THe Physics of SHIVA

KEDARNATH
Dr Uday Dokras PhD Stockholm

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 Kedarnath
The Physics of SHIVA

Dr Uday Dokras PhD Stockholm, SWEDEN

AMAZING 500,000 Reads for the AUTHOR’s BOOKS
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 Kedarnath- 'powerful god'

Dr. Uday Dokras

B.Sc., B.A. (managerial economics) LL.B. Nagpur University, INDIA
Graduate Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, CANADA
MBA CALSATATE USA
Graduate Diploma in Law, Stockholm University, SWEDEN
Ph.D. Stockholm University, SWEDEN

Former CONSULTANT Human Resource and Administration, FDCM ESSELWORLD GOREWADA

ZOO Pvt.

The Physics of SHIVA

Indo Nordic Author’s Collective

Stockholm* Tampare* Nagpur

First Edition 2021

Copyright 2021 Uday Dokras. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by means of electronic, mechanical, photocopy, micro-film, recording or
otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright holder.
ISBN No. applied for. Cost US $150. I N R 1500/- Euro 120

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 Jata kataha Krupa khadaksha dhorani Translated at
end of book
sambhramabrama nirudha
nilimpa nirjari Durdharapadi kwachi
Vilola vichi valari viraja digambare
mana murdhani Mano vinodhamethu
vasthuni
Dhaga dhaga dhagaj
jwaala Jada bhujanga pingala
Lalata patta paavake sphurath phana
Kishora chandra Mani prabha kadamba
shekhare kumkuma drava
Rathi prathi Praliptha digwadhu
kshananama mukhe

Kaun hain voh Madhandha sindhura

Kaun hain voh sphurathwagu utthariya
Kaha se woh aaya Medhure mano
Charo dishao mein vinodhamadhbutham
Tej sa woh chhaya Bibarthu bhootha
bharthari
Uski bhujaey badle
kathaey Kaun hain voh
Bhagirathi teri taraf Kaun hain voh
Shivji chale dekh zara Kaha se woh aaya
Yeh vichitr maya Charo dishao mein
Tej sa woh chhaya
Dara darendra nandini
vilasa bhandhu Uski bhujaey badle
Bhandura kathaey
sphuradigantha Bhagirathi teri taraf
santhathi Shivji chale dekh zara
Pramodha mana Yeh vichitr maya
manase

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 CONTENTS
Contents page 5
Foreword by Ms. Kerry Penny page 7
Forward 6
CHAPTER I-THE NATURE OF GOD? 10
Chapter II What is Hinduism 22
CHAPTER III WHO is SHIVA? 51
CHAPTER IV Shiva Temples and the journey of Shaivism out of
Bharat 84
CHAPTER V SHIVA IN INDONESIA 105
Prambhanan Temple 100
CHAPTER VI- SOME MAGNIFICENT SHIVA TEMPLES IN INDIA
116
Chapter VII Hindu Cosmology and SHIVA 133
CHAPTER VIII Multiverse and LOTUS 159
Some facts about Lord Shiva 172
CHAPTER IX-Unique SHIVA Temple 180
Trimurti-Sadashiva Statue at the Elephanta Caves 177
CHAPTER X Shiva and Sagan 204
CHAPTER XI Cambodia & its SHIVA temple 208
Chapter XII -Similarities between the SHIVA TEMPLES of
Cambodia and India 224
Shiva Tandava Stotram – English Lyrics and Meaning 261
About the Author 264

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Shiva is transcendental, divine consciousness which brings solace to all layers
of existence. Like sponge in water, when mind and bodies are in Shiva Tatva,
wishes get fulfilled effortlessly. - Sri Sri
This entire universe is made up of the five elements , the Pancha Mahabhootas
: Prithvi , Agni, Jala, Vayu and Akasha. Shiva represents the manifestation of
the Pancha Mahabhootas. Shiva is present in each and every bit of this
universe. It is said even a blade of grass doesn’t move to the wind without the
permission of Shiva.
The entire world invokes the energy of Shiva in many forms. People do Pooja
and Abhishekam. Some people sing and dance in his name. While some people
meditate!
Shiva is an experience. An eternal truth. One who is not affected by three
Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
Yet the story of Shiva remains an untold secret!
Does he really open his third eye?

Did he really drink poison for this world?

Why is he called the Mahadeva or the greatest God?

Why is he called Vishwanatha or the Lord of the Universe?

Why does he decorate a snake round his neck ?

-Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

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 Foreword

Nara and Narayana - two incarnations of Vishnu performed severe penance in

Badrikashrayain devotion to Lord Shiva Bhole Shankar himself appeared in front
of them. When the Lord granted them a boon, Nar and Narayan requested Shiva
to take up a permanent abode at the place to benefit the devotees. Therefore, it
is believed that Lord Shiva assumed the form as a Jyotirlingam at Kedarnath so
that all people who worship Shiva shall be freed from their miseries.

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 Physics, science that deals with the
structure of matter and the
interactions between the
fundamental constituents of the
observable universe. In the broadest
sense, physics (from the
Greek physikos) is concerned with
all aspects of nature on both the
macroscopic and submicroscopic
levels. Its scope of
study encompasses not only the
behaviour of objects under the
action of given forces but also the
nature and origin of gravitational,
electromagnetic, and nuclear
force fields. Its ultimate objective is
the formulation of a
few comprehensive principles that
bring together and explain all
such disparate phenomena.

The whole thing is there, you see. The

world of space and time, and matter
and energy, the world of creation and
destruction, the world of
psychology…We (the West) don’t
have anything remotely approaching
such a comprehensive symbol, which
is both cosmic and psychological, and
spiritual.– Aldous Huxley, 1961

Kerry Penny, Contemporary Artist U.K. seen here with her Dog POPPY
Chief illustrator of this book
Hulloo Reader- I am Kerry Penny and I am fascinated not only with the
Universe and its creation but also with the creator SHIVA and the author of
this book Dr Uday Dokras. It is often said that there is a trinity of Hindu
gods: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer. But
while Vishnu and Shiva have followers and temples all over India, Brahma is
not worshiped as a major deity.The birth of these three Gods is a great mystery
in itself. While many purans believe that God Brahma and God Vishnu were
born from God Shiva, there is no hardcore evidence to prove the same. This
confusion brings us to another vital question- how was God Shiva born??

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Many believe that God Shiva is a Sayambhu – which means He is not born
from a human body. He was created automatically! He was there when there
was nothing and He will remain even after everything is destructed. That is
why; he is also loving called as the ‘Adi-Dev’ which means the ‘Oldest God of
the Hindu mythology.’

However, stories also suggest that this mighty Lord was created thanks to an
argument between Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu

Apparently, both these Lords were arguing with one another as to who was more
superior. Suddenly, out of nowhere a blazing pillar appeared. The top and the
root of the pillar was invisible and both the Gods heard an oracle which asked
them to compete with one another. They both had to find the start and end of the
blazing pillar.

To find this answer, Lord Brahm immediately transformed Himself into a goose
and flew upwards to find the pillar top. Simultaneously, Lord Vishnu converted
Himself into a boar and dug deep into the earth to find the end of the pillar. Both
tried tirelessly but couldn’t locate the top or the end. When they both gave up,
they found God Shiva waiting for them. This made them realize that there is
another ultimate power that is ruling this universe and that is
God Shiva ! The eternity of the pillar actually symbolizes the never-ending
eternity of God Shiva.

While His birth continues to be a mystery, His avatars also garner a lot of
questions for they too are quiet extreme. While on one hand, he became
Virabhadra to symbolize massive destruction and on another He took the form
o Kaal Bhairava to protect the Sati Pind

On earth,God Shiva is also popularly worshipped in the form of the Linga

– which are spread across the length and breadth of our country in the form of
Jyotirlingas . The Linga symbolizes masculinity and personifies God Shiva’s
role in the creation, sustenance, and destruction of the Universe. We Hindus
believe in MULTIVERSE.

Brahma is the creator of the universe while Vishnu is the preserver of

it. Shiva's role is to destroy the universe in order to re-create it. Hindus believe
his powers of destruction and recreation are used even now to destroy the
illusions and imperfections of this world, paving the way for beneficial change.
According to Carl Sagan, “The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's
great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an
immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only
religion in which the time scales correspond to those of modern scientific
cosmology.
.

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10
 CHAPTER I
THE NATURE OF GOD?
Who is Shiva?
Is Lord Shiva someone sitting in some place?
What is Shiva?--Is he a form?
For centuries, historians and devotees have romanticized the image of Lord
Shiva. A body smeared with ash, a tiger skin, a crescent moon, a snake around
the neck, the third eye, matted hair, river Ganga flowing from the hair, a
trident in one hand, a dumroo in the other, sometimes consumed in a cosmic
dance and sometimes sitting still like a rock. Along with this, there are also
1008 names of God Shiva to describe his attributes.
To truly understand Shiva, it is vital to know that Shiva is not limited to three
things: name, form and time. More importantly, Shiva is not a person sitting in
some place or up in the sky.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SHIVA?
Shiva is Sha + ee + Va
Sha stands for Shareeram or body
ee stands for eeshwari or life giving energy
Va stands for vayu or motion

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Thus, Shiva represents the body with life and motion.
If the ‘ee’ is removed from Shiva, it gets reduced to sha+va = shava.
Shava means a lifeless body. Shiva is with the potential of life,
whereas Shava is lifeless.
Which brings us to the deeper understanding that Shiva is life, Shiva is
potential for life, Shiva is all encompassing - the universal soul or
consciousness. Realizing this Shiva Tattva leads to Ananda or bliss.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SHIVA?

The whole concept of Shiva is sublime. Our ancient folks beautifully
categorized this sublimity into three states:
 Arupa: without form
 Rupa-Arupa: the formless form
 Sarupa: with form
The arupa state is where there is no form, shape or color, implying there was
no space, no time, or no matter to use to describe the arupa state. Such a state
is possible only when the Universe has not yet been created.
The arupa state of Shiva is that which is beyond manifestation. These following
6 distortions do not apply in this state:
 Adhi - Antha: beginning and end
 Sankocha - Vistara: contraction and expansion
 Prasarana - Abhisarana: spreading and converging
These characteristics are applicable only for the manifested creation.
The arupa state is thus said to denote Shiva as Chaitanya or pure
consciousness which exists but is still. This state is the source of all Creation
and all divinities owe their origin to this state. Hence the name Mahadeva - the
source of all divinities.
The Rupa-Arupa state is the formless manifesting into form or form emerging
from form. This is a transitional state from sukshma (subtle) to sthoola (gross).
The Sarupa state is the one where Shiva manifests into multifarious forms. Sa
means with or accompanied by. Thus, sarupa means with form or manifested
state.
HOW CAN SHIVA BE UNDERSTOOD?
One of the places which speaks elaborately about Lord Shiva is Kashmir in
India. The Kashmir Shaiva thought is considered very advanced even today. It
was called Trika. As per Trika, Shiva can be understood to be of three states,
hence the name Trika. To gain the knowledge of it, they recommended four
steps:
 Anavopaya: disciplining the ego
 Anava: meditation
 Saktopaya: developing attention in silence
 Sambavopaya: freeing oneself from thought
Thus, Shiva represents the chain from subtle to gross to subtle and the ways to
understand Shiva therefore require subtleness and meditation.
This is emphasized through description of Shiva:

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“Shivam Shantham Advaitham Chaturtham
Manyante sa Atma Sa vigneyaha”
(That state which is beyond the three states of waking, dreaming and sleeping
and which permeates them all is what is Shiva and is what is worth knowing.)
Since this state is beyond our comprehension or does not have a form that is
cognizable or can be perceived, it is akin to formless. It can be referred to
as Arupa as well and is commonly known as Turiya avastha, or the fourth
state. In this state, the body is restful and the mind is in its highest
awareness.
Shiva is from where everything has come, in which everything is sustained and
everything dissolves. This is Shiva or the Shiva Tattva. There is no way that
you can ever step out of Shiva at any time because the creation is made up of
Shiva. Your mind, body, everything is made from the Shiva Tattva. That is why
Shiva is called ‘Vishwaroopa’, which means that the entire universe is his form.
WHY IS SHIVA ETERNAL?
There is a beautiful story related to God Shiva. Once upon a time, Brahma (the
Creator of the Universe) and Vishnu (the Preserver of the Universe) wanted to
find the answer to the question, ‘who is Shiva?’. They wanted to understand
him completely. So Brahma said, “I will go and look for his head, and you find
his feet.” For thousands of years, Vishnu went down and down to find Shiva’s
feet but couldn’t find it. Brahma went up and up to find his head but couldn’t
find that either.
The meaning here is, there are no feet and no head to Shiva. There is no
beginning and no end to Shiva. Finally, they both met in the middle and agreed
that they could not find Shiva. That is what the Shivalinga is all about. It is a
symbolic representation of the infinite Shiva.
HOW BIG IS SHIVA?
While Shiva is not a person, but if one has to see how big is the Shiva
consciousness, then it can be said:
Brahmananda vyapta deha
The body of Shiva is beyond the galaxies. The whole universe is the body. All
stars, nebulas make the hair, thousands of sun together the eyes. Water the
stomach. The serpent is the mind. The world is full of millions of vibrations
which are interconnected to mind, planets and even food. Everything is
networked.
Rudrashtakam says:
Namami-shamishannirvan roopam, vibhum vyapakam brahma-ved swaroopam.
Nijam nirgunam nirvikalpam niriham chidakashmakashvasam bhajeham
Meaning: it is the Lord, it is the most powerful, it is all over, spread
everywhere. There is no place that it is not. It is that space, that consciousness
where all the knowledge is present. It was never born and it has no attributes.
It is a state of Samadhi where there is nothing, just the inner sky of
consciousness. That is Shiva.
SHIVA IS THE ENTIRE CREATION
Creation is a mix of opposite values - positive and negative attributes. The
universe has fire and water, goodness and evil, and so on. Shiva is present in
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all opposing values. This is why Shiva is called Rudra (fierce) and at the same
time, he is called Bholenath (the most innocent). He is called Sundaresha
(beautiful) and also Aghora (terrifying). A famous Shiva prayer describes Shiva
as Gowram (fiery), and in the same sentence, he is called Karunavataram (the
embodiment of compassion).
WHAT IS MAHASHIVRATRI?
As mentioned above, Shiva is the fourth state, which can be achieved through
meditation. The possibility to go deeper into your being and attain that
stillness, Samadhi and experience Shiva is higher on Mahashivratri. The night
of Shiva.
Not so commonly known is the monthly celebration of Shivratri, which falls on
the Krishna Paksha Chaturdasi every month or the night preceding the New
Moon.
Mahashivratri or the Great Night of Shiva is celebrated annually on the Krishna
Paksha Chaturdasi night in the penultimate month of the year, the month of
Magha as per the Indian calendar.
This night is when we acknowledge and celebrate the Shiva principle or the
Shiva Tattva within us all. Ratri means night - the time to rest and seek
respite. Shivratri is the night to seek respite in the Shiva principle.
On the day of Mahashivratri, the Shiva Tattva, or the principle, the energy, is a
few inches above the ground level touches the ground. This sacred period is the
perfect time to meditate and attain a deeply enriching spiritual experience. It is
considered as a sacred day for spiritual growth as well as material attainment.
Based on Bharath Gyan and knowledge talks by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Who killed Shiva?

They were later killed by Parvati. Jalandhara then engaged Shiva in battle, who
killed Jalandhara by thrusting his Trishula into his chest and cutting his head
off with a chakra (discus) created from his toe. Upon his death his soul merged
with Shiva just like Vrinda’s soul had merged with Lord Vishnu.
How does Lord Shiva die?
The wrathful Yama assumed a fearsome form and threw his noose to capture
Markandeya, who hugged the linga tightly. When the noose touched the linga,
Shiva emerged from it in all his wrath and struck Yama with his Trishula and
kicked his chest, killing the Lord of Death.
Why did Shiva kill Parvati?
In the Shiva Purana, when Shiva was meditating on Mount Mandara, Parvati
was in a playful mood and covered Shiva’s eyes. Brahmā granted Andhaka
these wishes, but warned him that he could still be killed by Shiva. Andhaka
went back to his kingdom and subdued all his opponents as well as the Devas.
How did Parvati die?
Parvati as Sati or Dakshyani During an extraordinary yajna performed by
Daksha, Sati and Lord Shiva were offended, and the angered Sati took her

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original form of Adi Parashakti, cursed Daksha, and took her life by consuming
the fire of yagna.
Why did Shiva cut his wife in 52 pieces?
Invoking a sacrificial fire, Goddess Sati sacrificed herself. Lord Shiva was
furious after learning about Sati’s death. Lord Vishnu used his sudarshan
chakra (a celestial weapon) to cut Sati’s body to pieces, which fell on earth. The
total number of body pieces were 52, and they fell on 52 different places.
Is Shiva an evil god?
Shiva is therefore seen as the source of both good and evil and is regarded as
the one who combines many contradictory elements. Shiva is known to have
untamed passion, which leads him to extremes in behaviour. Sometimes he is
an ascetic, abstaining from all wordly pleasures. At others he is a hedonist.
Who is the first god in the world?
Brahma is the first god in the Hindu triumvirate, or trimurti. The triumvirate
consists of three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and
destruction of the world. The other two gods are Vishnu and Shiva.
Is Lord Shiva still on earth?
The monist Shiva literature posit absolute oneness, that is Shiva is within
every man and woman, Shiva is within every living being, Shiva is present
everywhere in the world including all non-living being, and there is no spiritual
difference between life, matter, man and Shiva.

You might be interested: Often asked: Why Lord Shiva Called Mahakal?

Who killed Vishnu?

Sharabha kills Narasimha first and then kills Varaha, allowing Vishnu to
reabsorb the energies of both his fierce forms. Finally, Sharabha defeats
Vishnu.
What is the real story of Shiva?
Shiva is the destroyer who ends the cycle of time which, in turn, begins a new
Creation. With Parvati, Shiva had a son, the god Ganesha. The boy was in fact
created out of earth and clay to keep her company and protect her while Shiva
went on his meditative wanderings.
Is Shiva linga a male organ?
According to Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, the lingam signifies three perfections
of Shiva. According to Rohit Dasgupta, the lingam symbolizes Shiva in
Hinduism, and it is also a phallic symbol. Since the 19th-century, states
Dasgupta, the popular literature has represented the lingam as the male sex
organ.
Why did Parvati marry Shiva?
Meanwhile, Parvati, the reincarnation of Sati, was born to Himavan, the god of
the Himalayas and his wife the apsara Mena. She underwent severe austerities
to compel Shiva to marry her. The gods, desperate to hasten the birth of
Shiva’s son, sent Kamadeva, the god of love, to disturb Shiva’s meditation.
Does Shiva eat meat?

15
Shiva’s meat eating habits become more defined in the early Puranic literature.
For the high tradition, defined by Brahmins, Shiva became a vegetarian god.
The sects offering meat to Shiva as a prayer ritual, such as the Kaula
Kapalikas and the Kalamukhas, were declared heretical according to the
Skanda Purana.
Is Parvati and Lakshmi same?
Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, fertility, auspiciousness, light, and material
and spiritual fulfillment, as well as the consort of Vishnu, the maintainer or
preserver. Parvati, or Kali is the goddess of power, war, beauty, love, as well as
the consort of Shiva, the destroyer of evil or transformer.

UNDERSTANDING SHIVA

The traditional understanding of Shiva told through stories and teachings from
the Shiva Mahapurana

• Explains Shiva’s contradictory forms, such as destroyer or benefactor, and how his
form depends on the needs of the devotee

• Reveals how Shiva’s teachings allow one to see through the illusions at the root of all
grief and alienation in human life

• Explores Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and with his

16
sons Ganesha and Kartikeya

Shiva, the most ancient and complex deity of the Hindu pantheon, has been portrayed
in many contrasting lights: destroyer and benefactor, ascetic and householder, wild
demon slayer and calm yogi atop Mount Kailash. Drawing from the Hindu sacred text
the Shiva Mahapurana--said to be written by Shiva himself--Vanamali selects the
essential stories of Shiva, both those from his dark wild side and those from his
benevolent peaceful side.

Vanamali discusses Shiva’s many avatars such as Shambunatha and Bhola, as well
as Dakshinamurti who taught the shastras and tantras to the rishis. She explores
Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and with his sons Ganesha
and Kartikeya. Examining Shiva’s acceptance of outsiders, Vanamali explains why
ghosts and ghouls are his attendants and why his greatest devotees are demon kings,
like Ravana. She includes famous Shiva stories such as the Descent of the River
Ganga and Churning the Milky Ocean as well as those that reveal the origin of the
festival of lights, Diwali; his creation of the cosmic couple, or hierogamos; and how
Shiva and Parvati taught the world the secrets of Kundalini Shakti. The author also
draws upon Shaivite teachings to illustrate the differences between Western science
and Vedic science and their explanations for the origins of consciousness.

Integrating Shiva’s two sides, the fierce and the peaceful, Vanamali reveals that
Shiva’s form depends on the needs of the devotee. Understanding his teachings allows
one to see through the illusions at the root of all grief and alienation in human life, for
Shiva is the wielder of maya who does not fall under its spell. While Ganesha is known
as the remover of obstacles, Shiva is the remover of tears.

Understanding Shiva (English Books): This book is an effort at unraveling the layers of
meaning of Shiva from a scientific, universal perspective. It tries to look at Shiva from
the standpoints of Shivaratri and its experience, the Shiva tattva, the primordial
connection of Shiva, its cosmic perception in the form of Rudra, the earthly view in a
human form, the various symbolisms attached to the form of Shiva and the other
popular forms in which Shiva is worshipped.

17
 Family Tree

Om, a stylized etter of Devanagari script, used as a religious symbol in

Hinduism/’A Balinese Hindu family after puja at Bratan temple in Bali, Indonesia.

18
19
Tripathi had initially decided to write a book on the philosophy of evil, but was
dissuaded by his family members, so he decided to write a book on Shiva, one of
the Hindu Gods. He decided to base his story on a radical idea that all Gods were once
human beings; it was their deeds in the human life that made them famous as Gods.
After finishing writing The Immortals of Meluha, Tripathi faced rejection from many
publication houses. Ultimately when his agent decided to publish the book himself,
Tripathi embarked on a promotional campaign. It included posting a live-action video
on YouTube, and making the first chapter of the book available as a free digital
download, to entice readers.
Ultimately, when the book was published in February 2010, it went on to become a
huge commercial success. It had to be reprinted a number of times to keep up with
the demand. Tripathi even changed his publisher and hosted a big launch for the book
in Delhi. It was critically appreciated by some Indian reviewers, others noted that
Tripathi's writing tended to lose focus at some parts of the story. With the launch of
the third installment, titled The Oath of the Vayuputras, in February 2013, the Shiva
Trilogy has become the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing,
with 2.5 million copies in print and over ₹60 crore (US$8.4 million) in sales. Meluha is
a near perfect empire, created many centuries earlier by Lord Ram, one of the greatest
Hindu kings that ever lived. However, the once proud empire and
its Suryavanshi rulers face severe crisis as its primary river, Saraswati, was slowly
drying to extinction. They also face devastating attacks from the Chandravanshis who
have joined forces with the Nagas, a cursed race with physical deformities. The present
Meluhan king, Daksha, sends his emissaries to North India in Tibet, to invite the local
tribes to Meluha. Shiva, chief of the Guna tribe, accepts the proposal and moves to
Meluha with his people. Once reached they are received by Ayurvati, the Chief of
Medicine of the Meluhans. The Gunas are impressed with the Meluhan way of life. On
their first night of stay the tribe wake up with high fever and sweating. The Meluhan
doctors administer medicine.
The Immortals of Meluha—originally titled Shiva: The Man, The Legend—was finally
released by Tripathi’s literary agent Anuj Bahri, the owner of the landmark BahriSons
Booksellers in Khan Market, New Delhi.[22] Tripathi explained with Daily News and
Analysis, "I would be lying if I said that I was sure I would get a big publisher for my
first novel. I was a finance guy and a staunch believer in digital marketing that has a
better reach in the books market. It actually puts up a conversation rather than a two-
minute wire on the same." Together with his friends, Tripathi launched his promotion
of the book on the internet. He put up the entire first chapter of The Immortals of
Meluha as a digital download from his website, so that the readers would get
interested. With the help of his musician friend Taufiq Qureshi, he launched a live-
action trailer film on YouTube and built an online community
in Facebook and Twitter, surrounding the video, to further hold the reader's
interest.[20]
Another friend of Tripathi, Rashmi Pusalkar, designed the book cover according to his
specifications, which were to keep a balance between reality and fantasy. Hence
Pusalkar chose to just portray the back profile of Shiva, standing in front of a huge
lake. Since Pusalkar had never designed any book covers before, she felt that the task
was more daunting for her, and explained "Shiva is a human of flesh and blood, he is
not a God. The challenge was to show him as vulnerable. I portrayed him from the

20
back, because Indian Gods are never seen from the back. He has battle scars and a
sculpted physiqueTripathi wanted the cover to have a symbolic meaning. The scenery
behind Shiva's image is taken from Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. He also
created a clay model of the broken Pashupati seal, which was later photographed and
used in the book inlay. The increasing brightness of the book covers, from the dull
colors of The Immortals of Meluha to the bright hue of The Oath of the Vayuputras,
signified the triumph of good over evil, according to Tripathi.

21
 CHAPTER II
WHAT IS HINDUISM
Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life. It is the world's third-
largest religion, with over 1.2 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population,
known as Hindus. The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called
the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana
Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म , lit. ''the Eternal way''), which refers to the idea that its
origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts. Another, though less
fitting, self-designation is Vaidika dharma, the 'dharma related to the Vedas.
Hinduism is a diverse system of thought marked by a range of philosophies and
shared concepts, rituals, cosmological systems, pilgrimage sites and shared textual
sources that discuss theology, metaphysics, mythology,
Vedic yajna, yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other
topics.[14] Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper
goals or aims of human life; namely, dharma
(ethics/duties), artha (prosperity/work), kama (desires/passions)
and moksha (liberation/freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth/salvation), as well
as karma (action, intent and consequences) and saṃsāra (cycle of death and rebirth).
Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring
living beings (Ahiṃsā), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, virtue, and compassion,
among others. Hindu practices include rituals such as puja (worship) and
recitations, japa, meditation (dhyāna), family-oriented rites of passage, annual
festivals, and occasional pilgrimages. Along with the practice of various yogas, some
Hindus leave their social world and material possessions and engage in
lifelong Sannyasa (monasticism) in order to achieve Moksha.[20]
Hindu texts are classified into Śruti ("heard") and Smṛti ("remembered"), the major
scriptures of which are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Purānas, the Mahābhārata,
the Rāmāyana, and the Āgamas. There are six āstika schools of Hindu philosophy,
who recognise the authority of the Vedas,
namely Sānkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaisheshika, Mimāmsā and Vedānta. While
the Puranic chronology presents a genealogy of thousands of years, starting with the
Vedic rishis, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of Brahmanical
orthopraxy with various Indian cultures, having diverse roots and no specific
founder.This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic period, between c. 500–
200 BCE and c. 300 CE, in the period of the Second Urbanisation and the
early classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first Purānas were
composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of Buddhism in India.
Currently, the four largest denominations of Hinduism
are Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism.[32][33] Sources of authority and
eternal truths in the Hindu texts an important role, but there is also a strong Hindu
tradition of questioning authority in order to deepen the understanding of these truths
and to further develop the tradition. Hinduism is the most widely professed faith
in India, Nepal and Mauritius. Significant numbers of Hindu communities are found
in Southeast Asia including in Bali, Indonesia, the Caribbean, North
America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, and other regions. Hinduism is the second fastest-
growing religion in the world, after Islam with a growth of 17%.

22
The word Hindū is derived from Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit root Sindhu. The Proto-
Iranian sound change occurred between 850 and 600 BCE, according to Asko
Parpola.
The use of the English term "Hinduism" to describe a collection of practices and beliefs
is a fairly recent construction: it was first used by Raja Ram Mohun Roy in 1816–
17. The term "Hinduism" was coined in around 1830 by those Indians who opposed
British colonialism, and who wanted to distinguish themselves from other religious
groups. Before the British began to categorise communities strictly by religion, Indians
generally did not define themselves exclusively through their religious beliefs; instead
identities were largely segmented on the basis of locality, language, varṇa, jāti,
occupation and sect.
The word "Hindu" is much older, and it is believed that it was used as the name for
the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent.[45][42][note
11] According to Gavin Flood, "The actual term Hindu first occurs as
a Persian geographical term for the people who lived beyond the river Indus
(Sanskrit: Sindhu)", more specifically in the 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius
I (550–486 BCE). The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term and
did not refer to a religion. Among the earliest known records of 'Hindu' with
connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the
Western Regions by Xuanzang, and 14th-century Persian text Futuhu's-salatin by 'Abd
al-Malik Isami.
Thapar states that the word Hindu is found as heptahindu in Avesta – equivalent to
Rigvedic sapta sindhu, while hndstn (pronounced Hindustan) is found in
a Sasanian inscription from the 3rd century CE, both of which refer to parts of
northwestern South Asia.[ The Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live
across the River Indus.[ This Arabic term was itself taken from the pre-Islamic Persian
term Hindū, which refers to all Indians. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as a
popular alternative name of India, meaning the "land of Hindus".
The term Hindu was later used occasionally in some Sanskrit texts such as the
later Rajataranginis of Kashmir (Hinduka, c. 1450) and some 16th- to 18th-
century Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava texts including Chaitanya
Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhagavata. These texts used it to distinguish Hindus
from Muslims who are called Yavanas (foreigners) or Mlecchas (barbarians), with the
16th-century Chaitanya Charitamrita text and the 17th-century Bhakta Mala text
using the phrase "Hindu dharma". It was only towards the end of the 18th century
that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian
religions collectively as Hindus.
The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language
in the 18th century to denote the religious, philosophical, and cultural traditions
native to India.
Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on spirituality and traditions, but has no
ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, no
prophet(s) nor any binding holy book; Hindus can choose to
be polytheistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, henotheistic, monotheistic, mon
istic, agnostic, atheistic or humanist. According to Doniger, "ideas about all the major

23
issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even caste –
are subjects of debate, not dogma."
Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism,
arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult.[42] The religion "defies our desire to
define and categorize it. Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious
tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and "a way of life".[63][note 1] From a Western lexical
standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion. In
India, the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the Western term religion.
The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has
been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of
religion.[64][65] Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic
of debate among scholars of Hinduism, and have also been taken over by critics of the
Western view on India.
Typology- Hindu denominations
Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major
currents. Of the historical division into six darsanas (philosophies), two
schools, Vedanta and Yoga, are currently the most prominent. Classified by primary
deity or deities, four major Hinduism modern currents
are Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Devi) and Smartism (five
deities treated as same). Hinduism also accepts numerous divine beings, with many
Hindus considering the deities to be aspects or manifestations of a single impersonal
absolute or ultimate reality or God, while some Hindus maintain that a specific deity
represents the supreme and various deities are lower manifestations of this supreme.[
Other notable characteristics include a belief in the existence of ātman (soul,
self), reincarnation of one's ātman, and karma as well as a belief in dharma (duties,
rights, laws, conduct, virtues and right way of living).
1. Folk Hinduism, based on local traditions and cults of local deities and is the
oldest, non-literate system; Vedic Hinduism based on the earliest layers of the
Vedas traceable to 2nd millennium BCE;
2. Vedantic Hinduism based on the philosophy of the Upanishads,
including Advaita Vedanta, emphasizing knowledge and wisdom;
3. Yogic Hinduism, following the text of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali emphasizing
introspective awareness;
4. Dharmic Hinduism or "daily morality", which McDaniel states is stereotyped in
some books as the "only form of Hindu religion with a belief in karma, cows and
caste"; and
5. bhakti or devotional Hinduism, where intense emotions are elaborately
incorporated in the pursuit of the spiritual.
Michaels distinguishes three Hindu religions and four forms of Hindu religiosity. The
three Hindu religions are
I. "Brahmanic-Sanskritic Hinduism",
II. "folk religions and
III. tribal religions", and "founded religions".
IV. The four forms of Hindu religiosity are the classical "karma-marga",
V. jnana-marga,
VI. bhakti-marga,

24
 VII. and "heroism", which is rooted in militaristic traditions. These militaristic
traditions include Ramaism (the worship of a hero of epic literature, Rama,
believing him to be an incarnation of Vishnu) and parts of political
Hinduism. "Heroism" is also called virya-marga. According to Michaels, one
out of nine Hindu belongs by birth to one or both of the Brahmanic-
Sanskritic Hinduism and Folk religion typology, whether practicing or non-
practicing.
Most Hindus are belonging by choice to one of the "founded religions" such as
Vaishnavism and Shaivism that are salvation-focussed and often de-emphasize
Brahman priestly authority yet incorporate ritual grammar of Brahmanic-Sanskritic
Hinduism.
Among "founded religions" are Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism that are now distinct
religions, syncretic movements such as Brahmo Samaj and the Theosophical Society,
as well as various "Guru-isms" and new religious movements such as Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi and ISKCON.

