primitive, it is indeed perplexing that the people then could actually carve out a temple out of a monolith with such precision and accuracy. Suggestions of alien intervention in these feats cannot be discredited but deserve more merit. The public display of sculptures of couples engaged in various positions of acts of copulation suggests that the Indian society indeed used to be a more liberal society than they are now. What gave, I wonder?

Jagannath Puri [Credit: noisebreak.com]

Yet another temple that would blow your mind away is the Jagannathpuri temple in Puri. It has gained the status of being one of the four magnificent Hindu temples at the four corners of India that one has to visit in his lifetime to achieve Moksha; the others being Dwarka at the west, Rameswaram at the south and Badrinath in the north. Shrouded in many unexplainable mysteries, this Vishnu temple is a display of splendour of Odiyan architecture at its zenith. If you look around Jaganath Puri from any angle at any time of the day, there would not be a single shadow cast from the dome of the main building.

The other unexplained mystery surrounding the temple is the prasadam (divine offerings) cooking technique and its distribution. Science cannot explain why the contents of the top-most pot are found to cooked before the one below when a stack of seven earthen pots are cooked over a fire below. Every day, there is no wastage or shortage of day. Miraculously, the amount prepared is just enough to accommodate the number of devotees and visitors.

noisebreak.com

Unlike other temples, the deities here (Lord Krishna; Balabhadra, his older brother and Subhadra, his younger sister) are wooden ones that are changed every twelve years. It is modelled after the very first prototype where one of the three deities is unfinished as the maker died after a curse. When the King ordered the erection of the temple, the best craftsmen were summoned. The leading artist locked himself to start on his project with the condition that the doors should not be opened until he says so. Curiosity took the better part of the Queen who decided to peek. The artist died, and the King decided to keep the diety as it was. Till this date, the newer statues are made with the third diety with no hands. The urban legend about the craftsman soon dying after completing his project lives on.

Another unique ritual that is found in this temple is the changing of the flag at the top of the dome on a daily basis. For the past 1800 years, a priest with no protective gears or safety harness climbs the dome which is as tall as a 45-storey building to continue the tradition. Legend dictates that if this ritual is broken, the temple would be shut for the next 18 years.
http://noisebreak.com/science-power-lord-jagannath-10-mysteries-puris-jagannath-temple-still-unexplained/

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson