A 1000 years of Wonder

There is a well known Jinx, floating around about the Periya Kovil(Big Temple) of Thanjavur.People have muttered that, the fate of any prominent political figure,who visited or saw the Gopuram of this temple ,did not end well.Some have tried to cite how Indira and Rajiv Gandhi have visited Thanjavur.It is even said that, a former Chief minister's cavalcade passed in front of the temple only after its Gopuram was covered with thatches.

Well, 'Brihad' means Big in Sanskrit.Brihadeshwara thereby as the 'Bigger Lord'.

Today, I wish to talk about something, for which I am grossly inept.How can somebody be adroit in describing the Marvel that has stood for a 1000 years(1010-2010 AD).Which has seen an, emperor, a Tamil maven, who built this Temple. The symbol of His devotion has stood timeless.

The engineering splendor of this temple is discernible by just,its Gopuram as the Shadow is not cast on the ground.The mammoth stone on the top, is a single piece of rock.Reasearches now concede that, a 5 degree man made slope was built to take the stone up the acclivity,many kilometers and slide down, so that elephants could drag the stone at its place.Then comes the BigNandi,the Linga, possibly the biggest in India.Aptly Brihad!!.I still remember the day I got placed,I went to this temple and looked agape at the lord who seemed bemused with my little offer letter.

The Hub :

At the epoch of the Chola empire,this temple represented the lord and the grandeur of the people,who would toil hard on the riverbanks of the Cauvery.Craftsmen would quarry hard granite stone,by first inserting small holes into the rock and leave it wet to be broken after days.The harvest in the kingdom would be so large ,that pachyderms would be used as thresher mammals.Ships near the Thanjai dockyard would stockup spices to be shipped to sumatra and Java with some being downloaded with Eelam (todays Srilanka) chillies.Shilpadhari's would fastidiously use gold and copper to mold statutes with grace.The method of using mud daubing to create such art used even today.People,at dusk would gather at the temple to see the devadasis dance to the lord on a pradosha.A socio-cultural and religious Hub indeed!!.

BrihanNayaki(Goddess who controls the Large) at the sanctum sanctorum ,would be a place for myriad alankaras and Brahmin's would hum the Saundarya Laheri.

The rise and fall of a nation is manifest.Raja Raja Chola and his empire did not last forever,but the temple has witnessed monumental changes to the subcontinent.It has stood unperturbed with the islamic invasion,endured the Raj and now ,a self abashing Dravidian movement.Maybe because the Big Lord seldom needs to look at such extraneous aberrations.

The temple still has a engraved names of the workers in Tamil and people involved at the temple during its construction.Even the devadasis and their addresses in their time were engraved as suggested on the ornate outer walls with beautiful gargoyles on top.Unlike the Taj mahal ,where it is alleged that workers were awarded with abscission of hands for their dexterity,the names on the Chola Big temple seem to be preserved in sempiternity for their devotion.

To the Jinx now.No one knows the level of reverence of the Gandhis and to the proponents of the Jinxed theory,when considered jinxed,every event seems to be misrelated and when kowtowed with deference,serenity follows.The fault therefore,cannot be attributed to the Lord or his abode at all.The day,when the Tamil people realize the importance of these temples and hold them with the same reverence as their ancestor's , will they begin to see the beauty of Tamil as a form of Murugan and learn to cherish and foster what is truly an elixir in today's world with only pecuniary ends.

Panorama - Take a tour:

For a 360 degree panoramic view of this magnificent temple please visit here.You may or may not get a chance to travel here,but a virtual tour at different spots inside the temple,seems a good option if you are seated abroad.

Learn more and do donate to this temple if possible - Wikipedia has good info if not whole : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihadeeswarar_temple

Greater India

Though the primary objective of this blog is to bring the beauty,color and flavor of India to its readers,there will be no shying away from themes that concern India today.There will be no faltering to touch upon controversial and uncomfortable topics.

As a citizen of India,does it not obligate us to be opinionative of the governance,politics,socio-economic issues that this country tackles or tries to circumvent.Today I wanted to share some thoughts on one of the most controversial topics debated in India : The rationale for 'Partition of India' and the 'Kashmir Conflict'.

Before my views,lets get the connotation from Mythology, on India right:

उत्तरं यत्समुद्रस्य हिमाद्रेश्चैव दक्षिणम् ।

वर्षं तद् भारतं नाम भारती यत्र संततिः ।।

"The country (varṣam) that lies north of the ocean and south of the snowy mountains is calledBhāratam; there dwell the descendants of Bharata."

and thus even the Pakistani of today resides in the 'Greater India' .. and do have a look at the EPIC map : - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EpicIndia.jpg

.. And 'Greater India' will be the essence of this blog!!

I hope at least now,the claim on Kashmir from Pakistan would be rightfully absurd and obsolete and yet if,there is dissonance,please read on..

Part 1

Partition of India : A Galactic Mistake in the annals of History

The Premise:

The reasons for dividing India was just one,a country for the muslims of the subcontinent was necessary for equality and justice when India becomes free. The British wanted two nations as publicly evinced ,that they will save some religions disturbance and rioting if separate nations were created.As if they would really care, partition did create one of the worst religious riots ever seen and I am sure not one British soldier or General wanted to control the situation.

I believe there was a more sinister reason for insisting on partition.The British wanted to deface the image of the egalitarian non violent freedom movement in India.They plotted to delay independence of the crown jewel of the empire by tying up the issue with partition .It would have certainly concurred at the helm of the colonial administration that the topic would generate enough imbroglio to dally the issue.

I believe the whole premise behind partition , that a land for one religious cult is flawed.Let's assume that one cult rationale to be valid,the diversity of India will no longer the reason to bring home the bacon.Is there a single plaudit that the break away nation has earned in the last sixty years?

The Present:

Satire can be vivdly drawn from the fact that it has created a professional satanic intelligence service,army that hold the state to ransom and has a facade of democracy as veil .It has managed to be labeled as the 'international migraine'.It has succeeded in fermenting hate and laments against India and mastered the art of counterfeit Indian currency.Above all it seems to flaunt the identity of being a global hub of terror.It blackmails stakeholders in return for cooperation in terror fight against aid, has exacerbated the Afghan conflict by poking a noxious anti-India strategic angle to the problem.

The Future:

From the Baloch unrest to the holocaust of Bengali citizens in the bereaved East Pakistan, the break away state has shown no respect for its people.The Pakistani ambassador to Bangladesh said "Let Bygones be Bygones" wanting to bury the Bengali holocaust in 1971 war chronicles.Such a blemished history with cycles of coups and political upheavals sets stage for the break up.A monumental time when Balochistan gains independence from a state that discriminates on resources and rights to governance.A time when the so called 'Azad Kashmir' realizes that 'azad' is a misnomer for a future of a career in terror camps than one with opportunity and hope in the Indian Union.

The 'Idea of India' is unity despite diversity of religion and culture and the solemn commitment to the secular values we cherish, a society where parochial tendencies are loathed.As India poises before its role in the brighter side of history,the idea of Unified India as the utopian paradise for humanity seems ever more palpable.