Christian Missionary Perspective: Indien states that the attempt to classify

Hinduism by typology started in the imperial times, when proselytizing missionaries
and colonial officials sought to understand and portray Hinduism from their
interests. Hinduism was construed as emanating not from a reason of spirit but
fantasy and creative imagination, not conceptual but symbolical, not ethical but
emotive, not rational or spiritual but of cognitive mysticism. This stereotype followed
and fit, states Inden, with the imperial imperatives of the era, providing the moral
justification for the colonial project.
From tribal Animism to Buddhism, everything was subsumed as part of Hinduism.
The early reports set the tradition and scholarly premises for the typology of
Hinduism, as well as the major assumptions and flawed presuppositions that have
been at the foundation of Indology. Hinduism, according to Inden, has been neither
what imperial religionists stereotyped it to be, nor is it appropriate to equate Hinduism
to be merely the monist pantheism and philosophical idealism of Advaita Vedanta.[78]
Hindu views-Sanātana Dharma or Sanātanī
To its adherents, Hinduism is a traditional way of life. Many practitioners refer to the
"orthodox" form of Hinduism as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal law" or the "eternal
way".[80][81] Hindus regard Hinduism to be thousands of years old. The Puranic
chronology, the timeline of events in ancient Indian history as narrated in
the Mahabaratha, the Ramayana, and the Puranas, envisions a chronology of events
related to Hinduism starting well before 3000 BCE. The Sanskrit word dharma has a
much broader meaning than religion and is not its equivalent. All aspects of a Hindu
life, namely acquiring wealth (artha), fulfillment of desires (kama), and attaining
liberation (moksha), are part of dharma, which encapsulates the "right way of living"
and eternal harmonious principles in their fulfillment.
According to the editors of the Encyclopædia Britannica, Sanātana
Dharma historically referred to the "eternal" duties religiously ordained in Hinduism,
duties such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahiṃsā), purity,
goodwill, mercy, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, generosity, and asceticism.
These duties applied regardless of a Hindu's class, caste, or sect, and they contrasted

25
with svadharma, one's "own duty", in accordance with one's class or caste (varṇa) and
stage in life (puruṣārtha). In recent years, the term has been used by Hindu leaders,
reformers, and nationalists to refer to Hinduism. Sanatana dharma has become a
synonym for the "eternal" truth and teachings of Hinduism, that transcend history
and are "unchanging, indivisible and ultimately nonsectarian".
According to other scholars such as Kim Knott and Brian Hatcher, Sanātana Dharma
refers to "timeless, eternal set of truths" and this is how Hindus view the origins of
their religion. It is viewed as those eternal truths and tradition with origins beyond
human history, truths divinely revealed (Shruti) in the Vedas – the most ancient of the
world's scriptures. To many Hindus, the Western term "religion" to the extent it means
"dogma and an institution traceable to a single founder" is inappropriate for their
tradition, states Hatcher. Hinduism, to them, is a tradition that can be traced at least
to the ancient Vedic era.
Vaidika dharma- Historical Vedic religion and Vedic period
Some have referred to Hinduism as the Vaidika dharma. The word 'Vaidika' in
Sanskrit means 'derived from or conformable to the Veda' or 'relating to the Veda'.
Traditional scholars employed the terms Vaidika and Avaidika, those who accept the
Vedas as a source of authoritative knowledge and those who do not, to differentiate
various Indian schools from Jainism, Buddhism and Charvaka. According to Klaus
Klostermaier, the term Vaidika dharma is the earliest self-designation of
Hinduism.[11][12] According to Arvind Sharma, the historical evidence suggests that "the
Hindus were referring to their religion by the term vaidika dharma or a variant thereof"
by the 4th-century CE.
According to Brian K. Smith, "[i]t is 'debatable at the very least' as to whether the
term Vaidika Dharma cannot, with the proper concessions to historical, cultural and
ideological specificity, be comparable to and translated as 'Hinduism' or 'Hindu
religion'."
According to Alexis Sanderson, the early Sanskrit texts differentiate between Vaidika,
Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Saura, Buddhist and Jaina traditions. However, the late
1st-millennium CE Indic consensus had "indeed come to conceptualize a complex
entity corresponding to Hinduism as opposed to Buddhism and Jainism excluding
only certain forms of antinomian Shakta-Shaiva" from its fold. Some in
the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy considered the Agamas such as the
Pancaratrika to be invalid because it did not conform to the Vedas. Some Kashmiri
scholars rejected the esoteric tantric traditions to be a part of Vaidika dharma. The
Atimarga Shaivism ascetic tradition, datable to about 500 CE, challenged the Vaidika
frame and insisted that their Agamas and practices were not only valid, they were
superior than those of the Vaidikas. However, adds Sanderson, this Shaiva ascetic
tradition viewed themselves as being genuinely true to the Vedic tradition and "held
unanimously that the Śruti and Smṛti of Brahmanism are universally and uniquely
valid in their own sphere, [...] and that as such they [Vedas] are man's sole means of
valid knowledge [...]".
The term Vaidika dharma means a code of practice that is "based on the Vedas", but it
is unclear what "based on the Vedas" really implies, states Julius Lipner.[85] The
Vaidika dharma or "Vedic way of life", states Lipner, does not mean "Hinduism is
necessarily religious" or that Hindus have a universally accepted "conventional or
institutional meaning" for that term. To many, it is as much a cultural term. Many

26
Hindus do not have a copy of the Vedas nor have they ever seen or personally read
parts of a Veda, like a Christian, might relate to the Bible or a Muslim might to the
Quran. Yet, states Lipner, "this does not mean that their [Hindus] whole life's
orientation cannot be traced to the Vedas or that it does not in some way derive from
it".
Though many religious Hindus implicitly acknowledge the authority of the Vedas, this
acknowledgment is often "no more than a declaration that someone considers himself
[or herself] a Hindu,” and "most Indians today pay lip service to the Veda and have no
regard for the contents of the text." Some Hindus challenge the authority of the Vedas,
thereby implicitly acknowledging its importance to the history of Hinduism, states
Lipner.
Hindu reform movements-Hindu modernism-

Ganesha is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon
Swami Vivekananda was a key figure in introducing Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and the United
States, raising interfaith awareness and making Hinduism a world religion

Beginning in the 19th century, Indian modernists re-asserted Hinduism as a major

asset of Indian civilisation, meanwhile "purifying" Hinduism from its Tantric
elements[91] and elevating the Vedic elements. Western stereotypes were reversed,
emphasizing the universal aspects, and introducing modern approaches of social
problems.[65] This approach had a great appeal, not only in India, but also in the
west.[65] Major representatives of "Hindu modernism"are Raja Rammohan
Roy, Vivekananda, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mahatma Gandhi. Raja Rammohan
Roy is known as the father of the Hindu Renaissance. He was a major influence on
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), who, according to Flood, was "a figure of great
importance in the development of a modern Hindu self-understanding and in
formulating the West's view of Hinduism". Central to his philosophy is the idea that
the divine exists in all beings, that all human beings can achieve union with this
"innate divinity", and that seeing this divine as the essence of others will further love
and social harmony. According to Vivekananda, there is an essential unity to
Hinduism, which underlies the diversity of its many forms.[92] According to Flood,
Vivekananda's vision of Hinduism "is one generally accepted by most English-speaking
middle-class Hindus today". Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan sought to reconcile western
rationalism with Hinduism, "presenting Hinduism as an essentially rationalistic and
humanistic religious experience".

27
This "Global Hinduism" has a worldwide appeal, transcending national
boundaries and, according to Flood, "becoming a world religion alongside Christianity,
Islam and Buddhism",both for the Hindu diaspora communities and for westerners
who are attracted to non-western cultures and religions. It emphasizes universal
spiritual values such as social justice, peace and "the spiritual transformation of
humanity". It has developed partly due to "re-enculturation", or the Pizza effect, in
which elements of Hindu culture have been exported to the West, gaining popularity
there, and as a consequence also gained greater popularity in India. This globalization
of Hindu culture brought "to the West teachings which have become an important
cultural force in western societies, and which in turn have become an important
cultural force in India, their place of origin".
Legal definitions
The definition of Hinduism in Indian Law is: "Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence;
recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and realization
of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large".
Scholarly views
The term Hinduism was coined in Western ethnography in the 18th century,[58][note
18] and refers to the fusion or synthesisof various Indian cultures and traditions, [26][note
9] with diverse roots and no founder.[ This Hindu synthesis emerged after the Vedic

period, between c. 500[–200BCE and c. 300 CE,[29] in the period of the Second
Urbanisation and the early classical period of Hinduism, when the Epics and the first
Puranas were composed. It flourished in the medieval period, with the decline of
Buddhism in India. Hinduism's tolerance to variations in belief and its broad range of
traditions make it difficult to define as a religion according to traditional Western
conceptions.[103]
Some academics suggest that Hinduism can be seen as a category with "fuzzy edges"
rather than as a well-defined and rigid entity. Some forms of religious expression are
central to Hinduism and others, while not as central, still remain within the category.
Based on this idea Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi has developed a 'Prototype Theory
approach' to the definition of Hinduism.
Diversity- Hindu denominations
According to the Supreme Court of India,
According to the Supreme Court of India: Hindu beliefs are vast and diverse, and
thus Hinduism is often referred to as a family of religions rather than a single religion.
Within each religion in this family of religions, there are different theologies, practices,
and sacred texts. Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in a
declaration of faith or a creed", but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality
of religious phenomena of India.
Unlike other religions in the World, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet,
it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it
does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not
satisfy the traditional features of a religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing
more".

28
Part of the problem with a single definition of the term Hinduism is the fact that
Hinduism does not have a founder.[111] It is a synthesis of various traditions,[112] the
"Brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popular or local traditions".[113]
Theism is also difficult to use as a unifying doctrine for Hinduism, because while some
Hindu philosophies postulate a theistic ontology of creation, other Hindus are or have
been atheists.
Sense of unity
Despite the differences, there is also a sense of unity.[115] Most Hindu traditions revere
a body of religious or sacred literature, the Vedas, although there are exceptions.
These texts are a reminder of the ancient cultural heritage and point of pride for
Hindus, with Louis Renou stating that "even in the most orthodox domains, the
reverence to the Vedas has come to be a simple raising of the hat".
Halbfass states that, although Shaivism and Vaishnavism may be regarded as "self-
contained religious constellations", there is a degree of interaction and reference
between the "theoreticians and literary representatives" of each tradition that indicates
the presence of "a wider sense of identity, a sense of coherence in a shared context
and of inclusion in a common framework and horizon".
Classical Hinduism
Brahmins played an essential role in the development of the post-Vedic Hindu
synthesis, disseminating Vedic culture to local communities, and integrating local
religiosity into the trans-regional Brahmanic culture.[121] In the post-Gupta
period Vedanta developed in southern India, where orthodox Brahmanic culture and
the Hindu culture were preserved, building on ancient Vedic traditions while
"accommoda[ting] the multiple demands of Hinduism."
Medieval developments
The notion of common denominators for several religions and traditions of India
further developed from the 12th century CE. Lorenzen traces the emergence of a
"family resemblance", and what he calls as "beginnings of medieval and modern
Hinduism" taking shape, at c. 300–600 CE, with the development of the early Puranas,
and continuities with the earlier Vedic religion. Lorenzen states that the establishment
of a Hindu self-identity took place "through a process of mutual self-definition with a
contrasting Muslim Other". According to Lorenzen, this "presence of the Other" is
necessary to recognise the "loose family resemblance" among the various traditions
and schools.
Before Islam arrived in India, the "Sanskrit sources differentiated Vaidika, Vaiṣṇava,
Śaiva, Śākta, Saura, Buddhist, and Jaina traditions, but they had no name that
denotes the first five of these as a collective entity over and against Buddhism and
Jainism". This absence of a formal name, states Sanderson, does not mean that the
corresponding concept of Hinduism did not exist. By late 1st-millennium CE, the
concept of a belief and tradition distinct from Buddhism and Jainism had
emerged. This complex tradition accepted in its identity almost all of what is currently
Hinduism, except certain antinomian tantric movements. Some conservative thinkers
of those times questioned whether certain Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakta texts or
practices were consistent with the Vedas, or were invalid in their entirety. Moderates
then, and most orthoprax scholars later, agreed that though there are some variations,

29
the foundation of their beliefs, the ritual grammar, the spiritual premises, and the
soteriologies were the same. This sense of greater unity came to be called Hinduism.
Aready between the 12th and the 16th centuries certain thinkers began to treat as a
single whole the diverse philosophical teachings of the Upanishads, epics, Puranas,
and the schools known retrospectively as the 'six systems' (saddarsana) of
mainstream Hindu philosophy. The tendency of a blurring of philosophical distinctions
has also been noted. This "inclusivism" an"the identificatory habitaction between
Muslims and Hindus, and a process of "mutual self-definition with a contrasting
Muslim other",which started well before 1800.
As a counteraction to Islamic supremacy and as part of the continuing process of
regionalization, two religious innovations developed in the Hindu religions: the formation
of sects and a historicization which preceded later nationalism ... [S]aints and
sometimes militant sect leaders, such as the Marathi poet Tukaram (1609–1649) and
Ramdas (1608–1681), articulated ideas in which they glorified Hinduism and the past.
The Brahmins also produced increasingly historical texts, especially eulogies and
chronicles of sacred sites (Mahatmyas), or developed a reflexive passion for collecting
and compiling extensive collections of quotations on various subjects.

Colonial period and neo-Vedanta

Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. The terms and epithets for
deity within the diverse traditions of Hinduism vary, and
include Deva, Devi, Ishvara, Ishvari, Bhagavān and Bhagavati.
The deities of Hinduism have evolved from the Vedic era (2nd millennium BCE)
through the medieval era (1st millennium CE), regionally within Nepal, India and
in Southeast Asia, and across Hinduism's diverse traditions. The Hindu deity concept
varies from a personal god as in Yoga school of Hindu philosophy,[5][6] to 33 Vedic
deities,[7] to hundreds of Puranics of Hinduism. Illustrations of major deities
include Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva, Parvati, Brahma and Saraswati. These deities have
distinct and complex personalities, yet are often viewed as aspects of the same
Ultimate Reality called Brahman. From ancient times, the idea of equivalence has been
cherished for all Hindus, in its texts and in early 1st millennium sculpture with
concepts such as Harihara (Half Vishnu, Half Shiva)[10] and Ardhanārīshvara (half
Shiva, half Parvati), with myths and temples that feature them together, declaring they
are the same. Major deities have inspired their own Hindu traditions, such
as Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, but with shared mythology, ritual
grammar, theosophy, axiology and polycentrism. Some Hindu traditions, such
as Smartism from the mid 1st millennium CE, have included multiple major deities
as henotheistic manifestations of Saguna Brahman, and as a means to
realizing Nirguna Brahman.
Hindu deities are represented with various icons and anicons, in paintings and
sculptures, called Murtis and Pratimas. Some Hindu traditions, such as
ancient Charvakas, rejected all deities and concept of god or goddess, [24][25][26] while
19th-century British colonial era movements such as the Arya Samaj and Brahmo
Samaj rejected deities and adopted monotheistic concepts similar to Abrahamic
religions. Hindu deities have been adopted in other religions such as Jainism,[29] and
in regions outside India, such as predominantly Buddhist Thailand and Japan, where
they continue to be revered in regional temples or arts.

30
In ancient and medieval era texts of Hinduism, the human body is described as a
temple, and deities are described to be parts residing within it, while
the Brahman (Absolute Reality, God) is described to be the same, or of similar nature,
as the Atman (self, soul), which Hindus believe is eternal and within every living being.
Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to
be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic, or humanist.
Deva (Hinduism) and Devi
Deities in Hinduism are referred to as Deva (masculine) and Devi (feminine). The root
of these terms mean "heavenly, divine, anything of excellence".
In the earliest Vedic literature, all supernatural beings are called Asuras.[48][49] By the
late Vedic period (~500 BCE), benevolent supernatural beings are referred to as Deva-
Asuras. In post-Vedic texts, such as the Puranas and the Itihasas of Hinduism, the
Devas represent the good, and the Asuras the bad.[3][4] In some medieval Indian
literature, Devas are also referred to as Suras and contrasted with their equally
powerful, but malevolent half-brothers referred to as the Asuras.[50]
Hindu deities are part of Indian mythology, both Devas and Devis feature in one of
many cosmological theories in Hinduism.
Characteristics of Vedic-era deities
In Vedic literature, Devas and Devis represent the forces of nature and some represent
moral values (such as the Adityas, Varuna, and Mitra), each symbolizing the epitome
of a specialized knowledge, creative energy, exalted and magical powers (Siddhis).[53][54]

Vedic era deities evolved over time. Rudra (DExtreme Right)) is represented in Vedic literature, is shown
as Shiva-Rudra 2nd-century sculpture (middle), and as Shiva (meaning kind) in 13th-century art work
(right). The iconography evolved, retaining some symbolic elements such as trident, axe or antelope.

The most referred to Devas in the Rig Veda are Indra, Agni (fire) and Soma, with "fire
deity" called the friend of all humanity, it and Soma being the two celebrated in
a yajna fire ritual that marks major Hindu ceremonies. Savitr, Vishnu, Rudra (later
given the exclusive epithet of Shiva), and Prajapati (later Brahma) are gods and hence
Devas.

31
The Vedas describes a number of significant Devis such
as Ushas (dawn), Prithvi (earth), Aditi (cosmic moral order), Saraswati (river,
knowledge), Vāc (sound), Nirṛti (destruction), Ratri (night), Aranyani (forest), and
bounty goddesses such as Dinsana, Raka, Puramdhi, Parendi, Bharati, Mahi among
others are mentioned in the Rigveda. Sri, also called Lakshmi, appears in late Vedic
texts dated to be pre-Buddhist, but verses dedicated to her do not suggest that her
characteristics were fully developed in the Vedic era. All gods and goddesses are
distinguished in the Vedic times, but in the post-Vedic texts (~500 BCE to 200 CE),
and particularly in the early medieval era literature, they are ultimately seen as
aspects or manifestations of one Brahman, the Supreme power.
Ananda Coomaraswamy states that Devas and Asuras in the Vedic lore are similar
to Angels-Theoi-Gods and Titans of Greek mythology, both are powerful but have
different orientations and inclinations, the Devas representing the powers of Light and
the Asuras representing the powers of Darkness in Hindu mythology. According to
Coomaraswamy's interpretation of Devas and Asuras, both these natures exist in each
human being, the tyrant and the angel is within each being, the best and the worst
within each person struggles before choices and one's own nature, and the Hindu
formulation of Devas and Asuras is an eternal dance between these within each
person.
The Devas and Asuras, Angels and Titans, powers of Light and powers of Darkness
in Rigveda, although distinct and opposite in operation, are in essence consubstantial,
their distinction being a matter not of essence but of orientation, revolution or
transformation. In this case, the Titan is potentially an Angel, the Angel still by nature
a Titan; the Darkness in actu is Light, the Light in potentia Darkness; whence the
designations Asura and Deva may be applied to one and the same Person according to
the mode of operation, as in Rigveda 1.163.3, "Trita art thou (Agni) by interior
operation".

— Ananda Coomaraswamy, Journal of the American Oriental Society

Characteristics of medieval-era deities

In the Puranas and the Itihasas with the embedded Bhagavad Gita, the Devas
represent the good, and the Asuras the bad. According to the Bhagavad Gita (16.6–
16.7), all beings in the universe have both the divine qualities (daivi sampad) and the
demonic qualities (asuri sampad) within each. The sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad
Gita states that pure god-like saints are rare and pure demon-like evil are rare among
human beings, and the bulk of humanity is multi-charactered with a few or many
faults. According to Jeaneane Fowler, the Gita states that desires, aversions, greed,
needs, emotions in various forms "are facets of ordinary lives", and it is only when they
turn to lust, hate, cravings, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, hypocrisy, violence,
cruelty and such negativity- and destruction-inclined that natural human inclinations
metamorphose into something demonic (Asura).

32
Indra is a Vedic era deity, found in south and southeast Asia. Above Indra is part of the seal of
a Thailand state.

The Epics and medieval era texts, particularly the Puranas, developed extensive and
richly varying mythologies associated with Hindu deities, including
their genealogies. Several of the Purana texts are named after major Hindu deities
such as Vishnu, Shiva and Devi.[65] Other texts and commentators such as Adi
Shankara explain that Hindu deities live or rule over the cosmic body as well in the
temple of human body. They remark that the Sun deity is the eyes, the Vāyu the nose,
the Prajapati the sexual organs, the Lokapalas the ears, Chandra the mind, Mitra the
inward breath, Varuna the outward breath, Indra the arms, Bṛhaspati the speech,
Vishnu, whose stride is great, is the feet, and Māyā is the smile.
Symbolism
Edelmann states that gods and anti-gods of Hinduism are symbolism for spiritual
concepts. For example, god Indra (a Deva) and the antigod Virocana (an Asura)
question a sage for insights into the knowledge of the self.[69] Virocana leaves with the
first given answer, believing now he can use the knowledge as a weapon. In contrast,
Indra keeps pressing the sage, churning the ideas, and learning about means to inner
happiness and power. Edelmann suggests that the Deva-Asura dichotomies in Hindu
mythology may be seen as "narrative depictions of tendencies within our selves".Hindu
deities in Vedic era, states Mahoney, are those artists with "powerfully inward
transformative, effective and creative mental powers".
In Hindu mythology, everyone starts as an Asura, born of the same father. "Asuras
who remain Asura" share the character of powerful beings craving for more power,
more wealth, ego, anger, unprincipled nature, force and violence.[71][72] The "Asuras
who become Devas" in contrast are driven by an inner voice, seek understanding and
meaning, prefer moderation, principled behavior, aligned with Ṛta and Dharma,
knowledge and harmony.
The god (Deva) and antigod (Asura), states Edelmann, are also symbolically the
contradictory forces that motivate each individual and people, and thus Deva-Asura
dichotomy is a spiritual concept rather than mere genealogical category or species of
being.[74] In the Bhāgavata Purana, saints and gods are born in families of Asuras,
such as Mahabali and Prahlada, conveying the symbolism that motivations, beliefs

33
and actions rather than one's birth and family circumstances define whether one is
Deva-like or Asura-like.
: Ishvara

Read my book RAJMANDALA The Maze of the Mandala Part IV

Ishvara is, along with Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, one of the 17 deities commonly found in
Indonesian Surya Majapahit Hindu arts and records. However, Ishvara represents different concept
in various Hindu philosophies.

Another Hindu term that is sometimes translated as deity is Ishvara, or alternatively

various deities are described, state Sorajjakool et al., as "the personifications of
various aspects of one and the same Ishvara". The term Ishvara has a wide range of
meanings that depend on the era and the school of Hinduism. In ancient texts of
Indian philosophy, Ishvara means supreme soul, Brahman (Highest Reality), ruler,
king or husband depending on the context.[76] In medieval era texts, Ishvara means
God, Supreme Being, personal god, or special Self depending on the school of
Hinduism.
Among the six systems of Hindu philosophy, Samkhya and Mimamsa do not consider
the concept of Ishvara, i.e., a supreme being,
relevant. Yoga, Vaisheshika, Vedanta and Nyaya schools of Hinduism discuss Ishvara,
but assign different meanings.
Early Nyaya school scholars considered the hypothesis of a deity as a creator God with
the power to grant blessings, boons and fruits; but these early Nyaya scholars then
rejected this hypothesis, and were non-theistic or atheists. Later scholars of Nyaya
school reconsidered this question and offered counter arguments for what is Ishvara
and various arguments to prove the existence of omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent
deity (God).
Vaisheshika school of Hinduism, as founded by Kanada in 1st millennium BCE,
neither required nor relied on creator deity. Later Vaisheshika school adopted the
concept of Ishvara, states Klaus Klostermaier, but as an eternal God who co-exists in
the universe with eternal substances and atoms, but He "winds up the clock, and lets
it run its course".
Ancient Mimamsa scholars of Hinduism questioned what is Ishvara (deity,
God)?[84] They considered a deity concept unnecessary for a consistent philosophy
and moksha (soteriology).

34
In Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy, Isvara is neither a creator-God, nor a savior-
God.] This is called one of the several major atheistic schools of Hinduism by some
scholars. Others, such as Jacobsen, state that Samkhya is more accurately described
as non-theistic. Deity is considered an irrelevant concept, neither defined nor denied,
in Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.
In Yoga school of Hinduism, it is any "personal deity" (Ishta Deva or Ishta Devata) [92] or
"spiritual inspiration", but not a creator God. Whicher explains that while Patanjali's
terse verses in the Yogasutras can be interpreted both as theistic or non-theistic,
Patanjali's concept of Isvara in Yoga philosophy functions as a "transformative catalyst
or guide for aiding the yogin on the path to spiritual emancipation".
The Advaita Vedanta school of Hinduism asserted that there is no dualistic existence
of deity (or deities). There is no otherness nor distinction
between Jiva and Ishvara. God (Ishvara, Brahman) is identical with the Atman (soul)
within each human being in Advaita Vedanta school,[98] and there is
a monistic Universal Absolute Oneness that connects everyone and everything, states
this school of Hinduism. This school, states Anantanand Rambachan, has "perhaps
exerted the most widespread influence"
The Dvaita sub-school of Vedanta Hinduism, founded in medieval era, Ishvara is
defined as a creator God that is distinct from Jiva (individual souls in living beings). In
this school, God creates individual souls, but the individual soul never was and never
will become one with God; the best it can do is to experience bliss by getting infinitely
close to God

Number of deities

Yantra as aniconic deities

Sri Yantra symbolizing the goddess Tripura Sundari

Yantras or mandalas (shown) are 3-D images. In Tantra, a

minority tradition in Hinduism, they are considered identical with
deity. Similar tantric yantras are found

35
 in Jainism and Buddhism as well.

Yāska, the earliest known language scholar of India (~ 500 BCE), notes Wilkins,
mentions that there are three deities (Devas) according to the Vedas, "Agni (fire),
whose place is on the earth; Vayu (wind), whose place is the air; and Surya (sun),
whose place is in the sky".This principle of three worlds (or zones), and its multiples is
found thereafter in many ancient texts. The Samhitas, which are the oldest layer of
text in Vedas enumerate 33 devas, either 11 each for the three worlds, or as
12 Adityas, 11 Rudras, 8 Vasus and 2 Ashvins in the Brahmanas layer of Vedic texts.
The Rigveda states in hymn 1.139.11,

O ye eleven gods whose home is heaven, O ye eleven who make earth your dwelling,
Ye who with might, eleven, live in waters, accept this sacrifice, O gods, with pleasure.

Gods who are eleven in heaven; who are eleven on earth;

and who are eleven dwelling with glory in mid-air; may ye be pleased with this our sacrifice.
— Rigveda 1.139.11
One or one-ness
Thirty-three koti (crore or type) divinities are mentioned in other ancient texts, such as
the Yajurveda,] however, there is fixed "number of deities" in Hinduism there are only
33 crore gods a standard representation of "deity".Most, by far, are goddesses, state
Foulston and Abbott, suggesting "how important and popular goddesses are" in Hindu
culture.[113] Scholars state all deities are typically viewed in Hinduism as "emanations
or manifestation of genderless principle called Brahman, representing the many facets
of Ultimate Reality".
This concept of God in Hinduism "God, the universe, human beings and all else is
essentially one thing" and everything is connected oneness, the same god is in every
human being as Atman, the eternal Self. Parallels between Allah in Islam or Ein Sof in
Kabbalah and Brahman have been drawn by many scholars in the past as well as in
recent times.
IconographY:

36
Proper Murti design is described in ancient and medieval Indian texts (Bengali). They
describe proportions, posture, expressions among other details, often referencing to
nature.

A Hindu prayer before cutting a tree for a Murti

Oh Tree! you have been selected for the worship of a deity,
Salutations to you!
I worship you per rules, kindly accept it.
May all who live in this tree, find residence elsewhere,
May they forgive us now, we bow to them.
—Brihat Samhita 59.10 - 59.11

Hinduism has an ancient and extensive iconography tradition, particularly in the form
of Murti or Vigraha or Pratima. A Murti is itself not the god in Hinduism, but it is an
image of god and represents emotional and religious value.[122] A literal translation
of Murti as idol is incorrect, states Jeaneane Fowler, when idol is understood as
superstitious end in itself.[122] Just like the photograph of a person is not the real
person, a Murti is an image in Hinduism but not the real thing, but in both cases the
image reminds of something of emotional and real value to the viewer.[122] When a
person worships a Murti, it is assumed to be a manifestation of the essence or spirit of
the deity, the worshipper's spiritual ideas and needs are meditated through it, yet the
idea of ultimate reality or Brahman is not confined in it.
A Murti of a Hindu deity is typically made by carving stone, wood working, metal
casting or through pottery. Medieval era texts describing their proper proportions,
positions and gestures include the Puranas, Agamas and Samhitas particularly
the Shilpa Shastras. The expressions in a Murti vary in diverse Hindu traditions,
ranging from Ugra symbolism to express destruction, fear and violence (Durga(Parvati,
Kali), as well as Saumya symbolism to express joy, knowledge and harmony (Parvati,
Saraswati, Lakshmi). Saumya images are most common in Hindu temples.[123] Other
Murti forms found in Hinduism include the Linga.
A Murti is an embodiment of the divine, the Ultimate Reality or Brahman to some
Hindus. In religious context, they are found in Hindu temples or homes, where they
may be treated as a beloved guest and serve as a participant of Puja rituals in
Hinduism. A murti is installed by priests, in Hindu temples, through the Prana
Pratishtha ceremony, whereby the "divine vital energy of the cosmos is infused into the
sculpture" and then the divine is welcomed as one would welcome a friend. In other
occasions, it serves as the center of attention in annual festive processions and these
are called Utsava Murti.
Temple and worship

37
Along with Murti, Hindus use nature and aniconic symbols for deities. Linga-Yoni (left) symbolizes Shiva-
Parvati, Tulsi plant in a square base (center) is symbolism for Vishnu,[130] and sunrise (or rivers) are revered as aspects
of the spiritual everywhere.

