Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/05/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dear Jayanand Living in Singapore - we are privileged to witness and marvel at the places of worship of different religions Your pictures replicate what we see of Indian temples in Singapore some of which date back to the early days of Colonial Singapore - still a far cry from yours that have centuries old histories Now I know why once in a while certain temples get a makeover and are retored to their original splendour Very informative and interesting - thank you Joseph Low -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg at leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Jayanand Govindaraj Sent: Monday, 4 May, 2009 10:14 AM To: Leica Users Group Subject: Re: [Leica] Photos of a Temple Thanks to everyone for looking and commenting. The complex gets painted and repaired, and then reconsecrated every 12 years, which was just over in April 2009, so it will look a little less bright in a couple of years! To answer George's questions - these complexes get built over the centuries by the local rulers, and each one adds his bits and pieces. Although a temple on this spot is supposed to have existed for 2500-3000 years, elements of the present temple date from the 11th century, and primarily built from the 16-18th centuries, by a dynasty called the Nayaks. The old temple is supposed to have been sacked by Muslim invaders around 1310AD. This temple though is something special, both in the architecture and ambiance, which is as a part of a living town - the Eastern entrance has hundreds of local shops, artisans, etc. all working and trading within the temple complex, some of whose concessions date back a couple of centuries. This complex was recently chosen as one of the 'Seven Wonders of India'. Hardly any of the great Indian historical buildings are built with slave labour, most have been executed by highly skilled artisans, families of whom exist even today - temple building is a recession proof industry. The embellishments are sculptures carved out of granite. I did not have a long lens with me at Madurai, but they are similar to the following detail shots from Chennai, also from a temple from around the same period, also dedicated to Siva: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Temple_Tower_1.jpg.html http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/Temple_Tower_2.jpg.html http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/7.jpg.html If you want more details, what is better than the temple's own site (signs of modernity!): http://www.maduraimeenakshi.org/ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meenakshi_Temple Cheers Jayanand On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 12:46 AM, Stasys Petravicius <stasys1 at cox.net> wrote: > Jayanand- Nice images. So much color- it looks unreal! Stasys > On May 3, 2009, at 8:34 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote: > >> I was in the temple town of Madurai a few days ago, if you can call a >> place with ?2 million inhabitants a mere town, with a few hours free >> so I went to the monumental Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple there ?where >> the god Siva (Sundareswar) and the goddess Meenakshi (Parvathi) are >> said to have wed, and around which the whole city has evolved. It is >> at the pinnacle of South Indian temple architecture, and is supposed >> to be 2500-3000 years old, though most of the temple buildings >> existent today date from the 11th to the 18th century. The whole >> temple complex is huge, around 45 acres, with the main temple itself >> measuring 254 by 237 metres, and has 12 huge goparams (temple towers). >> It had just been freshly painted and was nice and colourful! It was a >> very auspicious day and it was ?quite crowded, so I kept a little away >> from the holiest spots. Anyway, a few pictures: >> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Madurai/ >> >> Comments & criticism, as always, welcome. >> >> Cheers >> Jayanand >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information