I took a break from my routine and visited "Tirunelveli" a southern district in Tamil Nadu on the occasion of my friend's marriage.
During that time I got a chance to visit three temples. Now I am not a very religious guy and visiting temples to see God and cleansing myself off my sins is not in my nature. I have heard many stories about these huge temples and they intrigued me. So i didnt want to miss a chance.
I don't remember the names of all the temples i visited but i remember each detail of it. The largest temple i visited had a circumference of 5 KM. It had an outer wall and an inner wall and a wall around the temple itself. All the walls are about 40 to 50 feet high. Each wall has 4 entrances one in each direction. There were roads laid inside these walls and the entrances are large enough for buses and trucks to maneuver easily. The outer and inner walls have all kinds of shops and even big show rooms along their perimeter. The streets were busy with people who have come to visit the temple, who have come to shop, people who are just passing by and all kinds of traffic.
Then there is this huge entrance to the temple, and long corridor which takes you inside. This corridor is also occupied with petty shops on either side. Once you walk through the corridor and enter inside the temple.. you are lost. If you dont have anybody with you who already visited the temple you will not ahve an idea on which direction to proceed. There are numeroius shrines inside the temple and visitng each would take about 2 hours to finish. I was amazed by the architecture, the amount of planning, co-ordination and organized effort that would have needed about 1500 years back.
There were vast corridors , huge open halls, ventilation and drains were taken care of, in one corner there were small farms , that would grow different vegetables and pulses. In another corner they have cattle , that would supply enough milk and ghee. There were wells that took care of drinking water and ponds that took care of bathing and washing clothes. There were elephants too.
Every temple has a specialty, The entire ceiling of one of the temples was painted with episodes from different epics, Enormous paintings of symmetrical shapes. I hear a lot about the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, i would ask the people to come and see the paintings in that temple. In another temple pillars at the entrance of the main shrine are carved such that there are seven thinner pillars around one very thick pillar and placed such that when each pillar is tapped it would produce a musical note. Each temple has hundreds of acres of cultivated land donated by the kings. There are lots of other things that are beyond explanation and one should experience it to believe it.
Generally one would say wow thats really great and all, but being the cynic that i am, i thought what a waste of time and tax money. The kings were just show offs investing such huge time, effort and resources in building temples rather than improving the living conditions in their kingdom. why were these temples given hundreds of acres of cultivated lands.But i was proved wrong. When i met one of the main priests of a temple, i have put my thoughts into words.
He smiled at my ignorance and started to explain the meaning of temple. Yes a temple is built for God but did you notice the amount of space that is occupied by the shrines of the God, it is minimal, most of the temple consists huge empty spaces with pillars and corridors. I was like "exactly what a waste of space". He continued in those days, temples were the places for teaching and learning,practicing medicine, organizing festivals and cultural events, where people resolved their disputes before an authorized official and generally for any social gatherings. Most importantly a temple was a refuge for the people during natural calamities like flood, famines, wild fires and man made calamities like war. He said did you observe how high the walls are and how strong the doors of the main entrance are built. That is to save the people during floods and war. Have you observed how the temple is self sufficient with its water and food sources. The temples have big granaries that store grains, and pulses that would be distributed among the people during famines. He went on, explaining other purposes. It was more than enough to convince me that temples had real purpose and were important in everyday life of people in those days. Thats when told myself "Incredible Temples" ad made a mental note to visit all major temples and learn more about them.
Now as i cruise around the city looking at the temples that people just build without any purpose, i cant help thinking "Oh God, what has come to the fate of temples, there are roads in those temples and these temples are built on roads ".