In Hinduism, deities and their icons may be hosted in a Hindu temple, within a home
or as an amulet. The worship performed by Hindus is known by a number of regional
names, such as Puja. This practice in front of a murti may be elaborate in large
temples, or be a simple song or mantra muttered in home, or offering made to sunrise
or river or symbolic anicon of a deity. Archaeological evidence of deity worship in
Hindu temples trace Puja rituals to Gupta Empire era (~4th century CE). In Hindu
temples, various pujas may be performed daily at various times of the day; in other
temples, it may be occasional.
The Puja practice is structured as an act of welcoming, hosting, honoring the deity of
one's choice as one's honored guest,[140] and remembering the spiritual and emotional
significance the deity represents the devotee. Jan Gonda, as well as Diana L. Eck,
states that a typical Puja involves one or more of 16 steps (Shodasha Upachara)
traceable to ancient times: the deity is invited as a guest, the devotee hosts and takes
care of the deity as an honored guest, praise (hymns) with Dhupa or Aarti along with
food (Naivedhya) is offered to the deity, after an expression of love and respect the host
takes leave, and with affection expresses good bye to the deity.[141][142] The worship
practice may also involve reflecting on spiritual questions, with image serving as
support for such meditation.
Deity worship (Bhakti), visiting temples and Puja rites are not mandatory and is
optional in Hinduism; it is the choice of a Hindu, it may be a routine daily affair for
some Hindus, periodic ritual or infrequent for some.[144][145] Worship practices
in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be
polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, agnostic, atheistic, or humanist.[41]
List of Hindu deities and Rigvedic deities
Major deities have inspired a vast genre of literature such as
the Puranas and Agama texts as well their own Hindu traditions, but with
shared mythology, ritual grammar, theosophy, axiology and polycentrism.[16][17] Vishnu
and his avatars are at the foundation of Vaishnavism, Shiva for Shaivism, Devi
for Shaktism, and some Hindu traditions such as Smarta traditions who revere
multiple major deities (five) as henotheistic manifestations of Brahman (absolute
metaphysical Reality).
While there are diverse deities in Hinduism, states Lawrence, "Exclusivism – which
maintains that only one's own deity is real" is rare in Hinduism. [114] Julius Lipner, and
other scholars, state that pluralism and "polycentrism" – where other deities are
recognized and revered by members of different "denominations", has been the Hindu
ethos and way of life.
Trimurti and Tridevi

38
A 10th century triad – Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma – from Bihar.

The concept of Triad (or Trimurti, Trinity) makes a relatively late appearance in Hindu
literature, or in the second half of 1st millennium BCE.] The idea of triad, playing
three roles in the cosmic affairs, is typically associated with Brahma, Vishnu and
Shiva (also called Mahesh); however, this is not the only triad in Hindu literature.
Other triads include Tridevi, of three goddesses – Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati in
the text Devi Mahatmya, in the Shakta tradition, who further assert that Devi is
the Brahman (Ultimate Reality) and it is her energy that empowers Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva. The other triads, formulated as deities in ancient Indian literature, include
Sun (creator), Air (sustainer) and Fire (destroyer); Prana (creator), Food (sustainer) and
Time (destroyer).[149] These triads, states Jan Gonda, are in some mythologies grouped
together without forming a Trinity, and in other times represented as equal, a unity
and manifestations of one Brahman. In the Puranas, for example, this idea of threefold
"hypostatization" is expressed as follows,
They [Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva] exist through each other, and uphold each other; they are
parts of one another; they subsist through one another; they are not for a moment
separated; they never abandon one another.

— Vayu Purana, 5.17

The triad appears in Maitrayaniya Upanishad, for the first time in recognized roles
known ever since, where they are deployed to present the concept of three Guṇa – the
innate nature, tendencies and inner forces found within every being and everything,
whose balance transform and keeps changing the individual and the world. It is in the
medieval Puranic texts, Trimurti concepts appears in various context, from rituals to
spiritual concepts. The Bhagavad Gita, in verses 9.18, 10.21-23 and 11.15, asserts
that the triad or trinity is manifestation of one Brahman, which Krishna affirms
himself to be. However, suggests Bailey, the mythology of triad is "not the influence
nor the most important one" in Hindu traditions, rather the ideologies and spiritual
concepts develop on their own foundations. The triad, with Brahma creating, Vishnu
preserving and Shiva destroying, balances the functioning of the whole universe.
Avatars of Hindu deities

39
The ten avatars of Vishnu, (Clockwise, from top left) Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Vamana, Krishna, Kalki,
Buddha, Parshurama, Rama and Narasimha, (in centre) Radha and Krishna. Painting currently in Victoria
and Albert Museum.

Hindu mythology has nurtured the concept of Avatar, which represents the descent of
a deity on earth. This concept is commonly translated as "incarnation",[153] and is an
"appearance" or "manifestation".
The concept of Avatar is most developed in Vaishnavism tradition, and associated
with Vishnu, particularly with Rama and Krishna. Vishnu takes numerous avatars in
Hindu mythology. He becomes female, during the Samudra manthan, in the form
of Mohini, to resolve a conflict between the Devas and Asuras. His male avatars
include Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna,
Buddha, and Kalki.[158] Various texts, particularly the Bhagavad Gita, discuss the idea
of Avatar of Vishnu appearing to restore the cosmic balance whenever the power of evil
becomes excessive and causes persistent oppression in the world.
In Shaktism traditions, the concept appears in its legends as the various
manifestations of Devi, the Divine Mother principal in Hinduism.] The avatars of Devi
or Parvati include Durga and Kali, who are particularly revered in eastern states
of India, as well as Tantra traditions. Twenty one avatars of Shiva are also described
in Shaivism texts, but unlike Vaishnava traditions, Shaiva traditions have focussed
directly on Shiva rather than the Avatar concept.
Major regional and pan-Indian Hindu deities

Avatārs
N
or Early
a Geogr
Other Names Associat Image illustrative
m aphy
ed art
e
Deities

40
 Avatārs
N
or Early
a Geogr
Other Names Associat Image illustrative
m aphy
ed art
e
Deities

Matsya, Kurm
a, Varāha, Nṛs
imha, Vāman
a, Parashurā
Nārāyana, ma, Rāma, Kṛ
India,
Vishn Venkateshwara, J shna, Kalki, V 2nd
Nepal, Sri
u agannatha Dattatr ithoba, Gopāl, century
Lanka
eya Balaram, BCE
Lady Mohini,
Naraenten
(那羅延天,
Japan)

Mahādeva, Pashu
pati,
Tripurantaka,
Vishwanatha, India,
Achalanatha (
Shiva Dakshinamurthy, Nepal, Sri
Japan)
Kālāntaka, Lanka
Bhairava, Rudra,
Nataraja, Sadashi 1st century
va, Dattatreya BCE[165]

Aadi-Prajāpati,
Virinci, Bonten (Japa India,
Vaidyanaatha, n),[166] Nepal, Sri
Brah
Vakpati, Varishta- Phra Lanka,
mā
deva, Kamalaja, Phrom (Thaila Southeast
Srashtaa, Kartaa, nd) Asia
Dhaataa 6th century
CE

41
 Avatārs
N
or Early
a Geogr
Other Names Associat Image illustrative
m aphy
ed art
e
Deities

Ganapati, Vināyak India,

Ganes Kangiten (Jap
a, Lambodara, Nepal, Sri
ha an)
Gajānana Lanka

7th century
CE

India, Sri
Kārtik Skanda, Murugan,
Lanka,
eya Mangal
Malaysia

2nd
century
BCE

Umahi
(烏摩妃,
Uma, Devi, Gauri, India,
Pārvat Japan)
Durga, Kāli, Anna Nepal, Sri
i Dewi
purna Lanka
Sri (Indonesia
)[167]
5th century
CE

42
 Avatārs
N
or Early
a Geogr
Other Names Associat Image illustrative
m aphy
ed art
e
Deities

Sita, Radha,
Kisshōten (Ja
Sri India,
Laksh pan)
Devi, Gajalakshmi Nepal, Sri
mi Nang
, Kamalāsanā Lanka
Kwak (Thailan
d)[168] 1st century
BCE

Benzaiten (Ja
pan),
Biàncáitiān India,
Saras Vāgishvari, (China), Nepal,
wati Vīnāpāni, Sharda Thurathadi Java, Bali,
(Myanmar), Sri Lanka
Suratsawadi
(Thailand)[169]
10th
century CE

India,
Pārvati, Kāli, Mahi Betari Durga
Durgā Nepal, Sri
shāsuramardini (Indonesia)[170]
Lanka

8th century
CE

43
 Avatārs
N
or Early
a Geogr
Other Names Associat Image illustrative
m aphy
ed art
e
Deities

India,
Kāli Durga, Parvati Nepal, Sri
Lanka

12th
century CE

India
(mostly in
South
Maria
Durga, Parvati India),
mman
Southeast
Asia, Sri
Lanka 10th
century CE

Harih
ara (H
alf
India, Sri
Vishn
Lanka
u -
Half
Shiva)
6th century
CE

44
 Avatārs
N
or Early
a Geogr
Other Names Associat Image illustrative
m aphy
ed art
e
Deities

Ardha
nārīsh
vara (
India,
Half
Nepal, Sri
Shiva
Lanka
- Half
Parvat
i)
1st century
CE

Anjaneya, Maruthi India,

Hanu
, Bajarangbali, Nepal, Sri
man
Langura Lanka

11th
century CE

Jal Shiva (Siva) is one of the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon and is
considered a member of the holy trinity (trimurti)
of Hinduism with Brahma and Vishnu. A complex character, he may represent
goodness, benevolence and serve as the Protector. He is also associated with Time,
and particularly as the destroyer and creator of all things.

In Hinduism, the universe is thought to regenerate in cycles (every 2,160,000,000

years). Shiva destroys the universe at the end of each cycle which then allows for a
new Creation. Shiva is also the great ascetic, abstaining from all forms of indulgence
and pleasure, concentrating rather on meditation as a means to find perfect
happiness. He also has a darker side as the leader of evil spirits, ghosts and as the
master of thieves, villains and beggars. Shiva is the most important Hindu god for the
Shaivism sect, the patron of Yogis and Brahmins, and also the protector of the Vedas,
the sacred texts.

45
 Shiva, Parvati & Ganesha

Shiva's wife was Parvati, often incarnated as Kali and Durga. She was in fact a
reincarnation of Sati (or Dakshayani), the daughter of the god Daksha. Daksha did not
approve of Sati's marriage to Shiva and even went further and held a special sacrificial
ceremony to all the gods except Shiva. Outraged at this slight, Sati threw herself on
the sacrificial fire. Shiva reacted to this tragedy by creating two demons (Virabhadra
and Rudrakali) from his hair who wreaked havoc on the ceremony and beheaded
Daksha. The other gods appealed to Shiva to end the violence and, complying, he
brought Daksha back to life but with the head of a ram (or goat). Sati was eventually
reincarnated as Parvati in her next life and she re-married Shiva.

SHIVA IS THE DESTROYER WHO ENDS THE CYCLE OF TIME WHICH, IN TURN,
BEGINS A NEW CREATION.

With Parvati, Shiva had a son, the god Ganesha. The boy was in fact created out of
earth and clay to keep her company and protect her while Shiva went on his
meditative wanderings. However, Shiva returned one day and, finding the boy
guarding the room where Parvati was bathing, he enquired who he was. Not believing
the boy was his son, and thinking him an impudent beggar, Shiva called up
the bhutaganas demons who fought the boy and eventually managed to distract him
with the appearance of the beautiful Maya and, whilst he admired the beauty, they
lopped off his head. At the commotion, Parvati rushed from her bath and screamed

46
that her son had been killed. Realising his error, Shiva then sent for a new head with
which to make the boy whole again but the nearest at hand was of an elephant. And
so Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, was born. Other sons of Shiva are Skanda or
Karttikeya, the god of war and Kuvera, the god of treasures.

Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance)-Peter F (CC BY-SA)

Ganga (the goddess who personified the river Ganges) was given to Shiva by Vishnu
who could not take any more of the constant quarrels between his then three wives
of Lakshmi (goddess of good fortune), Saraswati (goddess of wisdom) and Ganga. To
cushion Ganga's fall to the earth, and prevent such a great river destroying
civilisation, Shiva caught her in his hair topknot; once again, illustrating his quality of
self-sacrifice.

47
SHIVA NATARAJA IS THE LORD OF THE DANCE WHO SWEEPS AWAY ILLUSION
& IGNORANCE.

Mythology: As with any major god, Shiva was involved in many adventurous episodes
which illustrate his virtuous character and offer instruction on how to live correctly.
For example, self-sacrifice is emphasised when Vasuki, the king of Serpents,
threatened to vomit snake venom across the seas. Shiva, assuming the form of a giant
tortoise or turtle, collected the venom in his palm and drank it. The poison burned his
throat and left a permanent blue scar, hence one of his many titles became Nilakantha
or Blue Throat.

Another celebrated episode describes how Shiva became associated with the
bull Nandi. One day, Surabhi, who was the original mother of all the world's cows,
began to give birth to an untold number of perfectly white cows. The milk from all

48
these cows flooded the home of Shiva, somewhere in the Himalaya. Angry at this
disturbance to his meditation, the god struck the cows with fire from his third eye. In
consequence, patches of the cows' hides were turned brown. Still angry, the other gods
sought to calm Shiva down by offering him a magnificent bull - Nandi, the son of
Surabhi and Kasyapa - which Shiva accepted and rode. Nandi also became the
protector of all animals.

Shiva is closely associated with the Linga (or Lingham) - a phallus or symbol of fertility
or divine energy found in temples to the god. Following the death of Sarti, and before
her reincarnation, Shiva was in mourning and went to the Daru forest to live
with rishis or sages. However, the wives of the rishis soon began to take an interest in
Shiva. In jealousy, the rishis first sent a large antelope and then a gigantic tiger
against the god but Shiva swiftly dealt with them and wore the tiger skin thereafter.
The sages then cursed Shiva's manhood which, in consequence, fell off. When the
phallus struck the ground, earthquakes began and the ricsis became afraid and asked
for forgiveness. This was given but Shiva told them to forever after worship the phallus
as the symbolic Linga.

Shiva, Vietnam-James Blake Wiener

In Asian art Shiva may be represented in slightly different ways depending on the
particular culture: Indian, Cambodian, Javanese etc. but he is most commonly

49
depicted naked, with multiple arms and with his hair tied up in a topknot. He often
has three horizontal stripes and a third vertical eye on his forehead. He wears a
headdress with a crescent moon and a skull (representing the fifth head of Brahma,
which he decapitated as punishment for the god lusting after his own daughter
Sandhya), a necklace of heads, and snakes as bracelets. In this guise, he usually
represents Nataraja and performs the Tandava cosmic dance within a circle of fire
which represents the never-ending cycle of time. He holds the divine fire (agni) which
destroys the universe and the drum (damaru) which makes the first sounds of the
creation. One hand makes the calming abhayamudra gesture and another points to
his left foot, symbol of salvation. He also stamps one foot on the dwarf figure
Apasmara Purusha who represents illusion and who leads men away from the truth.

Shiva may also be depicted standing on one leg with the right leg folded in front of the
left knee and holding a rosary in his right hand, the typical posture of ascetic
meditation. Sometimes he also rides his white bull, carries a silver bow (Pinaka),
holds an antelope, and wears a tiger or elephant skin, all symbolic of his famed
prowess as a hunter.

50
 शिव

CHAPTER III
Who is SHIVA Shiva
Shiva शिव,  'The Auspicious also known as Mahadeva (lit. 'The Great God'), is one of
the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the
major traditions within Hinduism.
Shiva has pre-Vedic tribal roots, and the figure of Shiva as we know him today is an
amalgamation of various older non-Vedic and Vedic deities, including
the Rigvedic storm god Rudra who may also have non-Vedic origins,[16] into a single
major deity.
Shiva is known as "The Destroyer" within the Trimurti, the Hindu trinity that
includes Brahma and Vishnu. In the Shaivite tradi. In the Shakta tradition, the
Goddess, or Devi, is described as one of the supreme, yet Shiva is revered along with
Vishnu and Brahma. A goddess is stated to be the energy and creative power (Shakti)
of each, with Parvati (Sati) the equal complementary partner of Shiva.[22][23] He is one of
the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism.
Shiva is the primal Atman (soul, self) of the universe. There are many both benevolent
and fearsome depictions of Shiva. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an
omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash[1] as well as a householder
with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya. In his fierce aspects,
he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also known as Adiyogi Shiva, regarded as
the patron god of yoga, meditation and arts.
The iconographical attributes of Shiva are the serpent around his neck, the
adorning crescent moon, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the third
eye on his forehead, the trishula or trident, as his weapon, and the damaru drum. He
is usually worshipped in the aniconic form of lingam.[2] Shiva is a pan-Hindu deity,
revered widely by Hindus, in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Shiva Sahasranama

An ancient sculpture of Shiva at the Elephanta Caves, Maharashtra. 6th century CE.

51
The Sanskrit word "śiva" (Devanagari: शिव, also transliterated as shiva) means,
states Monier Monier-Williams, "auspicious, propitious, gracious, benign, kind,
benevolent, friendly".The roots of śiva in folk etymology are śī which means "in whom
all things lie, pervasiveness" and va which means "embodiment of grace".
The word Shiva is used as an adjective in the Rig Veda (approximately 1700–1100 BC),
as an epithet for several Rigvedic deities, including Rudra. The term Shiva also
connotes "liberation, final emancipation" and "the auspicious one", this adjective sense
of usage is addressed to many deities in Vedic layers of literature. The term evolved
from the Vedic Rudra-Shiva to the noun Shiva in the Epics and the Puranas, as an
auspicious deity who is the "creator, reproducer and dissolver".
Sharva, sharabha presents another etymology with the Sanskrit root śarv-, which
means "to injure" or "to kill", interprets the name to connote "one who can kill the
forces of darkness".
The Sanskrit word śaiva means "relating to the god Shiva", and this term is the
Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of
that sect. It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such
as Shaivism.
The Vishnu sahasranama interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One",
and "the One who is not affected by three Guṇas of Prakṛti (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas)".
Shiva is known by many names such as Viswanatha (lord of the universe), Mahadeva,
Mahandeo,] Mahasu, Mahesha, Maheshvara, Shankara, Shambhu, Rudra, Hara,
Trilochana, Devendra (chief of the gods), Neelakanta, Subhankara, Trilokinatha (lord
of the three realms), and Ghrneshwar (lord of compassion). The highest reverence for
Shiva in Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("Great god"; mahā "Great"
and deva "god"),Maheśvara ("Great.Lord"; mahā "great" īśvara "lord"),and Parameśvara ("Supreme Lord").

Sahasranama are medieval Indian texts that list a thousand names derived from
aspects and epithets of a deity. There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva
Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva.[53] The version
appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata provides one such
list.[54] Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in
the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a
devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.
Assimilation of traditions
The Shiva-related tradition is a major part of Hinduism, found all over the Indian
subcontinent, such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia, such as Bali,
Indonesia.[57] Shiva has pre-Vedic tribal roots, having "his origins in primitive tribes,
signs and symbols." The figure of Shiva as we know him today is an amalgamation of
various older deities into a single figure, due to the process of Sanskritization and the
emergence of the Hindu synthesis in post-Vedic times. How the persona of Shiva
converged as a composite deity is not well documented, a challenge to trace and has
attracted much speculation. According to Vijay Nath:
Vishnu and Siva [...] began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their
folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or
else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came
to be known and worshipped. [...] Siva became identified with countless local cults by

52
the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara,
Hatakesvara, Chandesvara."

An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity

named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes. The foremost center
of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri. Khandoba has been assimilated
as a form of Shiva himself, in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam.
Khandoba's varied associations also include an identification
with Surya and Karttikeya.
Pre-Vedic elements-Pre-historic art
Scholars have interpreted early prehistoric paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters,
carbon dated to be from pre-10,000 BCE period, as Shiva dancing, Shiva's trident,
and his mount Nandi. Rock paintings from Bhimbetka, depicting a figure with
a trishul, have been described as Nataraja by Erwin Neumayer, who dates them to
the mesolithic.
Indus Valley and the Pashupati seal

The Pashupati seal discovered during excavation of the Indus Valley archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro and showing a
possible representation of a "yogi" or "proto-Shiva" figure as Paśupati (= "Lord of the Animals"). Circa 2350-2000 BCE.

Of several Indus valley seals that show animals, one seal that has attracted attention shows
a large central figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and
possibly ithyphallic, seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position, surrounded
by animals. This figure was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-
daro as Pashupati (Lord of Animals, Sanskrit paśupati), an epithet of the later Hindu
deities Shiva and Rudra.
he interpretation of the seal continues to be disputed. McEvilley, for example, states
that it is not possible to "account for this posture outside the yogic account". [81] Asko
Parpola states that other archaeological finds such as the early Elamite seals dated to
3000-2750 BCE show similar figures and these have been interpreted as "seated bull"
and not a yogi, and the bovine interpretation is likely more accurate. [82] Gregory L.
Possehl in 2002, associated it with the water buffalo, and concluded that while it
would be appropriate to recognize the figure as a deity, and its posture as one of ritual
discipline, regarding it as a proto-Shiva would "go too far".
Vedic elements
According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European
immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan)
and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-

53
European elements", which according to Beckwith borrowed "distinctive religious
beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana Culture. At least 383 non-Indo-
European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the
ritual drink Soma.
Proto-Indo-European elements
The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the
hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the pre-Islamic Indo-Iranian
religion.[85] The similarities between the iconography and theologies of Shiva with
Greek and European deities have led to proposals for an Indo-European link for
Shiva,[88][89] or lateral exchanges with ancient central Asian cultures. His contrasting
aspects such as being terrifying or blissful depending on the situation, are similar to
those of the Greek god Dionysus, as are their iconic associations with bull, snakes,
anger, bravery, dancing and carefree lifeThe ancient Greek texts of the time of
Alexander the Great call Shiva as "Indian Dionysus", or alternatively call Dionysus
as "god of the Orient".[93] Similarly, the use of phallic symbol as an icon for Shiva is
also found for Irish, Nordic, Greek (Dionysus) and Roman deities, as was the idea of
this aniconic column linking heaven and earth among early Indo-Aryans, states Roger
Woodward.[88] Others contest such proposals, and suggest Shiva to have emerged from
indigenous pre-Aryan tribal origins.
Rudra

Three-headed Shiva, Gandhara, 2nd century AD

Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra,[96] and
both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The
two names are used synonymously. Rudra, a Rigvedic deity with fearsome powers, was
the god of the roaring storm. He is usually portrayed in accordance with the element
he represents as a fierce, destructive deity. In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father
of the Rudras", a group of storm gods.
Flood notes that Rudra is an ambiguous god, peripheral in the Vedic pantheon,
possibly indicating non-Vedic origins. According to Sadasivan, during the development
of the Hindu synthesis attributes of the Buddha were transferred by Brahmins to
Shiva, who was also linked with Rudra. The Rigveda has 3 out of 1,028 hymns
dedicated to Rudra, and he finds occasional mention in other hymns of the same
text.[102] Hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that deity Rudra has two natures, one wild
and cruel (Rudra), another that is kind and tranquil (Shiva).

54
The term Shiva also appears simply as an epithet, that means "kind, auspicious", one
of the adjectives used to describe many different Vedic deities. While fierce ruthless
natural phenomenon and storm-related Rudra is feared in the hymns of the Rigveda,
the beneficial rains he brings are welcomed as Shiva aspect of him. This healing,
nurturing, life-enabling aspect emerges in the Vedas as Rudra-Shiva, and in post-
Vedic literature ultimately as Shiva who combines the destructive and constructive
powers, the terrific and the gentle, as the ultimate recycler and rejuvenator of all
existence.
The Vedic texts do not mention bull or any animal as the transport vehicle (vahana) of
Rudra or other deities. However, post-Vedic texts such as the Mahabharata and the
Puranas state the Nandi bull, the Indian zebu, in particular, as the vehicle of Rudra
and of Shiva, thereby unmistakably linking them as same.
Agni
Rudra and Agni have a close relationship. The identification between Agni and Rudra
in the Vedic literature was an important factor in the process of Rudra's gradual
transformation into Rudra-Shiva. The identification of Agni with Rudra is explicitly
noted in the Nirukta, an important early text on etymology, which says, "Agni is also
called Rudra." The interconnections between the two deities are complex, and
according to Stella Kramrisch:
The fire myth of Rudra-Śiva plays on the whole gamut of fire, valuing all its
potentialities and phases, from conflagration to illumination.

In the Śatarudrīya, some epithets of Rudra, such as Sasipañjara ("Of golden red hue
as of flame") and Tivaṣīmati ("Flaming bright"), suggest a fusing of the two deities.[note
4] Agni is said to be a bull, and Lord Shiva possesses a bull as his vehicle, Nandi. The

horns of Agni, who is sometimes characterized as a bull, are mentioned.[110][111] In

medieval sculpture, both Agni and the form of Shiva known as Bhairava have flaming
hair as a special feature.
Indra
The Saivite fertility myths and some of the phallic characteristics of Shiva are
inherited from Indra. The author Doniger gives several reasons for her hypothesis.
Both are associated with mountains, rivers, male fertility, fierceness, fearlessness,
warfare, the transgression of established mores, the Aum sound, the Supreme Self. In
the Rig Veda the term śiva is used to refer to Indra. (2.20.3, 6.45.17, and 8.93.3.
Indra, like Shiva, is likened to a bull. In the Rig Veda, Rudra is the father of
the Maruts, but he is never associated with their warlike exploits as is Indra.
The texts and artwork of Jainism show Indra as a dancer, although not identical
generally resembling the dancing Shiva artwork found in Hinduism, particularly in
their respective mudras. For example, in the Jain caves at Ellora, extensive carvings
show dancing Indra next to the images of Tirthankaras in a manner similar to Shiva
Nataraja. The similarities in the dance iconography suggests that there may be a link
between ancient Indra and Shiva.
Development
A few texts such as Atharvashiras Upanishad mention Rudra, and assert all gods are
Rudra, everyone and everything is Rudra, and Rudra is the principle found in all
things, their highest goal, the innermost essence of all reality that is visible or

55
invisible. The Kaivalya Upanishad similarly, states Paul Deussen – a German
Indologist and professor of philosophy, describes the self-realized man as who "feels
himself only as the one divine essence that lives in all", who feels identity of his and
everyone's consciousness with Shiva (highest Atman), who has found this highest
Atman within, in the depths of his heart.
Rudra's evolution from a minor Vedic deity to a supreme being is first evidenced in
the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (400–200 BC), according to Gavin Flood, presenting the
earliest seeds of theistic devotion to Rudra-Shiva.[77] Here Rudra-Shiva is identified as
the creator of the cosmos and liberator of souls from the birth-rebirth cycle. The
period of 200 BC to 100 AD also marks the beginning of the Shaiva tradition focused
on the worship of Shiva as evidenced in other literature of this period. [77] Other
scholars such as Robert Hume and Doris Srinivasan state that the Shvetashvatara
Upanishad presents pluralism, pantheism, or henotheism, rather than being a text
just on Shiva theism.
Self-realization and Shaiva Upanishads
He who sees himself in all beings,
And all beings in him,
attains the highest Brahman,
not by any other means.
—Kaivalya Upanishad 10

Shaiva devotees and ascetics are mentioned in Patanjali's Mahābhāṣya (2nd-century

BCE) and in the Mahabharata.
The earliest iconic artworks of Shiva may be from Gandhara and northwest parts of
ancient India. There is some uncertainty as the artwork that has survived is damaged
and they show some overlap with meditative Buddha-related artwork, but the
presence of Shiva's trident and phallic symbolism in this art suggests it was likely
Shiva. Numismatics research suggests that numerous coins of the ancient Kushan
Empire (30-375 CE) that have survived, were images of a god who is probably
Shiva.[133] The Shiva in Kushan coins is referred to as Oesho of unclear etymology and
origins, but the simultaneous presence of Indra and Shiva in the Kushan era artwork
suggest that they were revered deities by the start of the Kushan Empire.
The Shaiva Upanishads are a group of 14 minor Upanishads of Hinduism variously
dated from the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE through the 17th century.
These extol Shiva as the metaphysical unchanging reality Brahman and
the Atman (soul, self), and include sections about rites and symbolisms related to
Shiva.
The Shaiva Puranas, particularly the Shiva Purana and the Linga Purana, present the
various aspects of Shiva, mythologies, cosmology and pilgrimage (Tirtha) associated
with him. The Shiva-related Tantra literature, composed between the 8th and 11th
centuries, are regarded in devotional dualistic Shaivism as Sruti. Dualistic Shaiva
Agamas which consider soul within each living being and Shiva as two separate
realities (dualism, dvaita), are the foundational texts for Shaiva Siddhanta.[139] Other
Shaiva Agamas teach that these are one reality (monism, advaita), and that Shiva is
the soul, the perfection and truth within each living being. In Shiva related sub-
traditions, there are ten dualistic Agama texts, eighteen qualified monism-cum-
dualism Agama texts and sixty-four monism Agama texts.

56
Shiva-related literature developed extensively across India in the 1st millennium
CE and through the 13th century, particularly in Kashmir and Tamil Shaiva
traditions. The monist Shiva literature posit absolute oneness, that is Shiva is within
every man and woman, Shiva is within every living being, Shiva is present everywhere
in the world including all non-living being, and there is no spiritual difference between
life, matter, man and Shiva. The various dualistic and monist Shiva-related ideas were
welcomed in medieval southeast Asia, inspiring numerous Shiva-related temples,
artwork and texts in Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and
Malaysia, with syncretic integration of local pre-existing theologies.

a
Lingodbhava is a Shaiva sectarian icon where Shiva is depicted rising from the Lingam (an
infinite fiery pillar) that narrates how Shiva is the foremost of the Trimurti; Brahma on the left
and Vishnu on the right are depicted bowing to Shiva in the centre.

Shaivism is one of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others

being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and the Smarta Tradition. Followers of Shaivism, called
"Shaivas", revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in
all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. [9][10] He is not
only the creator in Shaivism, but he is also the creation that results from him, he is
everything and everywhere. Shiva is the primal soul, the pure consciousness
and Absolute Reality in the Shaiva traditions.
The Shaivism theology is broadly grouped into two: the popular theology influenced by
Shiva-Rudra in the Vedas, Epics and the Puranas; and the esoteric theology
influenced by the Shiva and Shakti-related Tantra texts. The Vedic-Brahmanic Shiva
theology includes both monist (Advaita) and devotional traditions (Dvaita) such as
Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta and Lingayatism with temples featuring items such as linga,
Shiva-Parvati iconography, bull Nandi within the premises, relief artwork showing
mythologies and aspects of Shiva.
The Tantric Shiva tradition ignored the mythologies and Puranas related to Shiva, and
depending on the sub-school developed a variety of practices. For example, historical
records suggest the tantric Kapalikas (literally, the 'skull-men') co-existed with and
shared many Vajrayana Buddhist rituals, engaged in esoteric practices that revered
Shiva and Shakti wearing skulls, begged with empty skulls, used meat, alcohol, and
sexuality as a part of ritual. In contrast, the esoteric tradition within Kashmir
Shaivism has featured the Krama and Trika sub-traditions.] The Krama sub-tradition
focussed on esoteric rituals around Shiva-Kali pair. The Trika sub-tradition developed
a theology of triads involving Shiva, combined it with an ascetic lifestyle focusing on
personal Shiva in the pursuit of monistic self-liberation.
Vaishnavism

57
The Vaishnava (Vishnu-oriented) literature acknowledges and discusses Shiva. Like
Shaiva literature that presents Shiva as supreme, the Vaishnava literature
presents Vishnu as supreme. However, both traditions are pluralistic and revere both
Shiva and Vishnu (along with Devi), their texts do not show exclusivism, and
Vaishnava texts such as the Bhagavata Purana while praising Krishna as the Ultimate
Reality, also present Shiva and Shakti as a personalized form an equivalent to the
same Ultimate Reality. The texts of Shaivism tradition similarly praise Vishnu. The
Skanda Purana, for example, states:
Vishnu is no one but Shiva, and he who is called Shiva is but identical with Vishnu.

— Skanda Purana, 1.8.20–21

Mythologies of both traditions include legends about who is superior, about Shiva
paying homage to Vishnu, and Vishnu paying homage to Shiva. However, in texts and
artwork of either tradition, the mutual salutes are symbolism for complementarity.
The Mahabharata declares the unchanging Ultimate Reality (Brahman) to be identical
to Shiva and to Vishnu, that Vishnu is the highest manifestation of Shiva, and Shiva
is the highest manifestation of Vishnu.
Shaktism

Ardhanarishvara sculpture, Khajuraho, depicting Shiva with goddess Parvati as his

equal half. In the Ardhanarisvara concept, the icon is presented as half-man and half
woman.
The goddess-oriented Shakti tradition of Hinduism is based on the premise that the
Supreme Principle and the Ultimate Reality called Brahman is female (Devi), but it
treats the male as her equal and complementary partner. This partner is Shiva.
The earliest evidence of the tradition of reverence for the feminine with Rudra-Shiva
context, is found in the Hindu scripture Rigveda, in a hymn called the Devi Sukta:
1. I am ruler, assembler of goods, observer foremost among those deserving the sacrifice.
Me have the gods distributed in many places—so that I have many stations and cause many
things to enter (me).
2. Through me he eats food—whoever sees, whoever breathes, whoever hears what is spoken.
Without thinking about it, they live on me. Listen, o you who are listened to: it’s a trustworthy
thing I tell you.
3. Just I myself say this, savored by gods and men:
"Whom I love, just him I make formidable, him a formulator, him a seer,

58
him of good wisdom".
4. I stretch the bow for Rudra, for his arrow to smash the hater of the
sacred formulation.
I make combat for the people. I have entered Heaven and Earth.
5. I give birth to Father (Heaven) on his (own) head [Agni]; my womb is in the waters, in the sea.
Thence I spread forth across all worlds, and yonder heaven with its height I touch.
6. I, just like the wind, blow forth, grasping at all worlds,
beyond heaven, beyond this earth here—of such size in my greatness
have I come into being.

— Devi Sukta, Rigveda 10.125.3 – 10.125.8,

The Devi Upanishad in its explanation of the theology of Shaktism, mentions and
praises Shiva such as in its verse 19. Shiva, along with Vishnu, is a revered god in
the Devi Mahatmya, a text of Shaktism considered by the tradition to be as important
as the Bhagavad Gita. The Ardhanarisvara concept co-mingles god Shiva and goddess
Shakti by presenting an icon that is half-man and half woman, a representation and
theme of union found in many Hindu texts and temples.
Smarta Tradition

Oleograph by Raja Ravi Varma depicting a Shiva-centric Panchayatana. A bearded Shiva sits in the
centre with his wife Parvati and their infant son Ganesha; surrounded by (clockwise from left upper
corner) Ganesha, Devi, Vishnu, and Surya. Shiva's mount is the bull Nandi below Shiva.

In the Smarta tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is a part of its Panchayatana puja. This
practice consists of the use of icons or anicons of five deities considered equivalent, set
in a quincunx pattern. Shiva is one of the five deities, others being Vishnu, Devi (such
as Parvati), Surya and Ganesha or Skanda or any personal god of devotee's preference
(Ishta Devata).
Philosophically, the Smarta tradition emphasizes that all idols (murti) are icons to help
focus on and visualize aspects of Brahman, rather than distinct beings. The ultimate
goal in this practice is to transition past the use of icons, recognize the Absolute
symbolized by the icons, on the path to realizing the nondual identity of one's Atman
(soul, self) and the Brahman. Popularized by Adi Shankara, many Panchayatana
mandalas and temples have been uncovered that are from the Gupta Empire period,
and one Panchayatana set from the village of Nand (about 24 kilometers from Ajmer)

59
has been dated to belong to the Kushan Empire era (pre-300 CE). The Kushan period
set includes Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Brahma and one deity whose identity is unclear.[183]
Yoga

Adiyogi Shiva statue, recognized by the Guinness World Records as the "Largest Bust Sculpture” in the
world; the statue is for inspiring and promoting yoga, and is named Adiyogi, which means "the first yogi",
because Shiva is known as the originator of yoga.

Shiva is considered the Great Yogi who is totally absorbed in himself – the
transcendental reality. He is the Lord of Yogis, and the teacher of Yoga to sages.[186] As
Shiva Dakshinamurthi, states Stella Kramrisch, he is the supreme guru who "teaches
in silence the oneness of one's innermost self (atman) with the ultimate reality
(brahman)."
The theory and practice of Yoga, in different styles, has been a part of all major
traditions of Hinduism, and Shiva has been the patron or spokesperson in numerous
Hindu Yoga texts.[188][189] These contain the philosophy and techniques for Yoga. These
ideas are estimated to be from or after the late centuries of the 1st millennium CE,
and have survived as Yoga texts such as the Isvara Gita (literally, 'Shiva's song'),
which Andrew Nicholson – a professor of Hinduism and Indian Intellectual History –
states have had "a profound and lasting influence on the development of Hinduism".
Other famed Shiva-related texts influenced Hatha Yoga, integrated monistic (Advaita
Vedanta) ideas with Yoga philosophy and inspired the theoretical development
of Indian classical dance. These include the Shiva Sutras, the Shiva Samhita, and
those by the scholars of Kashmir Shaivism such as the 10th-century
scholar Abhinavagupta. Abhinavagupta writes in his notes on the relevance of ideas
related to Shiva and Yoga, by stating that "people, occupied as they are with their own
affairs, normally do nothing for others", and Shiva and Yoga spirituality helps one look
beyond, understand interconnectedness, and thus benefit both the individual and the
world towards a more blissful state of existence.

60
61
Trimurti

An art depiction of the Trimurti, with Shiva depicted on the right, at the Hoysaleswara temple in Halebidu.

The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of creation,

maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator,
Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Shiva the destroyer or transformer. These
three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity. However, the
ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism feature many triads of gods and goddesses,
some of which do not include Shiva.

62
Attributes

Shiva with Parvati. Shiva is depicted three-eyed, the Ganges flowing through his matted hair, wearing
ornaments of serpents and a skull garland, covered in ashes, and seated on a tiger skin.RIGHT A seated Shiva
holds an axe and deer in his hands.

 Third eye: Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he burned Desire
(Kāma) to ashes,[198] called "Tryambakam" which occurs in many scriptural
sources. In classical Sanskrit, the word ambaka denotes "an eye", and in
the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes
translated as "having three eyes." However, in Vedic Sanskrit, the
word ambā or ambikā means "mother", and this early meaning of the word is the
basis for the translation "three mothers". These three mother-goddesses who are
collectively called the Ambikās. Other related translations have been based on the
idea that the name actually refers to the oblations given to Rudra, which according
to some traditions were shared with the goddess Ambikā.
 Crescent moon: Shiva bears on his head the crescent moon.[205] The
epithet Candraśekhara (Sanskrit: चन्द्रिे खर "Having the moon as his crest" –
candra = "moon"; śekhara = "crest, crown") refers to this feature. The placement of
the moon on his head as a standard iconographic feature dates to the period when
Rudra rose to prominence and became the major deity Rudra-Shiva.[209] The origin
of this linkage may be due to the identification of the moon with Soma, and there
is a hymn in the Rig Veda where Soma and Rudra are jointly implored, and in later
literature, Soma and Rudra came to be identified with one another, as were Soma
and the moon.
 Ashes: Shiva iconography shows his body covered with ashes
(bhasma, vibhuti). [211][212] The ashes represent a reminder that all of material
existence is impermanent, comes to an end becoming ash, and the pursuit of
eternal soul and spiritual liberation is important.
 Matted hair: Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "the one
with matted hair", and Kapardin, "endowed with matted hair"or "wearing his hair

63
 wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion".A kaparda is a cowrie shell, or a
braid of hair in the form of a shell, or, more generally, hair that is shaggy or curly.
 Blue throat: The epithet Nīlakaṇtha (Sanskrit नीलकण्ठ; nīla = "blue", kaṇtha =
"throat").[219][220] Since Shiva drank the Halahala poison churned up from
the Samudra Manthan to eliminate its destructive capacity. Shocked by his act,
Parvati squeezed his neck and stopped it in his neck to prevent it from spreading
all over the universe, supposed to be in Shiva's stomach. However the poison was
so potent that it changed the color of his neck to blue.[221][222] This attribute
indicates that one can become Lord Shiva by swallowing the worldly poisons in
terms of abuses and insults with equanimity while blessing those who give them.[
 Meditating yogi: his iconography often shows him in a Yoga pose, meditating,
sometimes on a symbolic Himalayan Mount Kailasha as the Lord of Yoga.]
 Sacred Ganga: The epithet Gangadhara, "Bearer of the river Ganga" (Ganges). The
Ganga flows from the matted hair of Shiva.The Gaṅgā (Ganga), one of the major
rivers of the country, is said to have made her abode in Shiva's hair.
 Tiger skin: Shiva is often shown seated upon a tiger skin.
 Serpents: Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.
 Trident: Shiva typically carries a trident called Trishula. The trident is a weapon or
a symbol in different Hindu texts. As a symbol, the Trishul represents Shiva's three
aspects of "creator, preserver and destroyer", or alternatively it represents the
equilibrium of three Gunas of "sattva, rajas and tamas".
 Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a damaru.[231][232] This
is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation [233] known
as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for
"ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum.] This drum is particularly used as an
emblem by members of the Kāpālika sect.
 Axe (Parashu) and Deer are held in Shiva's hands in Odisha & south Indian icons.
 Rosary beads: he is garlanded with or carries a string of rosary beads in his right
hand, typically made of Rudraksha. This symbolises grace, mendicant life and
meditation.
 Nandī: Nandī, (nandin)), is the name of the bull that serves as Shiva's mount.
 Shiva's association with cattle is reflected in his name Paśupati, or Pashupati
 translated by Sharma as "lord of cattle"and by Kramrisch as "lord of animals",
who notes that it is particularly used as an epithet of Rudra.
 Mount Kailāsa: Mount Kailash in the Himalayas is his traditional abode.[211][243] In
Hindu mythology, Mount Kailāsa is conceived as resembling a Linga, representing
the center of the universe.
 Gaṇa: The Gaṇas are attendants of Shiva and live in Kailash. They are often
referred to as the bhutaganas, or ghostly hosts, on account of their nature.
Generally benign, except when their lord is transgressed against, they are often
invoked to intercede with the lord on behalf of the devotee. His son Ganesha was
chosen as their leader by Shiva, hence Ganesha's title gaṇa-īśa or gaṇa-pati, "lord
of the gaṇas."
 Varanasi: Varanasi (Benares) is considered to be the city specially loved by Shiva,
and is one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in India. It is referred to, in religious
contexts, as Kashi.

64
Form and Depiction: According to Gavin Flood, "Shiva is a god of ambiguity and
paradox," whose attributes include opposing themes. The ambivalent nature of this
deity is apparent in some of his names and the stories told about him.
Destroyer and Benefactor

Shiva is represented in his many aspects.Left: Bhairava icon of the fierce form of Shiva, from 17th/18th
century Nepal; Right: Shiva as a meditating yogi in Rishikesh.

In Yajurveda, two contrary sets of attributes for both malignant or terrifying

(Sanskrit: rudra) and benign or auspicious (Sanskrit: śiva) forms can be found, leading
Chakravarti to conclude that "all the basic elements which created the complex Rudra-
Śiva sect of later ages are to be found here". In the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as
"the standard of invincibility, might, and terror", as well as a figure of honor, delight,
and brilliance.
The duality of Shiva's fearful and auspicious attributes appears in contrasted names.
The name Rudra reflects Shiva's fearsome aspects. According to traditional
etymologies, the Sanskrit name Rudra is derived from the root rud-, which means "to
cry, howl".[251] Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the
adjectival form raudra, which means "wild, of rudra nature", and translates the
name Rudra as "the wild one" or "the fierce god".] R. K. Sharma follows this alternate
etymology and translates the name as "terrible". Hara is an important name that
occurs three times in the Anushasanaparvan version of the Shiva sahasranama,
where it is translated in different ways each time it occurs, following a commentorial
tradition of not repeating an interpretation. Sharma translates the three as "one who
captivates", "one who consolidates", and "one who destroys". Kramrisch translates it
as "the ravisher". Another of Shiva's fearsome forms is as Kāla "time"
and Mahākāla "great time", which ultimately destroys all things.[47][255] The
name Kāla appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, where it is translated by Ram Karan
Sharma as "(the Supreme Lord of) Time". Bhairava "terrible" or "frightful"[257] is a fierce
form associated with annihilation. In contrast, the name Śaṇkara, "beneficent"[36] or
"conferring happiness"reflects his benign form. This name was adopted by the
great Vedanta philosopher Adi Shankara (c. 788–820),[259] who is also known as
Shankaracharya. The name Śambhu (Sanskrit: िम्भु swam-on its own; bhu-
burn/shine) "self-shining/ shining on its own", also reflects this benign aspect.[47][260]
Ascetic and householder

65
Shiva is depicted both as an ascetic yogi, and as a householder with goddess Parvati.

Shiva is depicted as both an ascetic yogi and as a householder (grihasta), roles which
have been traditionally mutually exclusive in Hindu society. When depicted as a yogi,
he may be shown sitting and meditating. His epithet Mahāyogi ("the great
Yogi: Mahā = "great", Yogi = "one who practices Yoga") refers to his association with
yoga.[263] While Vedic religion was conceived mainly in terms of sacrifice, it was during
the Epic period that the concepts of tapas, yoga, and asceticism became more
important, and the depiction of Shiva as an ascetic sitting in philosophical isolation
reflects these later concepts.
As a family man and householder, he has a wife, Parvati and two sons, Ganesha and
Kartikeya. His epithet Umāpati ("The husband of Umā") refers to this idea, and Sharma
notes that two other variants of this name that mean the same
thing, Umākānta and Umādhava, also appear in the sahasranama.[265] Umā in epic
literature is known by many names, including the benign Pārvatī.[266][267] She is
identified with Devi, the Divine Mother; Shakti (divine energy) as well as goddesses
like Tripura Sundari, Durga, Kali, Kamakshi and Minakshi. The consorts of Shiva are
the source of his creative energy. They represent the dynamic extension of Shiva onto

66
this universe.[268] His son Ganesha is worshipped throughout India and Nepal as the
Remover of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles. Kartikeya is
worshipped in South India (especially in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) by the
names Subrahmanya, Subrahmanyan, Shanmughan, Swaminathan and Murugan,
and in Northern India by the names Skanda, Kumara, or Karttikeya.
Some regional deities are also identified as Shiva's children. As one story goes, Shiva is
enticed by the beauty and charm of Mohini, Vishnu's female avatar, and procreates
with her. As a result of this union, Shasta – identified with regional
deities Ayyappan and Aiyanar – is born. In outskirts of Ernakulam in Kerala, a deity
named Vishnumaya is stated to be offspring of Shiva and invoked in local exorcism
rites, but this deity is not traceable in Hindu pantheon and is possibly a local tradition
with "vaguely Chinese" style rituals, states Saletore. In some traditions, Shiva has
daughters like the serpent-goddess Manasa and Ashokasundari. According to Doniger,
two regional stories depict demons Andhaka and Jalandhara as the children of Shiva
who war with him, and are later destroyed by Shiva.
Iconographic forms

Chola dynasty statue depicting Shiva dancing as Nataraja (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).

The depiction of Shiva as Nataraja (Sanskrit: naṭarāja, "Lord of Dance") is popular. The
names Nartaka ("dancer") and Nityanarta ("eternal dancer") appear in the Shiva
Sahasranama. His association with dance and also with music is prominent in
the Puranic period. In addition to the specific iconographic form known as Nataraja,
various other types of dancing forms (Sanskrit: nṛtyamūrti) are found in all parts of
India, with many well-defined varieties in Tamil Nadu in particular. The two most
common forms of the dance are the Tandava, which later came to denote the powerful
and masculine dance as Kala-Mahakala associated with the destruction of the world.
When it requires the world or universe to be destroyed, Shiva does it by the
Tandava, and Lasya, which is graceful and delicate and expresses emotions on a
gentle level and is considered the feminine dance attributed to the goddess

67
Parvati. Lasya is regarded as the female counterpart of Tandava. The Tandava-
Lasya dances are associated with the destruction-creation of the world.
Dakshinamurthy (Dakṣiṇāmūrti) literally describes a form (mūrti) of Shiva facing south
(dakṣiṇa). This form represents Shiva in his aspect as a teacher of yoga, music, and
wisdom and giving exposition on the shastras. This iconographic form for depicting
Shiva in Indian art is mostly from Tamil Nadu. Elements of this motif can include
Shiva seated upon a deer-throne and surrounded by sages who are receiving his
instruction.
An iconographic representation of Shiva called Ardhanarishvara (Ardhanārīśvara)
shows him with one half of the body as male and the other half as female. According to
Ellen Goldberg, the traditional Sanskrit name for this form is best translated as "the
lord who is half woman", not as "half-man, half-woman".
Shiva is often depicted as an archer in the act of destroying the triple
fortresses, Tripura, of the Asuras. Shiva's name Tripurantaka (Tripurāntaka), "ender of
Tripura", refers to this important story.

Jayavarman II the Cambodian King consecrating the Lingam during his coronation as
DEVARAJA…Shiva Lingam with tripundra.

Lingam
Apart from anthropomorphic images of Shiva, he is also represented in aniconic form
of a lingam. These are depicted in various designs. One common form is the shape of a
vertical rounded column in the centre of a lipped, disk-shaped object, the yoni,
symbolism for the goddess Shakti.[300] In Shiva temples, the linga is typically present in
its sanctum sanctorum and is the focus of votary offerings such as milk, water, flower
petals, fruit, fresh leaves, and rice. According to Monier Williams and Yudit
Greenberg, linga literally means 'mark, sign or emblem', and also refers to a "mark or
sign from which the existence of something else can be reliably inferred". It implies the
regenerative divine energy innate in nature, symbolized by Shiva.[301][302] Some
scholars, such as Wendy Doniger, view linga merely as an erotic phallic
symbol. although this interpretation is criticized by others, including Swami

68
Vivekananda,] Sivananda Saraswati, and S. N. Balagangadhara.[306] According to Moriz
Winternitz, the linga in the Shiva tradition is "only a symbol of the productive and
creative principle of nature as embodied in Shiva", and it has no historical trace in any
obscene phallic cult.
The worship of the lingam originated from the famous hymn in the Atharva-Veda
Samhitâ sung in praise of the Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post. In that hymn, a
description is found of the beginningless and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is
shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. Just as
the Yajna (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the Soma plant, and the ox
that used to carry on its back the wood for the Vedic sacrifice gave place to the
conceptions of the brightness of Shiva's body, his tawny matted hair, his blue throat,
and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, the Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to
the Shiva-Linga. In the text Linga Purana, the same hymn is expanded in the shape of
stories, meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the superiority of Shiva
as Mahadeva.
The oldest known archaeological linga as an icon of Shiva is the Gudimallam lingam
from 3rd-century BCE. In Shaivism pilgrimage tradition, twelve major temples of Shiva
are called Jyotirlinga, which means "linga of light", and these are located across India.
Five mantras

The 10th century five headed Shiva, Sadashiva, Cambodia.

Five is a sacred number for Shiva. One of his most important mantras has five
syllables (namaḥ śivāya).
Shiva's body is said to consist of five mantras, called the pañcabrahmans.[313] As forms
of God, each of these have their own names and distinct iconography:[314]
 Sadyojāta
 Vāmadeva
 Aghora
 Tatpuruṣa
 Īsāna

These are represented as the five faces of Shiva and are associated in various texts
with the five elements, the five senses, the five organs of perception, and the five
organs of action. Doctrinal differences and, possibly, errors in transmission, have

69
resulted in some differences between texts in details of how these five forms are linked
with various attributes. The overall meaning of these associations is summarized by
Stella Kramrisch:
Through these transcendent categories, Śiva, the ultimate reality, becomes the
efficient and material cause of all that exists.

According to the Pañcabrahma Upanishad:

One should know all things of the phenomenal world as of a fivefold character, for the
reason that the eternal verity of Śiva is of the character of the fivefold Brahman.
(Pañcabrahma Upanishad 31)

Avatars
Puranic scriptures contain occasional references to "ansh" – literally 'portion, or
avatars of Shiva', but the idea of Shiva avatars is not universally accepted
in Saivism.[320] The Linga Purana mentions twenty-eight forms of Shiva which are
sometimes seen as avatars, however such mention is unusual and the avatars of Shiva
is relatively rare in Shaivism compared to the well emphasized concept of Vishnu
avatars in Vaishnavism. Some Vaishnava literature reverentially link Shiva to
characters in its mythologies. For example, in the Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman is
identified as the eleventh avatar of Shiva. The Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu
Purana claim sage Durvasa to be a portion of Shiva. Some medieval era writers have
called the Advaita Vedanta philosopher Adi Shankara an incarnation of Shiva.

Maha Sivaratri festival is observed in the night, usually in lighted temples or

special prabha (above).

There is a Shivaratri in every lunar month on its 13th night/14th day, but once a year
in late winter (February/March) and before the arrival of spring, marks Maha
Shivaratri which means "the Great Night of Shiva".Maha Shivaratri is a major Hindu
festival, but one that is solemn and theologically marks a remembrance of "overcoming
darkness and ignorance" in life and the world, and meditation about the polarities of

70
existence, of Shiva and a devotion to humankind. It is observed by reciting Shiva-
related poems, chanting prayers, remembering Shiva, fasting, doing Yoga and
meditating on ethics and virtues such as self-restraint, honesty, noninjury to others,
forgiveness, introspection, self-repentance and the discovery of Shiva.[333][334] The
ardent devotees keep awake all night. Others visit one of the Shiva temples or go on
pilgrimage to Jyotirlingam shrines. Those who visit temples, offer milk, fruits, flowers,
fresh leaves and sweets to the lingam. Some communities organize special dance
events, to mark Shiva as the lord of dance, with individual and group performances.
According to Jones and Ryan, Maha Sivaratri is an ancient Hindu festival which
probably originated around the 5th-century.
Another major festival involving Shiva worship is Kartik Purnima,
commemorating Shiva's victory on the demons Tripurasura. Across India, various
Shiva temples are illuminated throughout the night. Shiva icons are carried in
procession in some places.
Thiruvathira is a festival observed in Kerala dedicated to Shiva. It is believed that on
this day, Parvati met Shiva after her long penance and Shiva took her as his wife. On
this day Hindu women performs the Thiruvathirakali accompanied by Thiruvathira
paattu (folk songs about Parvati and her longing and penance for Shiva's affection).
Regional festivals dedicated to Shiva include the Chittirai festival in Madurai around
April/May, one of the largest festivals in South India, celebrating the wedding
of Minakshi (Parvati) and Shiva. The festival is one where both the Vaishnava and
Shaiva communities join the celebrations, because Vishnu gives away his sister
Minakshi in marriage to Shiva.
Some Shaktism-related festivals revere Shiva along with the goddess considered
primary and Supreme. These include festivals dedicated to Annapurna such
as Annakuta and those related to Durga. In Himalayan regions such as Nepal, as well
as in northern, central and western India, the festival of Teej is celebrated by girls and
women in the monsoon season, in honor of goddess Parvati, with group singing,
dancing and by offering prayers in Parvati-Shiva temples.
The ascetic, Vedic and Tantric sub-traditions related to Shiva, such as those that
became ascetic warriors during the Islamic rule period of Indi celebrate the Kumbha
Mela festival. This festival cycles every 12 years, in four pilgrimage sites within India,
with the event moving to the next site after a gap of three years. The biggest is
in Prayaga (renamed Allahabad during the Mughal rule era), where millions of Hindus
of different traditions gather at the confluence of rivers Ganges and Yamuna. In the
Hindu tradition, the Shiva-linked ascetic warriors (Nagas) get the honor of starting the
event by entering the Sangam first for bathing and prayers.

71
The statue of Shiva engaging in the Nataraja dance at the campus of European Organization for Nuclear
Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland./ Shiva has been adopted and merged with Buddhist deities in East
Asia. Left: Daikokuten is a Shiva-Ōkuninushi fusion deity in Japan;[346] Right: Acala is a fierce Shiva
adaptation in both China and Japan EXTREME RIGHT In Shaivism of Indonesia, the popular name Statue
of Shiva as a Chinese Buddhist deva on Mount Putuo Guanyin Dharma Realm in Zhejiang, China.

The Indonesian word for Shiva has been Batara Guru, which is derived from
Sanskrit Bhattaraka which means "noble lord".He is conceptualized as a kind spiritual
teacher, the first of all Gurus in Indonesian Hindu texts, mirroring the Dakshinamurti
aspect of Shiva in the Indian subcontinent.[349] However, the Batara Guru has more
aspects than the Indian Shiva, as the Indonesian Hindus blended their spirits and
heroes with him. Batara Guru's wife in southeast Asia is the same Hindu deity Durga,
who has been popular since ancient times, and she too has a complex character with
benevolent and fierce manifestations, each visualized with different names such as
Uma, Sri, Kali and others.[350][351] Shiva has been called Sadasiva, Paramasiva,
Mahadeva in benevolent forms, and Kala, Bhairava, Mahakala in his fierce
forms.[351] The Indonesian Hindu texts present the same philosophical diversity of
Shaivism traditions found on the subcontinent. However, among the texts that have
survived into the contemporary era, the more common are of those of Shaiva
Siddhanta (locally also called Siwa Siddhanta, Sridanta).[352] the pre-Islamic period on
the island of Java, Shaivism and Buddhism were considered very close and allied
religions, though not identical religions The medieval era Indonesian literature equates
Buddha with Siwa (Shiva) and Janardana (Vishnu).[354] This tradition continues in
predominantly Hindu Bali Indonesia in the modern era, where Buddha is considered
the younger brother of Shiva.[355]

The worship of Shiva became popular in Central Asia through the Hephthalite
Empire, and Kushan Empire. Shaivism was also popular in Sogdia and the Kingdom
of Yutian as found from the wall painting from Penjikent on the river Zervashan.[357] In
this depiction, Shiva is portrayed with a sacred halo and a sacred thread
("Yajnopavita").He is clad in tiger skin while his attendants are wearing Sogdian
dress.[357] A panel from Dandan Oilik shows Shiva in His Trimurti form with Shakti
kneeling on her right thigh. Another site in the Taklamakan Desert depicts him with
four legs, seated cross-legged on a cushioned seat supported by two bulls.[357] It is also
noted that Zoroastrian wind god Vayu-Vata took on the iconographic appearance of
Shiva.[358]
In China and Taiwan, Shiva, better known there as Maheśvara (Chinese:
大自在天; pinyin: Dàzìzàitiān; or Chinese: 摩醯首羅天 pinyin: Móxīshǒuluótiān) is
considered as one of the Twenty Devas (Chinese: 二十諸天, pinyin: Èrshí Zhūtiān) or
the Twenty-Four Devas (Chinese: 二十四諸天, pinyin: Èrshísì zhūtiān) who are a group
of dharmapalas that manifest to protect the Buddhist dharma.[359] Statues of him are
often enshrined in the Mahavira Halls of Chinese Buddhist Temples along with the
other devas. In addition, he is also regarded as one of thirty-three manifestations
of Avalokitesvara in the Lotus Sutra.[360] Daikokuten, one of the Seven Lucky Gods in
Japan, is considered to be evolved from Shiva. The god enjoys an exalted position as a
household deity in Japan and is worshipped as the god of wealth and fortune. [361] The
name is the Japanese equivalent of Mahākāla, the Buddhist name for Shiva.[362] Shiva
is also mentioned in Buddhist Tantra. Shiva as Upaya and Shakti as Prajna.[363] In
cosmologies of Buddhist tantra, Shiva is depicted as passive, with Shakti being his
active counterpart.[364] In Mahayana Buddhist cosmology, Shiva resides in Akaniṣṭha,

72
highest of Śuddhāvāsa (Pure Abodes) where Anāgāmi ("Non-returners") who are
already on the path to Arhat-hood and who will attain enlightenment are born in.
The Japuji Sahib of the Guru Granth Sahib says, "The Guru is Shiva, the Guru is
Vishnu and Brahma; the Guru is Paarvati and Lakhshmi." In the same chapter, it also
says, "Shiva speaks, and the Siddhas listen." In Dasam Granth, Guru Gobind
Singh has mentioned two avtars of Rudra: Dattatreya Avtar and Parasnath Avtar.[366]

Who is Shiva?
Shiva is the third god in the Hindu triumvirate. The triumvirate consists of
three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the
world. The other two gods are Brahma and Vishnu.
Brahma is the creator of the universe while Vishnu is the preserver of it.
Shiva's role is to destroy the universe in order to re-create it.
Hindus believe his powers of destruction and recreation are used even now to
destroy the illusions and imperfections of this world, paving the way for
beneficial change. According to Hindu belief, this destruction is not arbitrary,
but constructive. Shiva is therefore seen as the source of both good and evil
and is regarded as the one who combines many contradictory elements.
Shiva is known to have untamed passion, which leads him to extremes in
behaviour. Sometimes he is an ascetic, abstaining from all wordly pleasures. At
others he is a hedonist.

73
It is Shiva's relationship with his wife, Parvati which brings him balance. Their
union allows him to be an ascetic and a lover, but within the bounds of
marriage.
Hindus who worship Shiva as their primary god are members of the Shaivism
sect.

What does Shiva look like?

Shiva ©
In his representations as a man, Shiva always has a blue face and throat.
Strictly speaking his body is white, but images often show him with a blue
body too.
Shiva is represented with the following features:
 A third eye
 The extra eye represents the wisdom and insight that Shiva has. It is also
believed to be the source of his untamed energy. On one occasion, when
Shiva was distracted in the midst of worship by the love god, Kama,
Shiva opened his third eye in anger. Kama was consumed by the fire that
poured forth, and only returned to life when Parvati intervened.
 A cobra necklace
 This signifies Shiva's power over the most dangerous creatures in the
world. Some traditions also say that the snake represents Shiva's power
of destruction and recreation. The snake sheds its skin to make way for
new, smooth skin.
 The vibhuti
 The vibhuti are three lines drawn horizontally across the forehead in
white ash. They represent Shiva's all-pervading nature, his superhuman
power and wealth. Also, they cover up his powerful third eye. Members of
Shaivism often draw vibhuti lines across their forehead.
 The trident

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  The three-pronged trident represents the three functions of the Hindu
triumvirate.
While other gods are depicted in lavish surroundings, Shiva is dressed in
simple animal skin and in austere settings, usually in a yogic position. Parvati,
whenever she is present, is always at the side of Shiva. Their relationship is
one of equality.
Even though Shiva is the destroyer, he is usually represented as smiling and
tranquil.
Other representations
Shiva is sometimes represented as half man, half woman. His figure is split
half way down the body, one half showing his body and the second half that of
Parvati's.
Shiva is also represented by Shiva linga. This is a phallic statue, representing
the raw power of Shiva and his masculinity. Hindus believe it represents the
seed of the universe, demonstrating Shiva's quality of creation. Worshippers of
Shiva celebrate Mahashivratri, a festival at which the Shiva linga is bathed in
water, milk and honey and worshipped.
Who is he linked with?
Shiva's consort is Devi, the Mother-goddess. Devi has taken on many forms in
the past, including Kali, the goddess of death, and Sati, the goddess of marital
felicity. Her best known incarnation is Parvati, Shiva's eternal wife.
Hindus believe Shiva and Parvati live in the Kailash mountains in the
Himalayas.
Lord of the dance
Dance is an important art form in India, and Shiva is believed to be the master
of it. He is often called the Lord of Dance. The rhythm of dance is a metaphor
for the balance in the universe which Shiva is believed to hold so masterfully.
His most important dance is the Tandav. This is the cosmic dance of death,
which he performs at the end of an age, to destroy the universe.
According to one Hindu legend, Shiva almost signalled the end of this universe
by performing this dangerous dance before its time. This is the story.
One day, the father of the goddess Sati decided to hold a prayer ceremony. At
this prayer ceremony, all the gods would be invited and offerings would be
made to them.
But Shiva had married Sati against the wishes of her father and he was not
invited. Sati was deeply offended on behalf of her husband.
In anger, Sati prayed intensely and jumped into the sacred fire that was
burning on the day of the ceremony.
During this time, Shiva had been in the midst of deep meditation. But when
Sati jumped into the fire, he awoke in great anger, realising what his wife had
done.
The story becomes less certain at this point, but it is believed that Shiva
started the cosmic dance of death. The whole universe was about to be
destroyed before it was time.
The gods who were present at the prayer ceremony were very concerned. In
order to pacify him, they scattered the ashes of Sati over him. This did the
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trick. He calmed down and did not complete the dance. But he went into
meditation for many years, deeply upset over the death of his wife, ignoring all
his godly duties.
It was not until Sati was reborn as Parvati that Shiva finally came out of
meditation. Through her love and patience, she taught him about family life
and the importance of moderation.
Shiva and Parvati are held up as the perfect example of marital bliss by many
Hindus, and one is rarely depicted without the other.

Shiva and his family at the burning ground

Shiva and his family at the burning ground. Parvati, Shiva's wife, holds Skanda
while watching Ganesha (left) and Shiva string together the skulls of the dead.
The bull Nandi rests behind the tree. Kangra painting, 18th century; in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; photograph A.C. Cooper

Shiva is represented in a variety of forms: in a pacific mood with his

consort Parvati and son Skanda, as the cosmic dancer (Nataraja), as a
naked ascetic, as a mendicant beggar, as a yogi, as a Dalit (formerly called
untouchable) accompanied by a dog (Bhairava), and as the androgynous union
of Shiva and his consort in one body, half-male and half-female
(Ardhanarishvara). He is both the great ascetic and the master of fertility, and
he is the master of both poison and medicine, through his ambivalent power

76
over snakes. As Lord of Cattle (Pashupata), he is the benevolent herdsman—or,
at times, the merciless slaughterer of the “beasts” that are the human souls in
his care. Although some of the combinations of roles may be explained by
Shiva’s identification with earlier mythological figures, they arise primarily from
a tendency in Hinduism to see complementary qualities in a
single ambiguous figure.

Shiva

The god Shiva in the garb of a mendicant, South Indian bronze from
Tiruvengadu, Tamil Nadu, early 11th century; in the Thanjavur Museum and
Art Gallery, Tamil Nadu.

Shiva’s female consort is known under various manifestations as Uma, Sati,

Parvati, Durga, and Kali; Shiva is also sometimes paired with Shakti, the
embodiment of power. The divine couple, together with their sons—Skanda and
the elephant-headed Ganesha—are said to dwell on Mount Kailasa in
the Himalayas. The six-headed Skanda is said to have been born of Shiva’s
seed, which was shed in the mouth of the god of fire, Agni, and transferred first
to the river Ganges and then to six of the stars in the constellation of
the Pleiades. According to another well-known myth, Ganesha was born when
Parvati created him out of the dirt she rubbed off during a bath, and he
received his elephant head from Shiva, who was responsible for beheading him.
Shiva’s vehicle in the world, his vahana, is the bull Nandi; a sculpture of Nandi
sits opposite the main sanctuary of many Shiva temples. In temples and in
private shrines, Shiva is also worshipped in the form of the lingam, a
cylindrical votary object that is often embedded in a yoni, or spouted dish.

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sandstone linga-Sandstone linga, c. 900; in the British Museum, London.
Shiva is usually depicted in painting and sculpture as white (from the ashes of
corpses that are smeared on his body) with a blue neck (from holding in his
throat the poison that emerged at the churning of the cosmic ocean, which
threatened to destroy the world), his hair arranged in a coil of matted locks
(jatamakuta) and adorned with the crescent moon and the Ganges (according
to legend, he brought the Ganges River to earth from the sky, where she is the
Milky Way, by allowing the river to trickle through his hair, thus breaking her
fall). Shiva has three eyes, the third eye bestowing inward vision but capable of
burning destruction when focused outward. He wears a garland of skulls and a
serpent around his neck and carries in his two (sometimes four) hands a
deerskin, a trident, a small hand drum, or a club with a skull at the end. That
skull identifies Shiva as a Kapalika (“Skull-Bearer”) and refers to a time when
he cut off the fifth head of Brahma. The head stuck to his hand until he
reached Varanasi (now in Uttar Pradesh, India), a city sacred to Shiva. It then
fell away, and a shrine for the cleansing of all sins, known as Kapala-mochana
(“The Releasing of the Skull”), was later established in the place where it
landed.

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The Hindu God Shiva was originally known as Rudra, a minor deity
addressed only three times in the Rig Veda. He gained importance
after absorbing some of the characteristics of an earlier fertility god
and became Shiv a, part of the trinity, or trimurti, with Vishnu and
Brahma.

The Cult of Shiva

Shaivism, or Saivism, is one of the most popular Hindu cults. It

embraces many theological practices, although all agree on three
principles: pati. or God; pasu, or individual soul; and pasa, or
bonds that confine the soul to earthly existence. The aim of
Shaivites is to rid their souls of bondage and achieve shivata, the
"nature of Shiva". They achieve this through ascetic practices and
penances, with an emphasis on yoga and renunciation. Many
Shaivites become wandering sadhus, or hold men. Shiavites mark

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their foreheads with three horizontal marks representing the three
aspects of Shiva.

Shiva Hindu God of Destruction often wears a snake coiled around

his upper arms and neck symbolizing the po wer he has over the most
deadly of creatures. Snakes are also used to sym bolize the Hindu
dogma of reincarnation. Their natural process of molting or shedding
their skin is symbolic of the human souls transmigration of bodies
from one lif e to another.

The Hindu God Shiva often wears a snake coiled around his upper
arms and neck symbolizing the power he has over the most deadly
of creatures. Snakes are also used to symbolize the Hindu dogma of
reincarnation. Their natural process of molting or shedding their
skin is symbolic of the human souls transmigration of bodies from
one life to another.

Thiruvalangadu, north of Madras, is associated with the dance

contest between Shiva and his consort in the form of Kali.
According to legend, Shiva danced vigorously, and to subdue Kali,
threw up his leg in the rhythm of the dance. Being a l ady, Kali
could not repeat this feat and stood dismayed. This dance and the
subjugation of Kali, are described in the hymns of the female saint -
poet Karaikkal Ammai.

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The trident of ten held by Shiva God of Destruction represents the
Hindu trinity of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. It is also said to
represent the threef old qualities of nature: creation, preservation,
and destruction, although preservation is usually attributed to
Vishnu.

As the destroyer, Shiva is dark and terrible, encircled with serpents

and a crown of skulls.

Shiva often holds a trident, which represents the Hindu trinity of

Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. It is also said to represent the
threefold qualities of nature: creation, preservation, and
destruction, although preservation is usually attr ibuted to Vishnu.

Shiva wears sacred Rudraksha beads, perhaps a reference to his

earlier name Rudra.

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Shiva's female consort and wife is Parvati; because of his generosity
and reverence towards Parvati, Shiva is considered an ideal role
model for a husband. The divine couple together with their sons -
the six-headed Skanda and the elephant headed Ganesh - reside on
Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas.

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83
The crescent moon Lord Shiva wears on his headdress, besides being
a symbol of Kama the goddess of nightly love, also represents the
bull, Nandi, a f ertility symbol.

Shiva holds a skull that represents samsara, the cycle of life, death
and rebirth. Samsara is a central belief in Hinduism. Shiva himself
also represents this complete cycle because he is Mahakala; the
Lord of Time, destroying and creating all things.

Shiva is represented in a variety of forms. One such form is as a

lingam. The ovoid shape is a representation of the a bsolute
perfection of Lord Shiva - if that which is beyond form had to be
given form, the lingam would be the closest form to the mystical
experience of the absolute perfection of Shiva.

Lord Shiva, God of Destruction's vehicle, or vahana is Nandi (the

white bull), whose statue can of ten be seen watching over the main

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shrine. The bull is said to embody sexual energy and f ertility. Riding
on its back, Shiva is in control of thes e impulses.

Shiva saw no sense in the transitory pleasures of life, so he rejected

samsara, smeared his body with ash, closed his eyes and performed
austerities.

Shiva's tapas generated so much heat that his body transformed

into a pillar of fire - a blazing lingam that threatened to destroy the
whole world. The gods did not know how to control Shiva's fire.

Suddenly there appeared a yoni - the divine vessel of the mother -

goddess. It caught the fiery lingam and contained its heat, thus
saving the cosmos from untimely destruction.

Shiva is often pictured in a pacific mood with his consort Parvati,

as the cosmic dancer Nataraja, as a naked ascetic, as a mendicant

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beggar, as a yogi Dhakshinamurthy, and as the androgynous union
of Shiva and Parvati in one body (Ardhanarisvara).

Shiva also takes the form of Ardhanari, his androgynous form. The
right side of the sculpture is Shiva and the left side is Parvati. The
attributes of each are split directly down the middle.

Another example of Shiva's apparent synthesis of male and female

attributes is seen in his earrings. He often wears one earring in the
style of a man and the other as a female.

Shiva is commonly depicted with a third eye. The third eye is a

symbol of higher consciousness. It is also something with which he
can destroy his enemies "with fire." He can also kill all the gods and
other creatures during the periodic destruction of the universe.
Shiva's third eye first appeared w hen Parvati, his wife, playfully
covered his other two eyes, therefore plunging the world into
darkness and putting it in danger of destruction.

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 CHAPTER IV
Shiva Temples and the journey of Shaivism
out of Bharat

Shaivism centers around Shiva,but there are numerous categories.

I. One sub-group is called Vedic-Puranic, who use the terms such as
"Shiva, Mahadeva, Maheshvara and others" synonymously, and they use
iconography such as the Linga, Nandi, Trishula (trident), as well as
anthropomorphic statues of Shiva in temples to help focus their
practices.
II. Another sub-group is called esoteric, which fuses it with
abstract Sivata (feminine energy) or Sivatva (neuter abstraction), wherein
the theology integrates the goddess (Shakti) and the god (Shiva) with
Tantra practices and Agama teachings. There is a considerable overlap
between these Shaivas and the Shakta Hindus.

Vedic elements
Rudra is used both as a name of Shiva and collectively ('the Rudras') as the
name for the Maruts.Maruts are 'storm gods' associated with the
atmosphere. They are a group of gods whose number varies from two to sixty,
sometimes also rendered as eleven, thirty-three or a hundred and eighty in
number (i. e., three times sixty. See RV 8.96.8.).
The Rudras are sometimes referred to as 'the sons of Rudra' while Rudra is
referred to as 'Father of the Maruts' (RV 2.33.1).
Rudra is mentioned along with a litany of other deities in RV 7.40.5. Here is the
reference to Rudra, whose name appears as one of many gods who are called
upon:
This Varuṇa, the leader of the rite, and the royal Mitra and Aryaman, uphold
my acts, and the divine unopposed Aditi, earnestly invoked: may they convey
us safe beyond evil. I propitiate with oblations the ramifications (vayāḥ) of that
divine attainable Viṣṇu, the showerer of benefits. Rudra, bestow upon us the
magnificence of his nature. The Aśvins have come down to our dwelling
abounding with (sacrificial) food.
One scholiast's[ interpretation of the Sanskrit word vayāḥ, meaning
'ramifications' or 'branches', is that all other deities are, as it were, branches
of Vishnu, but, Ralph T. H. Griffith cites Ludwig as saying, 'This [...] gives no
satisfactory interpretation' and cites other views which suggest that the text is
corrupt at that point.

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The Rigveda (~1500–1200 BCE) has the earliest clear mention of Rudra in its
hymns 2.33, 1.43 and 1.114. The text also includes a Satarudriya, an
influential hymn with embedded hundred epithets for Rudra, that is cited in
many medieval era Shaiva texts as well as recited in major Shiva temples of
Hindus in contemporary times. Yet, the Vedic literature only present scriptural
theology, but does not attest to the existence of Shaivism.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, likely composed before the Bhagavad
Gita about 4th century BCE contains the theistic foundations of Shaivism
wrapped in a monistic structure. It contains the key terms and ideas of
Shaivism, such as Shiva, Rudra, Maheswara, Guru, Bhakti, Yoga, Atman,
Brahman and self-knowledge.
Emergence of Shaivism- Rudra and Shiva

Kushan coin of Vima Kadphises (2nd century CE), with a possible Shiva, holding
a trident, in ithyphallic state and next to a bull, his mount, as in Shaivism. The deity
was described by the later Kushans in their coinage as "Oesho", a possible Zoroastrian
deity.
Shiva as known today shares many features with Rudra and Shiva and Rudra
are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are
used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed
in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.
The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to
between 1700 and 1100 BC based on linguistic and philological evidence. A
god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used
as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the 'Father of the Rudras', a
group of storm gods.
Hymn 10.92 of the Rigveda states that the deity Rudra has two natures, one
wild and cruel (rudra), and another that is kind and tranquil (shiva). The Vedic
texts do not mention a bull or any other animal as the vehicle (vahana) of
Rudra or of any other deities. On the other hand, post-Vedic texts such as the
Mahabharata and the Puranas mention Nandi the bull and the zebu as the
vehicles of Rudra and of Shiva, thereby unmistakably linking them as the
same.
According to Gavin Dennis Flood a British scholar of comparative
religion specialising in Shaivism and phenomenology, but with research interests
that span South Asian traditions in The_Saiva_Traditions, "the formation of
Śaiva traditions as we understand them begins to occur during the period from
200 BC to 100 AD."

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Non Brahmanical Shiva: Shiva was originally probably not a Brahmanical
god, but eventually came to be incorporated into the Brahmanical fold. The
pre-Vedic Shiva acquired a growing prominence as its cult assimilated
numerous "ruder faiths" and their mythologies, and the Epics and Puranas
preserve pre-Vedic myths and legends of these traditions assimilated by the
Shiva-cult. Shiva's growing prominence was facilitated by identification with a
number of Vedic deities, such as Purusha, Rudra, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Vāyu,
among others. The followers of Shiva were gradually accepted into the
Brahmanical fold, becoming allowed to recite some of the Vedic hymns.

Shiva in the 3rd century CE. Art of Mathura or Ahichchhatra. MAP OF Mauryan empire

Patanjali's Mahābhāṣya, dated to the 2nd century BCE, mentions the

term Shiva-bhagavata in section 5.2.76. Patanjali, while explaining Panini's
rules of grammar, states that this term refers to a devotee clad in animal skins
and carrying an ayah sulikah (iron spear, trident lance as an icon representing
his god. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad (late 1st mill. BCE) mentions terms
such as Rudra, Shiva, and Maheshwaram, but its interpretation as a theistic or
monistic text of Shaivism is disputed.In the early centuries of the common era
is the first clear evidence of Pāśupata Shaivism.
The Mahabharata mentions Shaiva ascetics, such as in chapters 4.13 and
13.140. Other evidence that is possibly linked to the importance of Shaivism in
ancient times are in epigraphy and numismatics, such as in the form of
prominent Shiva-like reliefs on Kushan Empire era gold coins. However, this is
controversial, as an alternate hypothesis for these reliefs is based
on Zoroastrian Oesho. According to Flood, coins dated to the ancient Greek,

89
Saka and Parthian kings who ruled parts of the Indian subcontinent after the
arrival of Alexander the Great also show Shiva iconography, but this evidence
is weak and subject to competing inferences.
The inscriptions found in the Himalayan region, such as those in the
Kathmandu valley of Nepal suggest that Shaivism (particularly Pashupata
monism) was established in this region during the Mauryas and the Guptas
reign of the Indian subcontinent, by the 5th century. These inscriptions have
been dated by modern techniques to between 466 and 645 CE.
Puranik Shaivism
During the Gupta Dynasty (c. 320–500 CE) the genre of Purana literature
developed in India, and many of these Puranas contain extensive chapters on
Shaivism – along with Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Smarta Traditions of Brahmins
and other topics – suggesting the importance of Shaivism by then. The most
important Shaiva Puranas of this period include the Shiva Purana and
the Linga Purana.

Gupta Architecture Mark Cartwright,2015

Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh

The Gupta Dynasty (4th-6th century) in North Central India saw the first
purpose-built Hindu (and also Buddhist) temples which evolved from the
earlier tradition of rock-cut shrines. Adorned with towers and elaborate
carvings, these temples were often dedicated to all the Hindu gods. Gupta
architecture is very diverse in style, design and features.
The diversity of Gupta buildings illustrates that Hindu temple architecture was
in its formative stage and was yet to arrive at the standardised situation of later
centuries. Nevertheless, the influence of Gupta-era buildings on later Indian
temple architecture is indisputable and continued right through to the
Medieval period. Unfortunately, relatively few of the large number of Gupta
temples built have survived.
Gupta Cave Shrines

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The earliest examples of religious architecture were cave-temples which
typically had exteriors decorated with relief sculpture and a single carved
doorway. Inside the shrine, ritual sculptures were placed such as
a Shiva linga (phallus) and the walls were richly decorated with more carvings
showing scenes from mythology. Notable examples are found at Udayagiri in
Madhya Pradesh where one cave bears a date mark of 401 CE. Here in one
shrine is one of the finest examples of Gupta art, the celebrated relief
showing Vishnu in his incarnation as the boar-headed Varaha. The panel
measures 7 x 4 metres and the central figure, carved almost in the round, is
emerging from the cosmic waters, having defeated a snake-like monster and
rescued the goddess Bhudevi (Earth). The scene, a famous Hindu myth, may
also be an allegorical reference to the peace and protection offered by the
Gupta kings.

Finally, mention should be made of the Ajanta caves, a row of 29 rock-cut

caves following the Waghora river bed ravine in north-west Deccan. Dating
from the 2nd century BCE to 7th century CE, they contain some of the earliest
and finest examples of Indian wall-painting. The subject matter is largely
scenes from the life of Buddha. Cave 1 contains a columned shrine in typical
Gupta style with flat cushion-topped column capitals. Cave 19 was built in the
5th century CE and has a Gupta-style chaitya (shrine) facade with columned
porch and large, almost semi-circular aperture above. The whole facade is
covered in rich carvings and relief panels showing scenes from Buddhist lore.

Cave 19, Ajanta, Deccan RIGHT Vishnu as Varaha, Udayagiri Caves

Gupta Temples: Materials & Features

91
Not satisfied with caves the Guptas were the first dynasty to build permanent
free-standing Hindu temples and so they began a long tradition of Indian
temple architecture. It is perhaps important to note here that Hindu temples
were not designed for congregations but rather as the dwelling place (devalaya)
of a deity. This decorated palace (prasada) allowed priests to give offerings to
the gods and individuals could also offer prayers, flowers, and food (puja),
usually to a sacred relic or statue representing a particular god which was
housed in a relatively small and windowless architectural space
(the garbhagriha). Believers would also walk around the temple in a ritual act
The Gupta style was influenced by Kusana, Mathura, and Gandhara and
borrowed the common features of T-shaped doorways, decorated door jambs,
sculpted panels with high-relief figures, and laurel-wreath and acanthus
motifs. Constructed using sandstone, granite, and brick, Gupta-era temples
added to this architectural heritage with horseshoe gavakshas arches and
distinctive curved shikhara towers which are frequently topped with a ribbed
disk ornamentation known as an amalaka. These elaborate buildings are
further decorated with a mass of ornate mouldings and sculptures set in
niches. In Gupta architecture, the square was considered the most perfect form
and temples were designed to be appreciated from all sides so that each carries
decorative architectural features.
Most temples also adopt a square plan with the single cubicle garbhagriha in
the centre. This is normally entered by a short columned porch set over a
single, highly decorated doorway with a projecting lintel. Columns can support
a pot-and-foliage capital, and roofs were generally flat, as in surviving examples
at Tigawa and Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh. Other typical Gupta decorative
features include triangle motifs inside doorways and lion's heads at the ends of
stone beams.

Vishnu Anantasayana Panel, Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh (RIGHT)

The temple at Bhitargaon in Uttar Pradesh

Whether all temples had a second floor is difficult to determine, due to their
often ruinous condition. The late 5th century CE Parvati temple at Nachna
Kuthara is notable for its surviving second-story shrine room. From the 6th

92
century CE, Gupta temples were built on a platform (jagati) and a good
example is the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh in Madhya Pradesh. At Deogarh
the platform had reliefs running around it depicting scenes from
the Ramayana epic poem. In the centre of the jagati stood the principal shrine,
which was without windows and accessed by a flight of steps on all four sides.
Four lesser shrines stand at each corner of the complex.
Typical of the period in general, Gupta temples were dedicated to a large
number of Hindu gods rather than a single deity. Accordingly, architectural
sculpture represents a wide range of gods in scenes from Hindu mythology. The
doorway to the square sanctuary tower of the Dashavatara temple is a fine
example and carries sculpture of Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, Ganga, and Yamuna,
as well as attendants and mithuna couples. The temple also carries one of the
most famous sculptural panels from ancient India, the Vishnu Anantasayana
panel. The scene contains many gods but is dominated by a sleeping Vishnu
who rests on the multi-headed serpent Ananta and floats on the waters of
oblivion whilst from his navel sprouts a lotus leaf on which sits Brahma, the
god of creation.

. (Harle, 115). https://www.worldhistory.org/Gupta_Architecture/

A tetrastyle prostyle Gupta period temple at Sanchi besides the Apsidal hall with Maurya foundation, an example
of Buddhist architecture. 5th century CE. RIGHT The current structure of the Mahabodhi Temple dates to the
Gupta era, 5th century CE. Marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

The Gupta period is generally regarded as a classic peak of North Indian art for all
the major religious groups. Although painting was evidently widespread, the
surviving works are almost all religious sculpture. The period saw the emergence
of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, as well as the Buddha-figure
and Jain tirthankara figures, the latter often on a very large scale. The two great
centres of sculpture were Mathura and Gandhara, the latter the centre of Greco-
Buddhist art. Both exported sculpture to other parts of northern India.
The most famous remaining monuments in a broadly Gupta style, the caves
at Ajanta, Elephanta, and Ellora (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, and mixed
including Jain) were in fact produced under later dynasties, but primarily reflect
the monumentality and balance of Guptan style. Ajanta contains by far the most

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significant survivals of painting from this and the surrounding periods, showing a
mature form which had probably had a long development, mainly in painting
palaces. The Hindu Udayagiri Caves actually record connections with the dynasty
and its ministers, and the Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh is a major temple, one
of the earliest to survive, with important sculpture

Shivaism in Uzbekisthan

Shiva with Trisula, worshipped in Central Asia. Penjikent, Uzbekistan, 7th–8th

century CE. Hermitage Museum./

Shaivism was popular in Sogdiana and Eastern Turkestan as found from the
wall painting from Penjikent on the river Zervashan. In this depiction, Lord
Shiva is portrayed with a sacred halo and a sacred thread ("Yajnopavita"). He is
clad in tiger skin while his attendants are wearing Sodgian dress. In Eastern
Turkestan in the Taklamakan Desert. There is a depiction of his four-legged
seated cross-legged n a cushioned seat supported by two bulls.

Panjakent. The archaeological site of the ruins of old Penjikent - a walled inter-
city which stood 2500-years ago - was once a Sogdian trading city on the Silk
Road. Today, only ruins are left owing to the fact that the main construction
material was clay-bricks. Often referred to as The Pompeii of Central Asia.
Duplicates of old Sogdian art are exposed in the nearby museum. Ancient
Panjakent was divided into a shakhrestan (residental quarter) covering an
area of about 13 hectares, an ark (citadel) with a palace, covering an area of 1
ha, a rabat (suburb pulular district) and a necropolis
Two temples in the shakhrestan formed the center of the urban area. The two
temples contained statues and mural paintings. During the 5th and 6th
centuries, no building in Panjakent was as magnificient as the two temples and
even the houses of the wealthiest residents seemed rather humble compared to

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the two temples. It is here where the archaologists discovered many
exceptional mural paintings. These paintings date from the 5th to to the 8th
century and are considered the most important works of early medieval art in
Central Asia before the arrival of Islam.
The most common motif of the reliefs in the ceiling were arched niches with
figures of the gods, including the sun-god in his chariot. The wall paintings on
the other three walls were much smaller than the gods facing the main
entrance. They formed two or three friezes depicting royal feasts, hunting
scenes, the heroic deeds of Rostam, local heroes, amazons or persons from the
Indian epic Mahabarata.
There is, however, some evidence of the presence of Christianity and Buddhism
and eventually even of the cult of Shiva. It was also influenced by Sasanian
ideas of the royal attributes of gods and observed some Hinduistic features as
well. The iconography took its final form in the 5th and 6th centuries. Each
household had its own divine protector, but all gods formed part of a single
pantheon, as can be seen from wall paintings depicting several deities side by
side. The three-headed god of the wind Veshparkar, who resembles Shiva, and
the four-handed Nana riding on a lion or seated on a throne in the shape of a
lion can easiliy be recognized. Altogether, more than 20 deities can be found on
small terracotta images, murals, woodcarvings and clay figurines. The images
of Nana, a god sitting on a throne in the shape of a camel and of a god standing
over a fallen demon are most common.

3 headed Shiva

There is evidence of Hindu influence beyond Afghanistan, beyond the Oxus

river (Amu Darya), and well into Central Asia. Along the Silk Road was an
ancient country called Sogdia that comprised today’s Uzebkistan and parts of
Tajikistan. Their language Sogdian was part of the Eastern Iranian family of
languages and written is Aramaic script. The land is mentioned in Tang
dynasty chronicles as well as by Greek writers. They had the usual Central
Asian religions of Manichaeism, Nestorianism, and Buddhism. But what is
interesting is that, till 8th century, a country that would have the hometowns
of both the future Timur (Samarkand) and Babur (Ferghana) would also have
an unmistakable influence of Hinduism. This is remarkable considering no
Indian text ever claimed ruling these places and Sogdia was outside of Kushan
empire as well.
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They had cults of 5 Hindu gods: Brahma, Indra, Mahadeva, Vaisravana,
Narayana. Being an Iranian people, they identified many of these with Iranian
gods such as Veshparkar (Vesh is from Vayush - Avestan for Vayu). But
depictions of these Iranian gods were mostly like Hindu gods. Some like
Narayana did not have any Iranian cognate.
There is evidence of Hindu influence beyond Afghanistan, beyond the Oxus
river (Amu Darya), and well into Central Asia.

Along the Silk Road was an ancient country called Sogdia that comprised
today’s Uzebkistan and parts of Tajikistan. Their language Sogdian was part of
the Eastern Iranian family of languages and written is Aramaic script. The land
is mentioned in Tang dynasty chronicles as well as by Greek writers. They had
the usual Central Asian religions of Manichaeism, Nestorianism, and
Buddhism. But what is interesting is that, till 8th century, a country that
would have the hometowns of both the future Timur (Samarkand) and Babur
(Ferghana) would also have an unmistakable influence of Hinduism. This is
remarkable considering no Indian text ever claimed ruling these places and
Sogdia was outside of Kushan empire as well.

They had cults of 5 Hindu gods: Brahma, Indra, Mahadeva, Vaisravana,

Narayana. Being an Iranian people, they identified many of these with Iranian
gods such as Veshparkar (Vesh is from Vayush - Avestan for Vayu). But
depictions of these Iranian gods were mostly like Hindu gods. Some like
Narayana did not have any Iranian cognate.

Above Dushanbe - National Museum of Antiquities - Shiva and Parvati -

Penjikent, 5th-8th c AD. RIGHT One can notice the sacred thread on
Shiva and Nandi.
No empire based out of India ever really conquered Tajikistan. The one that
probably got the closest is the Mughal Empire or the Mauryan Empire.

96
The Mauryan Empire. Note that the empire does not control the region of Tajikistan at
all.

Hinduism is not believed to have ever been a dominant religion in Tajikistan.

There is much evidence that points to Zoroastrianism having been the
dominant religion. Much of the region of modern-day Tajikistan was historically
a part of the Sogdian Civilization. Nothing to do with India really. Except for
trade.

Sogdia. RIGHT Reception hall as reconstructed by Marshak and IT student team from
Japn.Deities represented Indian religion

97
Most of the Gupta kings, beginning with Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya)
(375-413 CE) were known as Parama Bhagavatas
or Bhagavata Vaishnavas and had been ardent promoters of Vaishnavism. The
high points of this period are the great cultural developments which took place
primarily during the reigns of Samudragupta, Chandragupta II and
Kumaragupta I. Many of the literary sources, such
as Mahabharata and Ramayana, were canonised during this period. The Gupta
period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira,
and Vatsyayana who made great advancements in many academic
fields. Science and political administration reached new heights during the
Gupta era. The period gave rise to achievements in architecture, sculpture, and
painting that "set standards of form and taste [that] determined the whole
subsequent course of art, not only in India but far beyond her
borders".[12] Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural centre
and established the region as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms
and regions in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The Puranas, earlier long poems
on a variety of subjects, are also thought to have been committed to written
texts around this period. Hinduism was followed by the rulers and the
Brahmins flourished in the Gupta empire but the Guptas tolerated people of
other faiths as well. Ritualistic sacrifices were reduced in the Gupta period.
The empire eventually died out because of many factors such as substantial
loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile
feudatories, as well as the invasion by the Huna peoples (Kidarites and Alchon
Huns) from Central Asia. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th
century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms.1
Garuda (Sanskrit: गरुड Garuḍa; Pāli: गरुळ Garuḷa), also Galon or Nan
Belu in Burmese and Karura in Japanese, is a legendary bird or bird-like
creature in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faith. He is variously the vehicle mount
(vahana) of the Hindu god Vishnu, a dharma-protector and Astasena in
Buddhism, and the Yaksha of the Jain Tirthankara Shantinatha.The Brahminy
kite is considered as the contemporary representation of Garuda.
Garuda is described as the king of birds and a kite-like figure. He is shown
either in zoomorphic form (giant bird with partially open wings) or an
anthropomorphic form (man with wings and some bird features). Garuda is
generally a protector with the power to swiftly go anywhere, ever watchful and
an enemy of the serpent. He is also known as Tarkshya and Vynateya

1.Mukherjee, S. (1957). THE GUPTA KINGS AND THE SPREAD OF VAISHNAVISM

IN GREATER INDIA. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 20, 89-93.
Retrieved August 20, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44304446

98
Garuda is a part of state insignia in India, Thailand, and Indonesia.
The Indonesian official coat of arms is centered on the Garuda. The national
emblem of Indonesia is called Garuda Pancasila. The Indian Air Force also uses
the Garuda in their Guards Brigade coat of arms and named their special
operations unit after it as Garud Commando Force.[10] It is often associated
with the Greater adjutant stork (Leptoptilos dubius)
But following the Huna invasions, especially those of the Alchon Huns circa
500 CE, the Gupta Empire declined and fragmented, ultimately collapsing
completely, with the effect of discrediting Vaishnavism, the religion it had been
so ardently promoting. The newly arising regional powers in central and
northern India, such as the Aulikaras, the Maukharis, the Maitrakas,
the Kalacuris or the Vardhanas preferred adopting Shaivism instead, giving a
strong impetus to the development of the worship of Shiva, and its ideology of
power.[71] Vaisnavism remained strong mainly in the territories which had not
been affected by these events: South India and Kashmir.

Prevalance of SHIVA Temples

In the early 7th century the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang (Huen Tsang)
visited India and wrote a memoir in Chinese that mentions the prevalence of
Shiva temples all over North Indian subcontinent, including in the Hindu
Kush region such as Nuristan. Between the 5th and 11th century CE, major
Shaiva temples had been built in central, southern and eastern regions of the
subcontinent, including those at Badami cave temples, Aihole, Elephanta
Caves, Ellora Caves (Kailasha, cave 16), Khajuraho, Bhuvaneshwara,
Chidambaram, Madurai, and Conjeevaram.
Major scholars of competing Hindu traditions from the second half of the 1st
millennium CE, such as Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta and Ramanuja of
Vaishnavism, mention several Shaiva sects, particularly the four groups:
Pashupata, Lakulisha, tantric Shaiva and Kapalika. The description is
conflicting, with some texts stating the tantric, puranik and Vedic traditions of
Shaivism to be hostile to each other while others suggest them to be amicable
sub-traditions. Some texts state that Kapalikas reject the Vedas and are
involved in extreme experimentation, while others state the Shaiva sub-
traditions revere the Vedas but are non-Puranik.
South India

99
The 7th to 8th-century Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It
features thousands of Shaivism-related sculptures/ Gudimallam Lingam with Shiva standing on
Apasmara, variously dated from the 2nd century BCE to the 7th century CE.

Shaivism was likely the predominant tradition in South India, co-existing with
Buddhism and Jainism, before the Vaishnava Alvars launched the Bhakti
movement in the 7th-century, and influential Vedanta scholars such
as Ramanuja developed a philosophical and organizational framework that
helped Vaishnava expand. Though both traditions of Hinduism have ancient
roots, given their mention in the epics such as the Mahabharata, Shaivism
flourished in South India much earlier.
The Mantramarga of Shaivism, provided a template for the later though
independent and highly influential Pancaratrika treatises of Vaishnava. This is
evidenced in Hindu texts such as
the Isvarasamhita, Padmasamhita and Paramesvarasamhita.
Along with the Himalayan region stretching from Kashmir through Nepal, the
Shaiva tradition in South India has been one of the largest sources of preserved
Shaivism-related manuscripts from ancient and medieval India. The region was
also the source of Hindu arts, temple architecture, and merchants who helped
spread Shaivism into southeast Asia in early 1st millennium CE.

THE CULT OF SHIVA IN SOUTH INDIA

Kings and queens of the Chola dynasty (9th - 13th centuries) patronized the
construction of great temples, with a special emphasis on Shiva and his circle.
During this era, bronze images of major deities were produced for temple
worship and ritual procession.

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The DMA’s the Shiva Nataraja— Lord of the Dance—is an example of this type
of bronze image. Shiva is surrounded by flames, symbolizing his energy and
vitality, as well as his destructive force. His upper hands hold the flame that
symbolizes the dissolution of creation, and the drum that beats out the rhythm
of the universe. His hair is the Ganges, mother of rivers, within which is
Shiva’s emblem, the crescent moon. The gestures of his lower hands offer
reassurance and blessing. One of his feet is pressed firmly on the demon of
ignorance, while the other is raised in a sign offering refuge and grace. While
the circular composition represents the endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth,
Shiva himself offers transcendence.

Sambandar, a Shaivite saint from

Tamil Nadu who lived around the 7th century, is recorded in the Tevaram, a
collection of devotional poetry dedicated to Shiva, as saying of the god:
If one worships him for as long as the soul shines in the body the troubles of the
mind will be gone.
While another Shaivite saint from the same time and place, Appar, said of
Shiva:
If you could see the arch of his brow, the budding smile on lips red as
the kovvai fruit, cool matted hair, the milk- white ash on coral skin, and the

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sweet golden foot raised up in dance, then even human birth on this wide earth
would become a thing worth having.
Aspects of these great visions of Shiva appear in two other south Indian works
in the collection. The bronze Chandrashekhara Shiva (PG.2007.1) shows the
god with the crescent moon in his hair, representing time in its waxing and
waning, as well as alluding to soma, the elixir of immortality. The gestures of
his two lower hands refer to the god’s gifts of blessing and release.
The Chola image of the bull Nandi (2010.6) would have appeared before a Shiva
temple to protect the temple doorway and welcome worshippers.
Adapted from
"The Cult of Shiva in South India," in Anne R. Bromberg, The Arts of India,
South East Asia, and the Himalayas (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Have:
Yale University Press, 2013), 74.
There are tens of thousands of Hindu temples where Shiva is either the
primary deity or reverentially included in anthropomorphic or aniconic form
(lingam, or svayambhu). Numerous historic Shaiva temples have survived in
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Certain regions
have a greater density of Shiva temples, such as in the Thanjavur region
of Tamil Nadu, where numerous Shaiva temples were built during
the Chola empire era, between 800 and 1200 CE. Gudimallam is the oldest
known lingam and has been dated to between 3rd to 1st-century BCE. It is a
carved five feet high stone lingam with an anthropomorphic image of Shiva on
one side. This ancient lingam is in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
Southeast Asia

An image collage of 1st millennium CE Shaivism icons and temples from

Southeast Asia (top left): Shiva in yoga pose, Nandi, Prambanan temple, Yoni-
Linga and Hindu temple layout.

Shaivism arrived in a major way in southeast Asia from south India, and to
much lesser extent into China and Tibet from the Himalayan region. It co-
developed with Buddhism in this region, in many cases. For example, in

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the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, a few caves include Shaivism
ideas. The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha
Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples
25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a
religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China.
The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is
also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and
around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha
Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves.
The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a
period of 1,000 years.[2] The first caves were dug out in AD 366 as places of
Buddhist meditation and worship. The Mogao Caves are the best known of
the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang
Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of
China. Dunhuang was established as a frontier garrison outpost by the Han
Dynasty Emperor Wudi to protect against the Xiongnu in 111 BC. It also
became an important gateway to the West, a centre of commerce along the Silk
Road, as well as a meeting place of various people and religions such
as Buddhism. The construction of the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang is
generally taken to have begun sometime in the fourth century AD. According to
a book written during the reign of Tang Empress Wu, Fokan Ji (佛龕記, An
Account of Buddhist Shrines) by Li Junxiu (李君修), a Buddhist monk named Lè
Zūn (樂尊, which may also be pronounced Yuezun) had a vision of a
thousand Buddhas bathed in golden light at the site in 366 AD, inspiring him
to build a cave here.
Architecture
The caves are examples of rock-cut architecture, the local rock is a rather
soft gravel conglomerate that is not suitable for either sculpture or elaborate
architectural details. Many of the early caves were developed from earlier
Buddhist rock-cut chaitya styles seen in places such as the Ajanta Caves in
India, with a square-sectioned central column, with sculpture in niches,
representing the stupa round which worshippers
may circumambulate (parikrama) and gain blessings. Others are hall caves
influenced by traditional Chinese and Buddhist temple architecture. These
caves may have a truncated pyramidal ceiling sometimes painted to resemble a
tent, or they may have a flat or gabled ceiling that imitates traditional
buildings. Some of the caves used for meditation are adaptations of the
Indian vihara (monastery) cave plan and contain side-chambers just large
enough for one person to sit in.

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Dunhuang, Gansu, China

Photo showing Cave 16 and

the manuscripts piled up
for Aurel Stein near the
entrance to Cave 17, the
“library cave”.1907

The epigraphical and cave arts evidence suggest that Shaiva Mahesvara and
Mahayana Buddhism had arrived in Indo-China region in the Funan period, that is in
the first half of the 1st millennium CE. In Indonesia, temples at archaeological sites
and numerous inscription evidence dated to the early period (400 to 700 CE), suggest
that Shiva was the highest god. This co-existence of Shaivism and Buddhism in Java
continued through about 1500 CE when both Hinduism and Buddhism were replaced
with Islam and persists today in the province of Bali.
The Shaivist and Buddhist traditions overlapped significantly in southeast Asia,
particularly in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam between the 5th and the 15th-
century. Shaivism and Shiva held the paramount position in ancient Java, Sumatra,
Bali, and neighboring islands, though the sub-tradition that developed creatively
integrated more ancient beliefs that pre-existed.[92] In the centuries that followed, the
merchants and monks who arrived in Southeast Asia, brought Shaivism, Vaishnavism
and Buddhism, and these developed into a syncretic, mutually supporting form of
traditions.

The spread of Hinduism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Hinduism and Buddhism exerted an enormous influence on the civilizations of

Southeast Asia and contributed greatly to the development of a written
tradition in that area. About the beginning of the Common Era, Indian
merchants may have settled there, bringing Brahmans and Buddhist monks

104
with them. These religious men were patronized by rulers who converted to
Hinduism or Buddhism. The earliest material evidence of Hinduism in
Southeast Asia comes from Borneo, where late 4th-century Sanskrit
inscriptions testify to the performance of Vedic sacrifices by Brahmans at the
behest of local chiefs. Chinese chronicles attest an Indianized kingdom in
Vietnam two centuries earlier. The dominant form of Hinduism exported to
Southeast Asia was Shaivism, though some Vaishnavism was also known
there. Later, from the 9th century onward, Tantrism, both Hindu and
Buddhist, spread throughout the region.

Beginning in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, many of the early
kingdoms in Southeast Asia adopted and adapted specific Hindu texts,
theologies, rituals, architectural styles, and forms of social organization that
suited their historical and social conditions. It is not clear whether this
presence came about primarily through slow immigration and settlement by
key personnel from India or through visits to India by Southeast Asians who
took elements of Indian culture back home. Hindu and Buddhist traders,
priests, and, occasionally, princes traveled to Southeast Asia from India in the
first few centuries of the Common Era and eventually settled there. Enormous
temples to Shiva and Vishnu were built in the ancient Khmer empire, attesting
to the power and prestige of Hindu traditions in the region. Angkor Wat, built
in the 12th century in what is now Cambodia, was originally consecrated to
Vishnu, although it was soon converted to (and is still in use as) a Buddhist
temple. One of the largest Hindu temples ever built, it contains the largest bas-
relief in the world, depicting the churning of the ocean of milk, a minor theme
of Indian architecture but one of the dominant narratives in Khmer temples.

Despite the existence in Southeast Asia of Hindu temples and iconography as

well as Sanskrit inscriptions, the nature and extent of Hindu influence upon
the civilizations of the region is fiercely debated by contemporary scholars.
Whereas early 20th-century scholars wrote about the Indianization of
Southeast Asia, those of the late 20th and early 21st centuries argued that this
influence was very limited and affected only a small cross section of the elite. It
is nevertheless certain that divinity and royalty were closely connected in
Southeast Asian civilizations and that several Hindu rituals were used to
valorize the powers of the monarch.

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 CHAPTER V
SHIVA IN INDONESIA
Indonesia
In Balinese Hinduism, Dutch ethnographers further subdivided Siwa
(shaivaites) Sampradaya" into five – Kemenuh, Keniten, Mas, Manuba and Petapan.
This classification was to accommodate the observed marriage between higher caste
Brahmana men with lower caste women.
Hindu Temples of Bali (Indonesia):Based on the inscriptions that have been
found, it can be said that recorded Balinese history began in the 8th century
ACE. Among Balinese kings, many of whom left written statements that also
alluded to the picture of the composition of government at that time were
Udayana, Jayapangus, Jayasakti, and Anak Wungsu. In the Blanjong
Inscription (913 AD) made during the reign of Sri Kesari Warmadewa used the
word 'Walidwipa' which refers to Bali.

Introduction to Temples
In contrast to the temples in Java, the temples in Bali (called the Pura), are
part of the life of Balinese people who are predominantly Hindus. Pura in Bali
is a place of Hindu worship. Every Hindu family has a family temple to
worship Hyang Widhi (Supreme God) and family ancestors, so the number of
temples on the island of Bali amounts to thousands.
Types of Temples
Pura Kahyangan Desa. Each village generally has three main temples called
Pura Tiga Kahyangan or Tri Kahyangan Temple (tri = three), which is the
temple of Sang Hyang Widi Wasa's worship in three manifestations of His
power: Pura Desa to worship the Lord Brahma, Pura Puseh to worship Lord
Vishnu, and Pura Dalem to worship the God Shiva. Pura Desa is also called
Bale Agung, because the temple is generally located in the center of this
village is also used as a place to carry out village deliberations.

Pura Kahyangan Jagat. Kahyangan Temple is a place where the general

public worships God in all its embodiments as well as places to worship the
spirits of the forefathers. Which is included in the temple of Kahyangan Jagat,
among others, is Pura Shad Kahyangan (shad = six), the temple which is
located in six great Kahyangan locations in Bali. Pura Shad Khayangan
consists of: Uluwatu Luhur Temple, Lempuyang Temple, Goa Lawah Temple,
Batukaru Temple, Pura Bukit Pengalengan and Besakih Temple. Pura Shad
Kahyangan is believed to be the spiritual island of Bali and is a center of
religious activity. In these famous temples Lord Shiva is worshipped.

In addition to Sad Kahyangan Temple, which belongs to the category of

Kahyangan Jagat is the Dhang Kahyangan Temple, a temple built by
spiritual leaders in the past. Most of the Dhang Kahyangan Temple has a
close connection with Dhang Hyang Nirartha, a Hindu (Hindu priest) of the

106
Majapahit Kingdom. During the reign of Dalem Waturenggong, around 1411
Saka (1489 ACE), Dhang Hyang Nirartha, also known as Dhang Hyang
Dwijendra, held a spiritual journey around Bali, Nusa Penida and Lombok. In
some places Dhang Hyang Hyang Nirartha visited several temples, such as
Uluwatu Temple, Rambut Siwi Temple, etc. He is held in high esteem in Bali
and these temples visited by him are also celebrated temples.

Pura Luhur. Almost every district in Bali has Pura Luhur (Luhur - High), the
temple whose Brahmotsava (The special/installation day) is commemorated
by the people by way of organizing piodalan involving thousands of people.
Tanah Lot Temple, Goa Lawah, and Pura Uluwatu are also included in the
pura nuh luhur category.
Pura Kawitan. This temple is a place of worship for family ancestors.
Included in this category are: Sanggah-Pengerajan, Pratiwi, Paibon, Panti,
Dadia or Dalem Dadia, Upgrading Dadia, and Pedharman. The history of pura
kawitan can not be separated from the history of the kingdoms in Bali.

Swagina temple. This temple is a place of worship for a community group

with a particular profession or livelihood. For example, Pura Melanting is a
temple for traders, Pura Subak for farmer groups, etc.

Design of the Puras

Balinese temple layout, arranged in three zones (mandalas)
Unlike the common towering indoor Indian Hindu temple, puras are designed
as an open air place of worship within enclosed walls (like in Kerala),
connected with a series of intricately decorated gates between its compounds.
These walled compounds contain several shrines, meru (towers),
and bale (pavilions). The design, plan and layout of the pura follows
the trimandala concept of Balinese space allocation. Three mandala zones
arranged according to a sacred hierarchy:
1. Nista mandala (jaba pisan): the outer zone, which directly connects the
pura compound with the outer realm, and the entrance to the temple.
This zone usually takes the form of an open field or a garden that can be
used for religious dance performances, or act as an additional space for
preparations during religious festivals.
2. Madya mandala (jaba tengah): the middle zone of the temple, where
the activity of adherents takes place, and also the location for supporting
facilities of the temple. In this zone usually several pavilions are built,
such as the bale kulkul (wooden Slit drum tower), bale
gong(gamelan pavilion), wantilan (meeting pavilion), bale pesandekan,
and bale perantenan, the temple's kitchen.
3. Utama mandala (jero): the holiest and the most sacred zone within the
pura. This enclosed and typically highest of the compounds usually
contains a padmasana, the towering lotus throne of the highest
god, Acintya (the Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa, or "All-in-one God", in modern

107
 Balinese), the pelinggih meru (a multi-tiered tower-shrine), and several
pavilions, such as bale pawedan (vedic chanting pavilion), bale
piyasan, bale pepelik (offering pavilion), bale panggungan, bale murda,
and gedong penyimpenan (storehouse of the temple's relics).
However, the layout rules for arrangements the facilities of the two outer
zones, nista mandala and madya mandala, are somewhat flexible. Several
structures, such as the bale kulkul, could be built as outer corner tower;
also, the perantenan (temple's kitchen) could be located in the Nista mandala.

Jaba means "outside." This is the first courtyard of a Balinese temple. One
enters it through the split gate (A) or candi bentar. It serves as an
antechamber for social gatherings and ritual preparations. Contains
thatched-roofed storage sheds, bale for food preparation, etc.
Jeroan means "inside." The inner courtyard of a Balinese temple, the
temple proper. Here are all the shrines, altars, and meru towers that serve as
temporary places for the gods during their visits to Bali. This enclosure,
behind the closed gate (paduraksa), is the "holy of the holiest."
A) candi bentar -The split gate, two halves of a solid, elaborately carved
tower cut clean through the middle, each half separated to allow entrance into
the temple. Its form is probably derived from the ancient candi of Java.
B) kulkul - a tall alarm tower with a wooden split drum, to announce
happenings in the temple or to warn of danger
C) paon - the kitchen, where offerings are prepared
D) bale gong - a shed or pavilion where the gamelan is kept
E) bale - for pilgrims and worshippers
F) paduraksa - A second, closed ceremonial gateway, guarded by raksasa,
leading to the inner courtyard (jeroan). This massive monumental gate is
similar in design to the candi bentarbut is raised high off the ground on a
stone platform with a narrow entrance reached by a flight of steps. Often
behind the door is a stone wall which is meant to block demons from entering
the jeroan This gate is only opened when there's a ceremony in progress.
G) side gate - aIways open to allow entrance to the jeroan
H) paruman (or pepelik) - a pavilion in the middle of the jeroan which serves
as a communal seat for the gods

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I & J) shrines for Ngrurah Alit and Ngrurah Gede, secretaries to the gods,
who make sure that the proper offerings are made to the gods
K) gedong pesimpangan - a masonry building with (usually) locked wooden
doors dedicated to the local deity, the ancestor founder of the village
L) padmasan - the stone throne for the sun-god Surya, almost always located
in the uppermost right hand corner of the temple, its back fadng the holy
mountain Gunung Agung. Sometimes there's a shrine for Shiva, Vishnu, and
Brahma here as well.
M) meru - a three-roofed shrine for Gunung Agung, the holiest and highest
mountain of Bali
N) meru - an 11-roofed shrine dedicated to Sanghyang Widhi, the highest
Balinese deity
O) meru - a one-roofed shrine dedicated to Gunung Batur, a sacred mountain
in northern Bangli Regency
P) Maospait Shrine - dedicated to the divine settlers of Bali from the
Majapahit Empire. The symbol of these totemic gods is the deer, so this
shrine can be recognized by the sculpture of a deer's head or stylized antlers.
Q) taksu - The seat for the interpreter of the deities. The taksu inhabits the
bodies of mediums and speaks through them to announce the wishes of the
gods to the people. Sometimes the medium is an entranced dancer.
R & S) bale piasan - simple sheds for offerings.

The Prambanan temple

The Prambanan temple is the largest Hindu temple of ancient Java, and the
first building was completed in the mid-9th century. It was likely started
by Rakai Pikatan and inaugurated by his successor King Lokapala. Some
historians that adhere to dual dynasty theory; suggest that the construction of
Prambanan probably was meant as the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty's answer to the
Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty's Borobudur and Sewu temples nearby. Which
means to mark the return of the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty to power in Central
Java after almost a century of Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty domination.
Nevertheless, the construction of this massive Hindu temple did signifies a shift
of the Medang court's patronage;
from Mahayana Buddhism to Shaivite Hinduism.
A temple was first built at the site around 850 CE by Rakai Pikatan and
expanded extensively by King Lokapala and Balitung Maha
Sambu the Sanjaya king of the Mataram Kingdom. A short red-paint script
bearing the name "pikatan" was found on one of the finials on top of the
balustrade of Shiva temple, which confirms that King Pikatan was responsible
for the initiation of the temple construction.[5]:22
The temple complex is linked to the Shivagrha inscription of 856 CE, issued by
King Lokapala, which described a Shiva temple compound that resembles

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Prambanan. According to this inscription the Shiva temple was inaugurated on
12 November 856. According to this inscription, the temple was built to honor
Lord Shiva, and its original name was Shiva-grha (the House of Shiva) or Shiva-
laya (the Realm of Shiva).
According to the Shivagrha inscription, a public water project to change the
course of a river near Shivagrha temple was undertaken during the
construction of the temple. The river, identified as the Opak River, now runs
north to south on the western side of the Prambanan temple compound.
Historians suggest that originally the river was curved further to east and was
deemed too near to the main temple. Experts suggest that the shift of the river
was meant to secure the temple complex from the overflowing of lahar volcanic
materials from Merapi volcano. The project was done by cutting the river along
a north to south axis along the outer wall of the Shivagrha Temple compound.
The former river course was filled in and made level to create a wider space for
the temple expansion, the space for rows of pervara (complementary) temples.

The statue of Shiva Mahadeva inside the garbagriha of the main temple.

Some archaeologists propose that the statue of Shiva in

the garbhagriha (central chamber) of the main temple was modelled after King
Balitung, serving as a depiction of his deified self after death. The temple
compound was expanded by successive Mataram kings, such as Daksa
and Tulodong, with the addition of hundreds of perwara temples around the
chief temple.
With main prasada tower soaring up to 47 metres high, a vast walled temple
complex consists of 240 structures, Shivagrha Trimurti temple was the tallest
and the grandest of its time.[1] Indeed the temple complex is the largest Hindu

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temple in ancient Java, with no other Javanese temples ever surpassed its
scale. Prambanan served as the royal temple of the Kingdom of Mataram, with
most of the state's religious ceremonies and sacrifices being conducted there.
At the height of the kingdom, scholars estimate that hundreds
of brahmins with their disciples lived within the outer wall of the temple
compound. The urban center and the court of Mataram were located nearby,
somewhere in the Prambanan Plain.

Prambanan Temple
Compoundshttps://whc.unesco.org/en/list/642/
Built in the 10th century, this is the largest temple compound dedicated to
Shiva in Indonesia. Rising above the centre of the last of these concentric
squares are three temples decorated with reliefs illustrating the epic of
the Ramayana, dedicated to the three great Hindu divinities (Shiva, Vishnu
and Brahma) and three temples dedicated to the animals who serve them.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

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Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
Prambanan Temple Compounds consist of Prambanan Temple (also called Loro
Jonggrang), Sewu Temple, Bubrah Temple and Lumbung Temple. Prambanan
Temple itself is a complex consisting of 240 temples. All the mentioned temples
form the Prambanan Archaeological Park and were built during the heyday of
Sailendra’s powerful dynasty in Java in the 8th century AD. These compounds
are located on the border between the two provinces of Yogyakarta and Central
Java on Java Island.
While Loro Jonggrang, dating from the 9th century, is a brilliant example of
Hindu religious bas-reliefs, Sewu, with its four pairs of Dwarapala giant
statues, is Indonesia’s largest Buddhist complex including the temples of
Lumbung, Bubrah and Asu (Gana temple). The Hindu temples are decorated
with reliefs illustrating the Indonesian version of the Ramayana epic which are
masterpieces of stone carvings. These are surrounded by hundreds of shrines
that have been arranged in three parts showing high levels of stone building
technology and architecture from the 8th century AD in Java. With over 500
temples, Prambanan Temple Compounds represents not only an architectural
and cultural treasure, but also a standing proof of past religious peaceful
cohabitation.
Criterion (i): Prambanan Temple Compounds presents the grandiose culture of
Siva art as a masterpiece of the classical period in Indonesia, and the region.
Criterion (iv): The property is an outstanding religious complex, characteristic
of Siva expression of the 10th century.
Integrity

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Prambanan Temple Compounds comprises of two groups of buildings which
includes Loro Jonggrang, Sewu complexes, Lumbung, Bubrah and Asu (Gana).
The 508 stone temples of various shapes and sizes are either in a complete and
preserved condition or have been retained as ruins. This site includes all
elements necessary to express its exceptional significance and is well
maintained. There are no threats of development or neglect; however the area is
prone to natural threats such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
Authenticity
Prambanan Temple Compounds contains the original structures that were
built in the 9th century AD. The temples collapsed due to earthquake, volcanic
eruption and a shift of political power in the early 11th century, and they were
rediscovered in the 17th century. These compounds have never been displaced
or changed. Restoration works have been conducted since 1918, both in
original traditional method of interlocking stone and modern methods using
concrete to strengthen the temple structure. Even though extensive restoration
works have been done in the past and as recently as after the 2006
earthquake, great care has been taken to retain the authenticity of the
structures.
Protection and management requirements
The property has been designated as a National Cultural Property in 1998 and
the national law issued in 2010 also supports the protection and conservation
of the property. Management of Prambanan Temple Compounds is
accommodated in the Presidential Decree of 1992 that established the 77 ha
that encompasses the property under central government ownership. This area
is divided into two zones. The management of Zone 1 or the area within the
boundary is conducted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism under two
different regional offices, namely the Archaeological Preservation Office of
Yogyakarta and Central Java. The Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko
Tourism Park Ltd. are responsible for Zone 2 which comprises the buffer zone.
In order to implement standard operations for the safeguarding of the property,
the government has established a regulation concerning national vital object
area. All regulations have been well enforced and implemented.
In order to improve the management of the property, government issued the
law in 2007 and government regulation of 2008 concerning national spatial
planning which means that spatial planning in World Cultural Heritage area
will be prioritized. Prambanan site has been established as one of the strategic
national area which consists of Prambanan temple Compounds and others
related temple remains. To ensure the long term safeguarding of the property,
an integrated management and regulation that support preservation is needed.
The Action Plan of 2007 has been implemented with the involvement of the
local community around the property. The welfare of the local community
around the property that was affected by the earthquake of 27 May 2006, is
now improving with the recovery of the usual economic activity and especially
in the creative industry sector. The Siva temple has not been rehabilitated but
research activities or technical studies of the Siva temple have been carried out
in 2010 and 2011. The results have been discussed at national and
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international level with the conclusion that it is still necessary to study and
research to determine the method of handling Siva Temple, including
monitoring through seismograph study and crack meter periodically.

Shaivism sub-traditions subscribe to various philosophies, are similar in some aspects

and differ in others. These traditions compare with Vaishnavism, Shaktism and
Smartism as follows:
SHIVA MEMORABILIA
Shaiva manuscripts that have survived-(post-8th century)
Nepal and Himalayan region = 140,000
South India = 8,600
Others (Devanagiri) = 2,000
Bali and SE Asia = Many
—Alexis Sanderson, The Saiva Literature

Over its history, Shaivism has been nurtured by numerous texts ranging from
scriptures to theological treatises. These include the Vedas and Upanishads, the
Agamas, and the Bhasya. According to Gavin Flood – a professor at Oxford University
specializing in Shaivism and phenomenology, Shaiva scholars developed a
sophisticated theology, in its diverse traditions. Among the notable and influential
commentaries by dvaita (dualistic) theistic Shaivism scholars were the 8th century
Sadyajoti, the 10th century Ramakantha, 11th century Bhojadeva.[131] The dualistic
theology was challenged by the numerous scholars of advaita (nondualistic, monistic)
Shaivism persuasion such as the 8th/9th century Vasugupta, the 10th century
Abhinavagupta and 11th century Kshemaraja, particularly the scholars of the
Pratyabhijna, Spanda and Kashmiri Shaivism schools of theologians.
Vedas and Principal Upanishads

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The Vedas and Upanishads are shared scriptures of Hinduism, while the Agamas are
sacred texts of specific sub-traditions. The surviving Vedic literature can be traced to
the 1st millennium BCE and earlier, while the surviving Agamas can be traced to 1st
millennium of the common era. The Vedic literature, in Shaivism, is primary and
general, while Agamas are special treatise. In terms of philosophy and spiritual
precepts, no Agama that goes against the Vedic literature, states Mariasusai
Dhavamony, will be acceptable to the Shaivas. According to David Smith, "a key
feature of the Tamil Saiva Siddhanta, one might almost say its defining feature, is the
claim that its source lies in the Vedas as well as the Agamas, in what it calls the
Vedagamas".This school's view can be summed as,
The Veda is the cow, the true Agama its milk.

— Umapati,

The Śvetāśvatara Upanishad (400 – 200 BCE) is the earliest textual exposition of a
systematic philosophy of Shaivism.

PILGRIMAGES
Somnath
Srisailam
Ujjain
Omkareshwar
Parli
Deoghar
Bhima
Rameshwaram
Dwaraka
Jageshwar
Kathmandu
Aundha
Triambak
Kedarnath
Ellora
Sivasagar
Varanasi
Badrinath
Puri
Khajuraho
Chidambaram
Bhairavanath
Taraknath
Amarnath
Chandranath
Kailash
Katas Raj
Koneswaram
Munneswaram
Major Shaiva Hindu temple sites.

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Orange markers are UNESCO world heritage sites.

Shaiva Puranas, Agamas and other regional literature refer to temples by various
terms.such
as Mandir, Shivayatana, Shivalaya, Shambhunatha, Jyotirlingam, Shristhala, Chattrak
a, Bhavaggana, Bhuvaneshvara, Goputika, Harayatana, Kailasha, Mahadevagriha, Sa
udhala and others. In Southeast Asia Shaiva temples are called Candi (Java),
Pura (Bali), and Wat (Cambodia and nearby regions).
Many of the Shiva-related pilgrimage sites such as Varanasi, Amarnath, Kedarnath,
Somnath, and others are broadly considered holy in Hinduism. They are
called kṣétra .A kṣétra has many temples, including one or more major ones. These
temples and its location attracts pilgrimage called tirtha (or tirthayatra).
Many of the historic Puranas literature embed tourism guide to Shaivism-related
pilgrimage centers and temples.[333] For example, the Skanda Purana deals primarily
with Tirtha Mahatmyas (pilgrimage travel guides) to numerous geographical
points,[333] but also includes a chapter stating that a temple and tirtha is ultimately a
state of mind and virtuous everyday life.
Major rivers of the Indian subcontinent and their confluence (sangam), natural
springs, origin of Ganges River (and pancha-ganga), along with high mountains such
as Kailasha with Mansovar Lake are particularly revered spots in
Shaivism. Twelve jyotirlinga sites across India have been particularly important
pilgrimage sites in Shaivism representing the radiant light (jyoti) of infiniteness, as
per Śiva.Mahāpurāṇa. Somnatha, Mallikarjuna, Mahakaleshwar, Omkareshwar, Keda
rnatha, Bhimashankar, Visheshvara, Trayambakesvara, Vaidyanatha, Nageshvara, Ra
meshvara and Grishneshwar. Other texts mention five Kedras (Kedarnatha,
Tunganatha, Rudranatha, Madhyamesvara and Kalpeshvara), five Badri (Badrinatha,
Pandukeshvara, Sujnanien, Anni matha and Urghava), snow lingam of Amarnatha,
flame of Jwalamukhi, all of the Narmada River, and others. Kashi (Varanasi) is
declared as particularly special in numerous Shaiva texts and Upanishads, as well as
in the pan-Hindu Sannyasa Upanishads such as the Jabala Upanishad.
The early Bhakti movement poets of Shaivism composed poems about pilgrimage and
temples, using these sites as metaphors for internal spiritual journey.

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 CHAPTER VI
SOME MAGNIFICENT SHIVA TEMPLES IN
INDIA
Kedarnath Temple, Uttarakhand

Located at a height of around 3583m, Kedarnath Shiva Temple is counted

among the most peaceful Hindu shrines in the world. One of the twelve
Jyotirlinga Temples and Pancha Kedars, this revered tourist spot is located on
the Garhwal Himalayan range on the bank of river Mandakini. Built by Adi
Shankaracharya, the great Hindu monk at around 8th century AD, this highly
esteemed Hindu pilgrimage is the most distant shrine of the Chota Chardham
tourist circuit and needs to be accessed on foot. The 14 km long trek to
Kedarnath starts from Gaurikund.

Note: Due to the damage caused by flash flood in 2013, the trekking trail of
Kedarnath had to be changed. The new route has Sitapur or Sonprayag as a
starting point. In this case the total distance of the trek has become 21 Km. On
the other side, trekking to Kedarnath is also possible via Guptkashi. It is to be
noted that this route has been recommended by Nehru Institute of
Mountaineering. Pilgrims need to drive to Chaumasi from Guptkashi and then
on expected to trek 34kms via Kham Bugyal and Rerek Bugyal.
Amarnath Cave Temple, Jammu & Kashmir

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One of the most famous Shiva temples in India, Amarnath pilgrimage is an
extremely difficult yet coveted one among all the Shiva devotees. It is situated
at a mammoth height of 3888m in a cave in Jammu and Kashmir, and the
Amarnath Yatra is a popular and pious religious trip that pilgrims undertake to
worship the Lord. The temple is famous for the naturally forming ice Linga of
Lord Shiva that happens once a year.Mysterious, beautiful and challenging to
access, Amarnath temple requires enough of mental strength and physical
sturdiness to reachThis is the most famous cave temple in India of SHIVA ,
and this Hindu shrine attracts huge crowd during the annual Amarnath Yatra.
The main attraction of this highly esteemed religious site is the naturally
formed ice lingam that changes size with changing season and waxes and
wanes of moon.

Inside the 40 m (130 ft) high cave, a stalagmite is formed due to the freezing of
water drops that fall from the roof of the cave onto the floor and grow upward
vertically from the cave floor.[4] It is considered to be a Shiva Linga by Hindus.
It is mentioned in the ancient Hindu texts of Mahabharata and Puranas that
Lingam represents Lord Shiva.[5] The lingam waxes during May to August, as
snow melts in the Himalayas above the cave, and the resultant water seeps into
the rocks that form the cave; thereafter, the lingam gradually wanes.[1] As per
religious beliefs, it is said that the lingam grows and shrinks with the phases of
the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival, although there is no
scientific evidence for this belief.[6] According to Hindu religious beliefs, this is
the place where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine
consort, Parvati

History: The book Rajatarangini (Book VII v.183) refers to krishaanth or

Amarnath. It is believed that, in the 11th century AD, Queen Suryamati
gifted trishulas, banalingas and other sacred emblems to this
temple. Rajavalipataka, begun by Prjayabhatta, contains detailed references
[9]

to the pilgrimage to Amarnath Cave Temple. In addition, there are further

references to this pilgrimage in many other ancient texts.

According to legend, Sage Bhrigu was the first to have discovered Amarnath. A
long time ago, it is believed that the Valley of Kashmir was submerged
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underwater, and Sage Kashyapa drained it through a series of rivers and
rivulets. As a result, when the waters drained, Bhrigu was the first to
have darshan of Lord Shiva at Amarnath. Thereafter, when people heard of the
lingam, it became an abode of Lord Shiva for all believers and the site of an
annual pilgrimage, traditionally performed by lakhs of people in July and
August during the Hindu Holy month of Savan. According to researchers and
as per the belief of locals, the gadaria community were the first to discover the
Amarnath Cave and saw the first glimpse of Lord Shiva.

François Bernier, a French physician, accompanied Emperor Aurangzeb during

his visit to Kashmir in 1663. In his book Travels in Mughal Empire, he provides
an account of the places he visited, noting that he was "pursuing journey to a
grotto full of wonderful congelations, two days journey from Sangsafed" when
he "received intelligence that my Nawab felt very impatient and uneasy on
account of my long absence." The "grotto" referenced in this passage is
obviously the Amarnath cave — as the editor of the second edition of the
English translation of the book, Vincent A. Smith, makes clear in his
introduction. He writes: "The grotto full of wonderful congelations is the
Amarnath cave, where blocks of ice, stalagmites formed by dripping water from
the roof are worshipped by many Hindus who resort here as images of Shiva

The peak pilgrimage occurs when the iced

stalagmite Shiva lingam reaches the apex of its
waxing phase through the summer months.
The July–August popular annual Hindu
pilgrimage, undertaken by up to 600,000 or
more pilgrims to the 130 feet (40 m)-high
glacial Amarnath cave shrine of iced
stalagmite Shiv linga at 12,756 feet (3,888 m)
in the Himalayas, is called Amarnath Yatra. It
begins with a 43 kilometres (27 mi)
mountainous trek from the Nunwan and
Chandanwari base camps at Pahalgam and
reaches cave-shrine after night halts
at Sheshnag
Lake and Panchtarni camps.[17] The yatra is
both a way of earning revenue by the state
government by imposing tax on pilgrims, and
making living by the local Shia Muslim
Bakarwal-Gujjars by taking a portion of
revenue and by offering services to the Hindu
pilgrims, and this source of income has been
threatened by the Kashmiri militant groups
who have harassed and attacked the yatra
numerous times, causing killings and

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 massacres, with at least 59 people killed till
July 2017 on this yatra causing death of
mostly Hindu pilgrims, at least 10 Muslim
civilians, and security forces personnel.

Kailash Mansarovar

Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; Kangrinboqê or Gang Rinpoche; कैलास, is a

6,638 m (21,778 ft) high peak in the Kailash Range (Gangdisê Mountains),
which forms part of the Transhimalaya in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet
Autonomous Region, China. In Hinduism, it is traditionally recognized as the
abode of Shiva, who resided there along with his consort goddess Parvati and
their children, Ganesha and Kartikeya.

According.to.Sadguru(https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/sadhguru/mystic/mo
unt-kailash-abode-of-shiva) in the Hindu way of life, people say Kailash is the Abode of Shiva.
In the yogic culture we do not see Shiva as a God. We see him as a man who was the first yogi or the
Adiyogi. And he was the Adi Guru or the first guru. He was the first one to transmit the yogic science to
his first seven disciples, who came to be known as the Saptarishis. Shiva is the greatest mystic that we
have known. So when we say "Abode of Shiva," it does not mean that if you dig in the rocks or look up in
the clouds somewhere you will find him. It is because everything that he knew has been deposited in
Mount Kailash in a certain energy form. He chose this peak as a scaffolding for his knowing. The
knowledge and the capability that Shiva was, all that is very alive and accessible at Kailash. So, starting

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from Shiva himself, many great beings chose to deposit and preserve their work in Kailash. Rishabadev,
the saints of the Bon religion, two of the greatest Buddhist teachers, Agastyamuni, the Nayanmars, - all of
them chose Kailash Parvat as a place to preserve their work. Unfortunately, for most mystics on the
planet, if they get to share one or two percent of their work with people around them, they are very
fortunate. Most of them don’t even get to do that. So they always chose to deposit their work in some
space that is not too frequented by human beings, but at the same time it's accessible for those who wish
to go. Kailash is such a place. It is not totally inaccessible but it's hard enough to discourage a lot of
people. There are many places like this in India.

In the Uttara Kanda section of the epic Ramayana, it is said

that Ravana attempted to uproot the Mount Kailash as retaliation to
lord Shiva, who in turn, pressed his right big toe upon the mountain,
trapping Ravana in between.[7] This version of lord Shiva is also referred to
as Ravananugraha, or favour form to Ravana while seated in mount Kailash.

According to the epic Mahabharata, it is said that the Pandava brothers,

along with their wife Draupadi, trekked to the summit of mount Kailash on
their path to liberation, as it is considered to be a gateway to Heaven, also
known as Swarga Loka.
According to Charles Allen, one description in the Vishnu Purana of the
mountain states that its four faces are made of crystal, ruby, gold, and lapis
lazuli. It is a pillar of the world and is located at the heart of six mountain
ranges symbolizing a lotus.[

The mountain is located near Lake Manasarovar and Lake Rakshastal, close to
the source of some of the longest Asian rivers: the Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra,
and Karnali also known as Ghaghara (a tributary of the Ganges) in India.
Mount Kailash is considered to be sacred in four
religions: Hinduism, Bon, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Counted among the most difficult to access religious sites in India, Kailash
Mansarovar is found today in Tibet which has been occupied by China since
the war of 1962. The two popular religious sites of Mt. Kailash and Mansarovar
Lake are the prime attractions of this world famous pilgrimage. Mt. Kailsh is
6,638 meters high mountain peak located in remote south-western corner of
Tibet and stands as the source of four major rivers of Asia called the
Brahmaputra, the Sutlej, Ganges and the Indus. Mansarovar is found at a
distance of around 20 km away from the Mt. Kailash and captivates travellers
for its blue and emerald green water. Kailash Mansarovar is a highly significant
pilgrimage for the Hindus, Jains as well as Tibetan Buddhists.

Every year, thousands make a pilgrimage to Kailash, following a tradition going

back thousands of years. Pilgrims of several religions believe that
circumambulating Mount Kailash on foot is a holy ritual that will bring good

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fortune. The peregrination is made in a clockwise direction by Hindus and
Buddhists, while Jains and Bönpos circumambulate the mountain in a
counterclockwise direction.

After the war of 1962, Indo-China land route via Nathu La in Sikkim is again
opened for the pilgrims. So, now onwards tourist can enjoy an easier and safer
journey to Mansarovar.

Selection Process of Yatris

It is an arduous nature of the journey only physically fit people are eligible to
apply. The applicant must not suffer from medical conditions like, diabetes,
high blood pressure, asthma, epilepsy, heart disease, etc. The Yatris would be
selected by MEA through a computerized selection process. Selected people will
be informed about their selection / inclusion in a meticulous batch 3-4 weeks
before their scheduled departure. Selected yatris will need to accumulate in
New Delhi 3-4 days before the commencement of the yatra. After the selection,
the Yatris will need to qualify for the yatra after passing two sets of medical
tests. Yatris will have to undergo one more medical test to find out reactions to
altitude trekking. This will be done at Gunji, after five days of the Yatra when

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the yatris have scaled around 3500 metres. Yatri who would be found
medically unfit at Gunji won’t be permitted to continue the Yatra.

Badrinath Temple, Uttarakhand

Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the Badrinath Temple is a divine religious site

in Badrinath Town of Uttrakhand. The temple stands on the bank of
Alaknanda River at an elevation of 3,133 m. It is one of the four pillars of
Chardham Yatra pilgrimage circuit of India and gains equal importance for
being an inseparable part of Chota Chardham Yatra of Uttarakhand. Vishnu is
worshipped here in the form of Badrinarayan and a 1m tall black stone statue
(Shaligram) is worshipped here.

According to Hindu legend, god Vishnu sat in meditation at this place. During
his meditation, Vishnu was unaware of cold weather. Lakshmi, his consort,
protected him in the form of the Badri tree (jujube or Indian date-Ber/Beri).
Pleased by the devotion of Lakshmi, Vishnu named the place Badrika Ashram.
Hence Goddess Lakshmi was called the "Badri Vishal" as a large Beri/jujube
and Lord Vishnu as "Badrinath" husband of Badri. According to Atkinson
(1979), the place used to be a jujube forest, which is not found there today.
Vishnu in the form of Badrinath is depicted in the temple sitting in
the padmasana posture. According to the legend, Vishnu was chastised by
sage Narada, who saw Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi, massaging his feet. Vishnu

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went to Badrinath to perform austerity, meditating for a long time in
padmasana.

The temple has three structures: the Garbhagriha (sanctum),

the Darshan Mandap (worship hall), and Sabha Mandap (convention hall). The
conical-shaped roof of the sanctum, the garbhagriha, is approximately 15 m
(49 ft) tall with a small cupola on top, covered with a gold gilt roof. The facade
is built of stone and has arched windows. A broad stairway leads up to the
main entrance, a tall, arched gateway. Just inside is a mandap, a large,
pillared hall that leads to the sanctum, or main shrine area. The walls and
pillars of the hall are covered with intricate carvings.

The main shrine houses the 1 ft (0.30 m) Shaligram (black stone) deity of Lord
Badrinarayana, which is housed in a gold canopy under a Badri Tree. The deity
of Lord Badrinarayana shows Him holding a Shankha (conch) and
a Chakra (wheel) in two of His arms in a lifted posture and the other two arms
resting on His lap in a Yogamudra (Padmasana) posture. The sanctum also
houses images of the god of wealth—Kubera, sage Narada, Uddhava, Nar and
Narayan. There are fifteen more images that are also worshipped around the
temple. These include that of Lakshmi (the consort of
Vishnu), Garuda (the vahana of Narayan), and Navadurga, the manifestation
of Durga in nine different forms. The temple also has shrines of Lakshmi
Narasimhar and for saints Adi Shankara (AD 788-820), Nar and Narayan,
Ghantakarna, Vedanta Desika and Ramanujacharya. All the deities of the
temple are made of black stone.

The Tapt Kund, a group of hot sulphur springs just below the temple, are
considered to be medicinal; many pilgrims consider it a requirement to bathe in
the springs before visiting the temple. The springs have a year-round
temperature of 55 °C (131 °F), while outside temperature is typically below
17 °C (63 °F) all year round. The two water ponds in the temple are called
Narad Kund and Surya Kund

Tungnath Temple, Uttarakhand

Located in the Tungnath mountain range of Rudraprayag district of

Uttarakhand, Tungnath Shiva Temple is the highest Hindu Shrine dedicated to
Lord Shiva. Found at a height of around 3680m above the mean sea level, this
pilgrimage is highest among the Panch Kedar tourist circuit and believed to be
built around 1000 years ago. The temple stands on a ridge that divides the
waters of Mandakini River from that of the Alakananda. The main attraction of
this sacred site is the Chopta Chandrashila trek which passes through the
temple is one of the most

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 Kashi Vishwanath, Uttar Pradesh

It is a common belief that breathing your last in Kashi relieves you of all
further rebirths and your soul is able to attain Moksha as Lord Vishwanath is
the shelter for all who are ardent Shiva devotees. Kashi Vishwanath Temple,
located in the sacred city of Varanasi, is a very popular Shiva temple in India
and is widely visited by pilgrims all over the country. You can visit this temple

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during Maha Shivratri 2020 when the temple will be decorated beautifully
while celebrating this important Shaivaite festival in a grand manner.

Somnath Temple, Gujarat

Somnath Shiva Temple, Gujarat

Somnath Shiva temple located in Gujarat is one among the most famous
temples in India. It is also considered to be the first Jyotirling temple built in
the country and is an important Shiva temple in India. Owing to the incessant
invasions by different Muslim rulers, the temple was reconstructed several
times, the last one being in the Chalukya-style architecture, completed in
1951. A noteworthy structure in this temple is the Banasthamba or the arrow
pillar that is erected on one of the temple walls. The panoramic view of the sea
and the enormous temple is also the reason why pilgrims throng this temple
often.

Somnath Temple to Antarctica, a straight line can be drawn with no land in

between. This was inscribed on a pillar (Baan Stambha) atleast since 7th
century CE, which proves that Indians knew about South Pole much ahead of
others. Somnath temple located in Prabhas Patan near Veraval in Saurashtra
on the western coast of Gujarat, India, is ancient among the twelve Jyotirlingas
of Lord Siva. Infact, it has been mentioned in vedas and puranas.
Skanda Purana, in a chapter on Prabhasa Khanda, describes the emergence of

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Somnath.Jyotirlinga. This purana also describes the Sparsa Linga of Somnath
as one bright as the sun, the size of an egg, lodged underground. The
Mahabharata also refers to the Prabhasa Kshetra and the legend of the moon
worshipping.Shiva. Infact, south pole and antarctica were also mentioned in
Uttara Rayamana, long back.

Mahabharata describes Somnath as a city south of the confluence of River

Saraswati to the sea. Infact, Somnath was a triveni sangam (cofluence of 3
rivers) of rivers Kapila, Hiranya and Saraswati. This place has documented
history of atleast 1400+ years. Since Chandra (Soma or Moon) worshiped Siva
here to get rid of curse, Lord gets the name Somnath, which means ‘lord of the
moon.’

Lord Krishna met his end in a place called Veraval, which is near Somnath.
Arjuna is said to have performed the last rites of Krishna at the confluence of
rivers Kapila and Hiranya.Rig Veda also mentions about this sacred place. It
was called Bhairaveswar in Satya Yuga, Sravanikeswar in Treta Yuga and
Srigaleshwar in Dwapura Yuga.

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Brihadeswara Temple, Tamil Nadu

A true architectural marvel of the Dravidian era, the Brihadeeshwara Temple

situated on the banks of the river Kaveri in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, is a spectacle
to behold. This is one of the exemplary Shiva temples in India and was
constructed between 1001 AD and 1010 AD by the popular king Raja Raja
Chola. The temple is declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the
enormous vimana tower built above the sanctum with granite is the tallest in
entire South India. The temple is also famous for housing one of the largest
Shiv Lingas and Nandi in India and also has a huge prakhara (corridor).
Amongst all the temples and monuments created by the Chola Dynasty, this
temple tops the charts for impeccable architecture and design.

CHIDAMBARA TEMPLE

Chidambara Nataraja Temple or Thillai Nataraja Temple is one of the finest

Shiva temples in South India. It is an artistical marvel of the Chola Dynasty

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who constructed this magnanimous temple in the 10th century. The
temple houses Shiva in the form of Nataraja (or Lord of dance) and also has the
108 karanas of Natyashastra elaborately carved on the temple walls.

The temple architecture paints a vivid picture of the beautiful connection

between arts and spirituality and exudes an aura, a certain vibration
uniquely felt in the inner chambers of the temple. An annual Nrityaanjali is
organised on the occasion of Maha Shivratri to worship and celebrate the Lord
of Dance – Nataraja.

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Chidambaram Temple History and Architecture -Grand Thillai Natraja
Koothan Kovil Temple READ MY BOOK OF THE SAME TITLE on academia.edu

The complete family of Shiva including his wife Shakti and the two sons
Ganesha and Murugan (Kartikeya) can be seen atop the roof of the temple
The temple is spread over 40 acres in the heart of Chidambaram. Its name
suggests the main deity of the temple, the dancing form of Lord Shiva. The
construction of the temple was supported by many southern dynasties like
Cholas, Pallavas, Nayakas, Pandyas, and Vijayanagar Kings. The temple has
huge colorful main entrances in its four directions (North, South, East, West)
with the eastern gate being the main entrance of the temple. There are a total
of 9 gateways to the temple.

Each of its entrance has a mesmerizing architecture to welcome you. The East
Gate has the small temples of the two sons of Shiva, Ganesha, and Muruga
(Karthikeya). The gate is carved with the portraits of Brahma, Vishnu,
Ganesha, and other Rishis. It is famous for its complete presentation of the
108 postures of the classical dance form Bharatnatyam, carved on the inner
walls of the gateway.

Once you enter from the East Gate, you would find the grand thousand pillar
hall on your right side. The hall is said to have 999 pillars and the 1000th pillar
is formed by one of the dance poses of Shiva when he lifts his left leg to show
his performing skills. It was built by the Pallavas marked by their symbol on
the ceiling of the gate.

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The east gate is famous for its carving of all 108 postures of the Bharatnatyam
Dance, one of the classical dances of India that originated in Tamilnadu

The dance postures which gave birth to one of the most beautiful Indian dance
styles, Bharatnatyam.
At the Southern entrance a huge monolith of Nandi, the favorite bull of Lord
Shiva welcomes you to this shrine of his Lord. On the left-hand side of the
entrance, there is an old temple with a 7 ft tall idol of Ganesha. The entrance
was built by the Pandyas who have left their symbol of two fishes on its roof.

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The West Gate has a hundred pillar hall on its left which is closed for the
visitors owing to its dilapidated construction. It also shows the goddess fighting
with the buffalo depicting a legend.

The west
entrance of the temple that has the carving of the legendary victory of the
Goddess over a buffalo demon.The Northern entrance leads to the temple of
Shivagami, the female consort of Natraja and the form of Shakti. Right in front
of this temple is a broken pillar that marks a significant place in the temple
from where you can see all the four entrances of the temples. The Pushkarni or
the Shivaganga Tank (the holy tank in the temple) is located in between the
Shivagami Temple and the hall of thousand pillars.

The main temple

The canopy to the main entrance is painted with the legends of the deity and
the temple. The pathway to the main sanctum has the lanes guarded by the
lion pillars, the symbol of the Pallava kings. The entrance will first lead you to
the inner temple complex comprising of the number of temples. The distinctive
feature of the temple is the main deity of Shiva facing the south direction
symbolic of ‘Mukti’ or death as per Hindu belief, which is also meant to signify
the Lord Shiva as the ‘Destroyer’ whereas the sleeping idol of Vishnu faces the
east, signifying his image of the ‘Protector’. The shrine of the ‘Creator’, Lord
Brahma faces towards the north direction.

The shrine is truly an architectural marvel in which each part signifies the
parts of the human body. The shrine itself is located in the central position,

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symbolic of a heart. The Mandap is gold plated with small plates carved with
the auspicious mantra of “Shivay Namah” on each of them. Following is the
significance of each part of the shrine:
1. The five steps signify the five elements as well as the five indestructible
syllables of the mantra “ si va ya Na mah”
2. The Main roof is supported by four pillars symbolic of 4 Vedas.
3. The roof is held by 64 beams representing 64 forms of art.
4. Several cross beams represent innumerable blood vessels.
5. The main roof is decorated with 21,600 gold plates representing the total
breath counts in a day.
6. The 72,000 golden nails used to fix the gold tiles represent the nadis in
the human body.
7. The 9 sacred pots at the top of the roof represent 9 energies.
8. The sanctum or the artha mandap has 6 pillars denoting 6 shashtras
(holy texts).

Worshiping the Great Lord

Lord Shiva is worshiped in three forms in the main shrine.

The first
image from left shows the worshipping of Shiva as formless energy, the second
picture shows the Natraja form of Shiva with His consort Shivagami, and the
third one is the semi-form i.e. linga which is worshipped in the temple

1. The form of Shiva as a Cosmic Dancer performing the “Anand Tandav” or

the dance of bliss. There is a small idol of Natraj made of ruby which is
worshipped in the Mahapuja conducted at 10:30 every day. It is also

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 called the Ratna-Sabha, as the Ruby idol glows when the flame is put
exactly behind the idol.
2. The semi-form of Shiva i.e. the crystal Linga is worshiped 6 times in a
day. The Abhishek is done with water, milk, curd, honey, flowers, and
ashes.

3. The third form is the “ Secret of Chidambaram” or the “Chidambara

Rahasya” in which God is worshipped in not any particular form. God is
worshipped as being formless. It is left to the imagination of the devotees
as in whichever form they want to worship the Lord who is the whole
universe/space/sky. This imaginary space is decorated with the garland
of Shiva’s favorite golden bilva Patra. (Bilva leaves). Such a form of
worship is never found anywhere in Hinduism.

And thus, Chidambaram Temple attracts the people and makes them wonder
about the limitless beliefs of Hinduism and especially of Lord Shiva who is
nothing and everything. During the mahapujas, the pandit unveils the black
curtain that represents ignorance and reveals the brightness (wisdom). Thus,
the act signifies that the worship of God leads you from ignorance to the bliss
of wisdom.

The Legend of The Chidambaram Temple

As per the story, Shiva was roaming around as a yogi/Bhikshuk (a saint asking
for alms) in the mangrove forest of Pichavaram near Chidambaram along with
Mohini, an incarnation of Vishnu. Amazed by this act of God, the saints in the
forests invoked the snakes using mantras and tantra. The snakes were used by
Shiva as ornaments on his hair, around the waist and the hands. Saint
Vyaghrapada (the one with the feet of a tiger) invoked a tiger whose skin was
used by the lord as his attire. The elephant that was full of ignorance and
arrogance was crushed by the Lord under His feet and symbolized his victory
over ignorance. He held fire and damru in two of His four hands and a crescent
moon adorned his head. This was how the lord of dance of born.

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The legend of the birth of Nataraj has been painted on the ceiling of the temple. The paintings show the two
main saints Patanjali (the snake legged saint) and the saint Vyaghrapada ( the saint with hands and legs of a
tiger)
The Cosmic Dance – Anand Tandava

The
broken pillar from where all the entrance towers can be seen/he famous lifted-leg posture of
Shiva, while performing with His consort.
The dance of bliss was said to have been performed by Natraj and Goddess Shivagami(Mohini)
at the thousand pillar hall in Chidambaram, as witnessed by the saints Patanjali (the snake of
Vishnu in its saintly form as Patanjali) and Saint Vyaghrapada. There was a kind of a dance
competition between the Lord and the female consort Shivagami. When Shiva felt that
Shivagami was winning the competition as could beat him in every skillful dance movement, He

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dropped one of his earrings and picked it up with his feet and worn it by lifting it 180 degrees up
to his ears. The female consort could not follow the same in an effort of preserving her modesty.
And thus, Shiva won the competition and his one leg on the ground formed the 1000th pillar of
the hall. The carving of this story can be seen carved atop the roof of the corridor in front of the
east gate.

The Shivaganga Tank

Located beside the thousand pillar hall, the tank is completely accessible to the devotees. The
legend says that the tank was not properly built initially. It just had a pot full of water brought
from the river Ganga and mixed with the great quantity of water, milk, honey, and flowers that
were drained out of the temple after each ‘Abhisheka’. When one of the ruling kings suffered
from an incurable skin disease, he was advised to take a bath in this holy tank and the king was
magically cured after taking a bath in this holy tank. Charmed by this miracle, he decided to
build a proper tank for the use of the devotees. Till the date, the water, milk, honey, and flowers
after each abhisheka is drained into this tank and thus it is believed to have retained its magical
powers of curing a person’s skin disease.

The Shivagami Temple

This shrine is dedicated to the Shivagami Amman(Goddess) who is the consort of Natraja (Lord
Shiva). The walls and the ceiling of the temple have different paintings just as found in Ajanta
Caves. On the left side of the temple’s entrance, there is a small temple dedicated to Chitragupta,
the assistance of the Lord of Death (Yamaraj). It is believed that the one who prays Chitragupta
here and asks for forgiveness, he would be liberal in punishing the person for his karmas. (I
found this story quite childish but interesting, after all, what goes in just asking for forgiveness

whether he really forgives or not )

The corridor leading to the main shrine has carved pillars on its every side depicting the 10
incarnations (Dashavtar) of Lord Vishnu. One of the left side pillars will have a lamp at its
bottom that is kept to worship the mythological animal called ‘yali’. It is a three in one animal. It
has a part of a lion, a horse, and an elephant.

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 CHAPTER VII
Hindu cosmology and SHIVA

‘At the end of this day a dissolution of the universe occurs, when all the three worlds, earth, and the
regions of space, are consumed with fire Vishnu Purana (320-255 CE).
Then lotus-born god Brahma having slept for a night lasting billions of years, rises to create anew
then the three worlds form again from one ocean and ‘These profound and lovely images are, I like
to imagine, a kind of premonition of modern astrological ideas,’

Carl Sagan in his book Cosmos (1980).

Annapurna, the provider of rice, gives alms to Shiva, her consort shown here in a mendicant's
saffron robes. Annapurna is a form of Durga and often depicted in this format.
Annapurna sits on a lotus and she is depicted with her third eye. She holds in one of her hands a
plate full of rice and with the other hand she gives rice to Shiva from a spoon. Annapurna is
depicted wearing a blouse under her sari and this is an unusual departure. The contemporary
Kalighat paintings as a routine showed women clad in sari but without any blouse and in fact that
was customery of the period. Their respective mounts, the lion and the bull, are shown in
crouching posture below, both are very stylised. The borders of the painting and the entire
composition contains repeated written invocations to Durga in the Bengali script.

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Hinduism - Gods and Goddess in the Vedas

The Vedas are considered supreme in Hinduism. They are used to verify spiritual truths as a
standard testimony. The following information about Vedic gods and goddesses is culled from
the Vedas only, especially from the hymns of the Rigveda, which is the mother of the other three
Vedas. Hinduism underwent many changes in its long history. The gods who once ruled the
Vedic minds and cornered the major offerings during sacfificial ceremonies were gradually
replaced and relegated into a subordinate position by subsequent developments which heralded
the emergence of its principal traditions, namely Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and
Smaraism.

By Vedic gods we mean those divinities (devas) who are mentioned in the four Vedas.
Information about the gods and goddesses worshipped by the Vedic people comes to us mainly

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from the Vedas themselves. The Vedic people worshipped several gods. They propitiated them
for various purposes during sacrificial rituals, practice of austerities and meditation.
The methods of worship and making ritual offerings are also laid out in the Vedas. Of the four
parts of the Vedas, the first part called the Samhitas contain invocations or prayers to various
gods and goddesses.

The second part called Brahmanas contain the methods and procedures to be followed while
making such offerings. The third part called Aranyakas contain information about more complex
sacrifices that were not usually performed or well known to the public.
The fourth part called the Upanishad contain the secret knowledge of internal rituals for
achieving liberation. They provide information about the hidden aspects of the deities and their
symbolic significance in the human body.
Justification for the worship of Vedic gods
According to the Vedas, Brahman manifested a part of Himself during creation and diversified
Himself into Isvara, Hiranyagarbha and Viraj. He created the earth, the mid-region, the heaven.
He created gods and celestial beings, demons and humans/ god and celestial beings reside in the
heaven and the mid-regions respectively. Humans and other mortal beings inhabit the earth or
our world. The demons reside in the nether regions below the earth. In the mortal world, He
manifested as Death (or Kala) and became its ruler. He created hunger and thirst and subjected
the beings, including the gods in the heaven to the same. To satisfy them He created food of
several kinds. The gods have immense powers, but they do not have the ability to make food for
themselves. Human beings have the ability to make food for themselves and others, but do not
have the supernatural powers of the gods. Brahman created this distinction to ensure that both
gods and humans live in harmony, depending upon each others, and participate in creation by
doing their dutiful duties. Thus it is the duty (dharma) of gods to help humans and it is the duty
(dharma) of humans to live helplessly and help gods and other beings with nourishment by
performing sacrifices.

Gods in the macrocosm and microcosm

The Vedas declare that the human body is similar to the body of the Cosmic Self, Purusha, who
manifested in creation as the Lord of the Universe. Just as there are four tiers in the universe,
there are four planes in a human body. The head represents the sky or the heaven. The trunk
including the chest and the stomach represents the mid-region, where breath flows and the heart
beats. The hips and the legs represent the mortal world. Just as the gods reside in the macrocosm,
they reside in our bodies also in their respective sphere as various organs, namely the organs of
action (karmendriyas) such as the five organs of speech, such as hands, feet etc., the organs of
perception such as the eye, the ears, the nose, the tongue etc., and the internal organs, namely the

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mind, the ego and the intelligence. Just as they depend

upon our sacrificial offerings in the external world for their nourishment, they depend upon us
internally for nourishment through the food we eat. While in the external world, the gods receive
their share of offerings from fire who is the first recipient of the offerings in the sacrifices since
we pour them into fire only, in the body also the gods receive their offering from the digestive
fire which resides in the digestive tract. From there the food is supplied to various divinities
through the five breathing channels called Prana, Apana, Samana, Vyana and Udana. The
Upanishads affirm that just as Vayu rules the mid-region and pervades the earth and the heaven,
Prana pervades the whole body and acts as the overlord of the organs.

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Why the gods are worshipped
The Vedic sacrifices are essentially meant to achieve the four aims of human life, namely
fulfillment of obligatory duties (dharma), wealth (artha), pleasure (kama) and liberation
(moksha). Duty was the foundation and liberation was the ultimate aims. The Vedas affirm
clearly that those who perform sacrifices for material ends or the first three aims would be reborn
again while those who achieve liberation by living selflessly, fulfilling their obligations would
never return. Through the sacrifices and invocations the worshippers of the Vedic gods seek,
wealth, peace, happiness, progeny, fame and name, power over the natural forces, destruction of
enemies, longevity or a full lifespan, good health, protection from misfortune, sickness and loss
of cattle.

Number of Gods: The vedic hymns allude to several Gods. We can identify several ones but the
estimates may very, since the current version of the Vedas seem to be a remnant of the original
texts that existed in the early Vedic period. The Vedas also allude to the existence of ancient
gods who reside in the highest heaven and participate in the universal sacrifice performed by
Brahman. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, when Vidadgha Sakalya asked Yajnavalkya, how
many gods were there, he began the answer saying, "As many as mentioned in the offerings
made to the gods of the universe, namely three hundred and three, three thousand and three." On
beings queried further, he reduced the number gradually from three thousand three to thirty three,
then to six, then to three, then to two, then to one and half and finally to one. In the same
conversation, he identified 33 gods as the important ones, namely eightVasus, eleven Rudras,
twelve Adityas, Indra and Prajapathi Brahma. These gods belong to different sphere in creation.
Based upon the number of invocations available in the Vedas, the following Vedic gods and

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goddesses are important: Indra, Varuna, Agni, Rudra, Mitra, Vayu, Surya, Vishnu, Savitr, Pusan,
Usha, Soma, Asvins, Maruts, Visvadevas, Vasus, Adityas, Vashista, Brihaspathi, Bhaga, Rta,
Rhibhus, Heaven, Earth, Kapinjala, Dadhikravan, Rati, Yama, Manyu, Purusha, Prajanya
Sarasvathi. Aditi is another prominent goddess. She is considered the mother of gods. Although
there are no hymns directly addressed to her, she is mentioned in several of them.

Indra Varuna Agni

Rudra Mitra Vayu

Surya Vishnu Savitr

Pusan Usha Soma

Asvins Maruts Visvadevas

Vasus Adityas Vashista

Brihaspathi Bhaga Rta

Rhibhus Heaven and Earth Kapinjala

Dadhikravan Rati Yama

Manyu Purusha Prajanya

Sarasvathi

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Brahma,Vishnu,Mahesh( From Left)

1.Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा is the creator god in Hinduism. He is also known as Svayambhu (self-
born) or the creative aspect of Vishnu, Vāgīśa (Lord of Speech), and the creator of the
four Vedas, one from each of his mouths. Brahma is consort of Saraswati and he is the father
of Four Kumaras, Narada, Daksha, Marichi and many more. Brahma is synonymous with
the Vedic god Prajapati, he is also known as Vedanatha (god of Vedas), Gyaneshwar (god of
Knowledge), Chaturmukha (having Four Faces) Svayambhu (self born), etc, as well as linked
to Kama and Hiranyagarbha (the cosmic egg). He is more prominently mentioned in the post-
Vedic Hindu epics and the mythologies in the Puranas. In the epics, he is conflated
with Purusha.[3] Although Brahma is part of the Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva Trimurti, ancient Hindu
scriptures mention multiple other trinities of gods or goddesses which do not include Brahma.
Several Puranas describe him as emerging from a lotus, connected to the navel of Lord Vishnu.
Other Puranas suggest that he is born from Shiva or his aspects, or he is a supreme god in diverse
versions of Hindu mythology. Brahma, along with other deities, is sometimes viewed as a form

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(saguna) of the otherwise formless (nirguna) Brahman, the ultimate metaphysical reality
in Vedantic Hinduism. In an alternate version, some Puranas state him to be the father
of Prajapatis.
According to some, Brahma does not enjoy popular worship in present-age Hinduism and has
lesser importance than the other members of the Trimurti, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma is revered
in ancient texts, yet rarely worshiped as a primary deity in India.

1. Vishnu (शवष्णु) is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. The "preserver" in the Hindu
triad (Trimurti), Vishnu is revered as the supreme being In Vaishnavism as identical to
the metaphysical concept of Brahman (Atman, the self, or unchanging ultimate reality),
and is notable for adopting various incarnations (avatars such as Rama and Krishna) to
preserve and protect dharmic principles whenever the world is threatened with evil,
chaos, and destructive forces. In the Smarta Tradition of Hinduism Vishnu is also one of
the five equivalent deities worshipped in Panchayatana puja.

3. Mahesh or Shiva, the 3rd God of the Hindu Trimurti, is the Distroyer. Mahesh represents the
hot-blooded (Tamsik) – dream, thought, action, character, and destiny – way. His attributes
represents victory over the demonic activity, and calmness of human nature. Shiva is a the part of
the Hindu trinity which has dominion over death and destruction.
He appears in a meditating but ever-happy posture having matted hair which holds the flowing
Ganges river and a crescent moon, a serpent coiled around his neck, a trident (trishul) in his one
hand and ashes all over his body.
He is known as the "giver" god.
His vehicle is a bull (symbol of happiness and strength) named Nandi.
Shiva-Linga, a sign of the Lord, is adored instead of him.Shiva is also considered the greatest of
the yogis, the lord of meditation, and the lord of all that is mystic and mysterious in hindu
practices.

Legend has it that the holy river Ganges (or Ganga) is in fact a representation of Lord Shiva's
long hair.Some texts refer to the five letters as the forms of Shiva - Na-gendra (one who wears a
garland of snakes), Ma-ndakini Salila (one who is bathed by the water of the Ganges), Shi (the
supreme Lord), Va-shishta (one who is praised by the sages like Vashishta), and Ya-ksha (one
who takes the form of Yaksha).

4. The Trinity: Foremost, there is no difference between Shiva, Mahesh and Shankara.Mahesh =
Maha ( great ) + Eesh (God ), it means Great God.Trillions of years ago, when nothing existed,
there lived a Yogi who was always in meditation and away from worldly affairs.
Shiva, Mahesh and Shankar are not two different persons, but one and the same.
 When Shiva is in deep meditation , we refer him as YOGI.
 We see him as SHANKARA, with his consort Parvathi and their children We see him
as RUDRA, when he is in his ferocious form.
 We see him as KAPAALI, when he is in the Rudra Kshetra(burial ground).
 We see him as KAALA BHAIRAVA, with Dog as his Vaahana (vehicle ), (he is the
God for time, that is why we chant him as Om kaala Kalaaya namaha, kaal means
 HE is VEERABHADRA, the warrior.
 He is BHOOTANAADHA, God for the 5 elements of this nature.

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Even though you say Shiva / Shankara / mahesh / Bhootanaadha / Rudra etc, all are one and the
same form of the Para_Brahman Shiva. It depends upon how we are seeing Him !

5. Lakshmi (लक्ष्मी) is the Goddess who leads to one's goal (lakshya in Sanskrit), hence Her name
Lakshmi. For mankind, 8 types of goals are necessary - Spiritual enlightenment, food,
knowledge, resources, progeny, abundance, patience and success, hence there are 8 or Ashta
Lakshmis - Aadi Lakshmi, Dhaanya Lakshmi, Vidya Lakshmi, Dhana Lakshmi, Santaana
Lakshmi, Gaja Lakshmi, Dhairya Lakshmi and Vijaya Lakshmi. First mentioned in the Śrī
Sūkta of the Rigveda. Sri, a honorific term for Lakshmi, represents the material world of the
earthly realm as the mother goddess, referred to as Prithvi Mata, and known by her twin
identities as Bhu Devi, and sridevi (She is having another form along with these two called
as Nila Devi). She is the wife of Vishnu, one of the principal deities of Hinduism and the
Supreme Being in the Vaishnavism Tradition. With Parvati and Saraswati, she forms Tridevi, the
holy trinity.Lakshmi is also an important deity in Jainism and found in Jain temples. Lakshmi
has also been a Goddess of abundance and fortune for Buddhists, and was represented on the
oldest surviving stupas and cave temples of Buddhism. In Buddhist sects
of Tibet, Nepal and Southeast Asia, Lakshmi Goddess Vasudhara mirrors the characteristics and
attributes of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi with minor iconographic differences.

Lakshmi is also called Sri or Thirumagal because she is endowed with six auspicious and divine
qualities, or gunas, and is the divine energy/Shakti of Vishnu. In Hindu religion, she was pleased
and churned out from the churning of the primordial ocean (Samudra manthan) and she chose
Vishnu as her eternal consort. As mentioned in Vishnu Purana, when Vishnu descended on the
Earth as the avatars Rama and Krishna, Lakshmi descended

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as Sita and Radha and Rukmini. Lakshmi is considered another aspect of the same Supreme
Goddess Lakshmi Goddess principle in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism.

Lakshmi is depicted in Indian art as an elegantly dressed, prosperity-showering golden-coloured

woman with an owl as her vehicle, signifying the importance of economic activity in
maintenance of life, her ability to move, work and prevail in confusing darkness. She typically
stands or sits like a yogin on a lotus pedestal and holds a lotus in her hand, symbolizing fortune,
self-knowledge and spiritual liberation. Her iconography shows her with four hands, which
represent the four goals of human life considered important to the Hindu way of
life: dharma, kāma, artha and moksha. She is often depicted as part of the trinity (Tridevi)
consisting of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. She is also considered as the daughter of Durga in
Bengali Hindu culture. Archaeological discoveries and ancient coins suggest the recognition and
reverence for Lakshmi by the 1st millennium BCE. Lakshmi's iconography and statues have also
been found in Hindu temples throughout Southeast Asia, estimated to be from the second half of
the 1st millennium CE. The festivals of Diwali and Sharad Purnima (Kojagiri Purnima) are
celebrated in her honor.

COSMOLOGY: Having got a fairly good knowledge of the Hindu Gods,we begin now our
journey into Hindu Cosmology.

The Rigveda contains the Nasadiya sukta hymn which asks a cosmological questions about the
nature of universe and how it began:
Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being;

Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?

Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?

Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;

Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not;
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,
Only He knows, or perhaps He does not know.
— Rigveda 10:129-6

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Lord Shiva
In Hindu cosmology, the universe is cyclically created and destroyed. Its cosmology divides
time into four epochs or Yuga, of which the current period is the Kali Yuga. According to Hindu
vedic cosmology, there is no absolute start to time, as it is considered infinite and
cyclic. Similarly, the space and universe has neither start nor end, rather it is cyclical. The
current universe is just the start of a present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes
and to be followed by another infinite number of universes.
The dominant theme in Puranic Hindu cosmology, state Chapman and Driver, is of cycles and
repetition. There are multiple universes, each takes birth from chaos, grows, decays and dies into

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chaos, to be reborn again. Further, there are different and parallel realities. Brahma's one day
equals 4.32 billion years which is a Kalpa. Each Kalpa is subdivided into four yuga (chaturyuga,
also called mahayuga). These are krita (or satya), treta, dvapara and kali yugas. The current
time is stated to be one of kali yuga. The starting year, length of each, or the grand total, is not
consistent in the Puranas. The total of four yugas is typically 4,320,000 years, of which 432,000
years is assigned to be the duration of the kali yuga.

One complete cycle of the four (Kṛta or Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali) Yugas is one Mahā-
Yuga (4.32 million solar years) and is confirmed by the Gītā Śloka 8.17 (statement) "sahasra-
yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ te 'ho-rātra-vido janāḥ",
meaning, a day of brahma is of 1000 Mahā-Yuga. Thus a day of Brahma, Kalpa, is of duration:
4.32 billion solar years. Two Kalpas constitute 24 hours (day and Night) of Brahma. A
Manvantara, which consists of 71 Mahā-Yuga (306,720,000 solar years) is ruled by a Manu.
After each Manvantara follows one Sandhi Kāla, of the same duration as a Kṛta Yuga (1,728,000
Solar Years). It is said that during a Sandhi Kāla, the entire earth is submerged in water.
According to Hindu scriptures, the world would be destroyed at the end of the Kali Yuga.

Rigveda: speculation on universe's creation

The Rigveda presents many theories of cosmology. For example:
 Hiranyagarbha sukta, its hymn 10.121, states a golden child was born in the universe and
was the lord, established earth and heaven, then asks but who is the god to whom we shall
offer the sacrificial prayers?
 Devi sukta, its hymn 10.125, states a goddess is all, the creator, the created universe, the
feeder and the lover of the universe;
 Nasadiya sukta, its hymn 10.129, asks who created the universe, does anyone really know,
and whether it can ever be known.
Rigveda and other Vedic texts are full of alternative cosmological theories and curiosity
questions. For example, the hymn 1.24 of the Rigveda asks, "these stars, which are set on high,
and appear at night, whither do they go in the daytime?" and hymn 10.88 wonders, "how many
fires are there, how many suns, how many dawns, how many waters? I am not posing an
awkward question for you fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?" To its numerous open-
ended questions, the Vedic texts present a diversity of thought, in verses imbued with symbols
and allegory, where in some cases forces and agencies are clothed with a distinct personality,
while in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic activity such as forms of
mythical sacrifices.

Vedic: 3 lokas
The development of the concept of lokas as follows:
The concept of a loka or lokas develops in the Vedic literature. Influenced by the special
connotations that a word for space might have for a nomadic people, loka in the Veda did not
simply mean place or world, but had a positive valuation: it was a place or position of religious
or psychological interest with a special value of function of its own. Hence, inherent in the 'loka'
concept in the earliest literature was a double aspect; that is, coexistent with spatiality was a
religious or soteriological meaning, which could exist independent of a spatial notion, an
'immaterial' significance. The most common cosmological conception of lokas in the Veda was

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that of the trailokya or triple world: three worlds consisting of earth, atmosphere or sky, and
heaven, making up the universe."

Lower seven Lokas in Puranas

Puranas: 14 lokas
The later Puranic view asserts that the Universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an
eternally repetitive series of cycles. A day of Brahma, the creator, endures for about
4,320,000,000 years.
In the Brahmanda Purana, there are fourteen worlds. However, other Puranas give different
version of this cosmology and associated myths. In the Brahmanda version, the loka consist of
seven higher ones (Vyahrtis) and seven lower ones (Pātālas), as follows:
 Bhuloka, Bhuvar Loka, svarga, Mahar Loka, Jana Loka, Tapa Loka, and Satyaloka above,
and
 Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasaataala, Talatala, Mahaatala, Patala and naraka below.
The same 14 lokas (worlds) are described in chapter 2.5 of the Bhagavata Purana.
The Puranas genre of Indian literature, found in Hinduism and Jainism, contain a section on
cosmology and cosmogony as a requirement. There are dozens of different Mahapuranas and
Upapuranas, each with its own theory integrated into a proposed human history consisting of
solar and lunar dynasties. Some are similar to Indo-European creation myths, while others are
novel. One cosmology, shared by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts involves Mount Meru, with
stars and sun moving around it using Dhruva (North Star) as the focal reference. According to
Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus, the diversity of cosmology theories in Hinduism may reflect
its tendency to not reject new ideas and empirical observations as they became available, but to
adapt and integrate them creatively.

In our attempts to know ourselves we attempt to know the cosmos, its creation and frontiers. We
construct mythologies, turn our minds to science and, in the pursuit of both, send voyagers out
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beyond the reaches of our own planet to grasp at the unknown. We look up to the night sky and
witness a vast universe, one we seek to comprehend here on earth.It’s all about the connections
between the earth, the atmosphere and the cosmos.’

The ancient Indians were not aware of the theory of relativity. But they were familiar with the
concept of space and relative time. They believed that the duration of time changed from world
to world and that our time was not the absolute. They distinguished between the cosmic time of
the gods and the earthly time of ours.According to them, the gods were immortal, who lived
longer and more intense lives. They were subject to a different time frame and had their own
periods of activity and rest. These constituted their days and nights. When the highest Supreme
Self was awake, they believed, He would expand outwardly and manifest his objective worlds,
and when it was time for rest, He would withdraw into Himself and bring the worlds and the
entire creation to a temporary halt. This is similar to the expansion and contraction of the
material universe according to the modern theories of the origin of the universe.
In Hinduism time is known as kala. Kala means both time and death. Time is personified as the
god of death, Yama, because death is a limiting factor in human life. Kala as god of death
determines how long a person should live upon earth. So, death and time are associated together.
An individual's time upon earth begins with his birth and ends with his death. However for the
soul, there is no death. It has no time because it is without a beginning and without an end.

The concept of time in Hinduism is based on our own experience of time as recurring and
predictable phenomena measurable in terms of units such as days and nights, or months and
years. Just as there is regularity to our days and nights, there is regularity to the days and nights
of gods. This regularity is perceived as the Rta (rita) or the cosmic rhythm manifested by God.
Rta is inherent in every aspect of creation. In the human body it is the biorhythm as well as the
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beat of the heart and the breath of the lungs. In the universe it is inherent in the configuration of
the planetary bodies and their fixed movements. What protects this regularity of rhythm is
Dharma, the eternal law, which is but an aspect of God Himself.
Mentioned below are some important beliefs of Hinduism associated with time as an aspect of
creation. Some of these beliefs are also common to Buddhism and Jainism. However, in
Buddhism and Jainism there is no creator. Time is an aspect of this illusory world and it exists as
long as we are subject to the process of becoming or change.

1. Hinduism perceives time as cyclical. This is based on our own experience of time in terms of
days and nights. We see this cyclical pattern in days, weeks, months, years, seasons and yugas or
epochs. So from this perspective, time is a never-ending cyclical process, which is both repetitive
and exhaustive. In a sense it is limited. In another it is eternal. From a spiritual perspective, time
exists when we are in a state of duality but disappears when we enter into the state of unity or
samadhi.

2. Each time-cycle has three components, srishti, sthithi and laya. Srishthi means creation. Sthithi
means continuation and laya means dissolution. Each time cycle begins with creation, continues
for certain duration of time and then dissolves into nothingness. After a brief respite, the cycle
begins all over again. These three aspects of time are under the control of the Trinity, Brahma,
Vishnu and Siva. Brahma is responsible for creation, Vishnu for existence and Siva for
dissolution. We can see the same divisions in a day also. Each day is created in the early hours,
continues throughout the day and then finally dissolves into darkness. We can see the same
pattern in life also, as childhood, adulthood and old age.

3. The Hindu calculation of time comes to us from sage Ganita who is mentioned in the
Manusmriti and the Mahabharata. He calculated the duration of each cycle of creation in human
years. He divided the cosmic time into Kalpas, which is a day and night in the time and space of
Brahma. It is considered to be equal to 8.64 billion years (Vishnu Purana). Each Kalpa consists
of two Artha Kalpas of 4.32 billion years each. They are the day and night of Brahman. Each
Kalpa is further divided into 1000 maha yugas. Each maha yuga is again divided into four yugas,
namely krita yuga, treat yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga. Their duration varies. Krita yuga the
first in the series has the longest duration of 1.728 million years and kali yuga, which is the last
and the current, has a duration of only 432000 years. The durations of other divisions are
mentioned in the table at the bottom of this article.

4. The lifespan of Brahma is considered 100 Brahma years, which is known as Maha Kalpa or
Parardha. It is equal to 311.04 trillion human years.

5. A day in the life of gods is equal to one year upon earth. It is divided into day and night. The
day is known as uttarayana and the night as dakshinayana. They are equal to 180 days each.

6. In Hindu tradition there is another division of time called manvantara. A manavantara is the
period during which the earth is ruled by a particular Manu, the father of man. The word 'man'
comes from the Sanskrit word Manu. According to tradition, a new Manu manifests at the
beginning of each manvantara to produce a new race of human beings. Each manvantara lasts for
about 71 mahayugas or approximately 308 million years. In each manvantara along with Manu

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appear seven seers or rishis and one Indra. In all 14 Manus appear in each Kalpa over a period of
1000 mahayugas in succession. The current Manu is 7th in the line and is known as Vaivasvata
Manu.

7. The current yuga or epoch is known as Kaliyuga. It is the last in the cycle of the current
mahayuga or great epoch. Its calculated duration is 432000 years. We are not sure presently
whether we are at the beginning, in the middle or near the end of Kaliyuga. If we accept the
theory that Kaliyuga began with the passing away of Lord Krishna some 6000 or 7000 years ago,
then probably we are in the early phase of Kaliyuga and have a long way to go.

8. Hindu Purunas contain several narrative accounts in which celestial events span over longer
durations of time. They describe gods waging wars, or practicing meditation or making love for
hundreds and thousands of years.

Is Time Real Or Illusory?

In Hinduism in God's consciousness there are no divisions of time. There is only the present
moment, one continuous, indivisible and indistinguishable state of existence.Time is regarded as
an aspect of creation. It exists only so long as we are bound to the things of this world through
our senses. Time is a mental concept created by the movement of our senses, the celestial objects
and our perceptions. It is part of the illusion in which we live and which we take for realTime is
also regarded as an aspect of Prakriti or Nature. It is one of the 36 tattvas or principles of creation
recognized in Saivism. Prakriti subjects the boundless individual souls of pure consciousness to
the limitations of time (kaala), space (niyathi), knowledge (vidya), passion (raga) and power
(kala) and binds them to the cycle of births and rebirths. When beings transcend these five
limitations through the grace of Siva, they regain their pure consciousness (chit) and become
free.

The Hindu view time is responsible for absence of accurate historical records of the Indian
subcontinent. The ancient Indians did not deem it necessary to record events of a world they
believed was illusory. Besides, they believed the events by themselves were of no significance
unless they had some relevance to the gods and the percepts of Dharma.

Tables Showing Different Divisions of Time-Divisions of Cosmic Time

Name of the Duration in human years Remarks

Division

Artha Kalpa 4.32 billion years A day or night of Brahma

Kalpa 8.64 billion years A complete day of Brahma

Mahayuga 4.32 million years A great epoch consisting of 4 yugas or

epochs

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Krita yuga 1.728 million years Golden age or age of truth of four feet
(charana) length

Treta yuga 1.296 million years The Second epoch of three feet
(charana) length

Dvapara yuga 864000 years The third epoch of two feet (charana)
length

Kali yuga 432000 years The current epoch, the age of darkness
of one feet length.

Manvantara 308 million years Manu is the progenitor of human race.

A year of 3.110415 trillion years 360 Kalpas

Brahma

Mahakalpa 311.0415 trillion years 100 years in Brahma's time and space

Divisions of Earth Time in Hindu Calendar as per the Puranas and Epics

Name of the Division Duration in human years Remarks

Truti One twinkle of an eye

Tatpara 100 trutis

Nimesha 30 Tatparas

Kastha 30 Nimeshas

kala 30 kasthas

muhurtha 30 kalas roughly 45 - 50

minutes

ahoratra 30 muhurtas Day and Nigtht

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masa 30 days One lunar month

Paksha 15 days One half of a lunar

month

Ayana 6 months or half a year Uttarayana is the

day of gods, and
daskhinayana, their
night

Divine Year 360 years One year of gods

Charana 432,000 years The length of the

feet of Time (Kala)

Hindu Months

Month Corresponding
Zodiac Sign

Chaitra Mesha

Vaishakha Vrishabha

Jyeshtha Mithuna

Ashadha Karka

Sravana Simha

Bhadra Kanya

Ashvin Tula

Kartik Vrshchika

Agrahyana Dhanush

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Paushta Makara

Magha Magha

Phalguna Meena

Hindu Seasons

Season Corresponding Months

Vasanta (Spring) Chaita and Vaishakha

Greeshma (Summer) Jyeshtha and Ashadha

Varsha (Rainy Season) Sravana and Bhadra

Sharad (Autumn) Ashvin and Karthik

Hemant (Winter) Magha and Phalguna

60 Year Cycles
Hindus also follow a 60 year cycle in which is given a specific name each year which in turn( the
name) repeats after every 60 years.

1. Prabhava 21. Sarvajit AD/CE) 41. Plavanga

2. Vibhava 22. Sarvadhārin 42. Kīlaka
3. Shukla 23. Virodhin 43. Saumya
4. Pramoda 24. Vikrita 25. Khara 44. Sādhārana
5. Prajāpati 26. Nandana 45. Virodhikrit
6. Āngirasa 27. Vijaya 46. Paritāpin
7. Shrīmukha 28. Jaya 47. Pramādin
8. Bhāva 29. Manmatha 48. Ānanda
9. Yuvan 30. Durmukha 49. Rākshasa
10. Dhātri 31. Hemalambin 50. Anala
11. Īshvara 32. Vilambin 51. Pingala
12. Bahudhānya 33. Vikārin 52. Kālayukti
13. Pramāthin 34. Shārvari 53. Siddhārthin
14. Vikrama 35. Plava 54. Raudra
15. Vrisha 36. Shubhakrit 55. Durmati

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16. Chitrabhānu 37. Shobhana 56. Dundubhi
17. Svabhānu 38. Krodhin 57. Rudhirodgārin
18. Tārana 39. Vishvāvasu 58. Raktāksha
19. Pārthiva 40. Parābhava 59. Krodhana
20. Vyaya 60. Akshaya

\
Nakshatras or Daily Stars
According to Hindu mythology, there are 27 stars or nakshatras who are the daughters of either
Daksha or Kashyapa, but wives of Chandra, the moon god. The moon god spends each night
with one particular star, with whom he appears in the sky. According to Hindu astronomy, the
sky is divided into 27 divisions. During its monthly cycle, the moon passes through each division
roughly one per day. According to another tradition the 27 nakshatras are associated with the
nine planets or navagrahas, with each planetary deity ruling over three particular stars. During
the 27 day lunar cycle, the planetary gods enter into their respective star mansions and spend
nine days with each of their three stars. The names of the 27 stars along with their controlling
planets are mentioned below.

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# Name Controlling Planet

1 Ashvinī Ketu

2 Bharanī Shukra (Venus)

3 Krittikā Ravi (Sun)

4 Rohini Chandra (Moon)

5 Mrigashīrsha Mangala (Mars)

6 Ārdrā Rahu

7 Punarvasu Guru (Jupiter)

8 Pushya Shani (Saturn)

9 Āshleshā Budh (Mercury)

10 Maghā Ketu (south lunar node)

11 Pūrva or Pūrva Shukra (Venus)

halgunī

12 Uttara or Uttara Surya (Sun)

Phalgunī

13 Hasta Chandra (Moon)

14 Chitrā Mangala (Mars

15 Svātī Rahu

16 Vishākhā Guru (Jupiter)

17 Anurādhā Shani (Saturn)

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18 Jyeshtha Budh (Mercury)

19 Mūla Ketu

20 Pūrva Ashādhā Shukra (Venus)

21 Uttara Ashādhā Surya (Sun)

22 Shravana Chandra (Moon)

23 Dhanishta Mangala (Mars)

24 Shatabhishā Rahu

25 Pūrva Guru (Jupiter)

Bhādrapadā

26 Uttara Shani (Saturn)

Bhādrapadā

27 Revatī Budh (Mercury)

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 CHAPTER VIII
Multiverse and the Lotus

The idea of a physical multiverse came later to physics than it did to religion and philosophy.
The Hindu religion has ancient concepts that are similar. The term itself was, apparently, first
applied by a psychologist, rather than a physicist. Concepts of a multiverse are evident in the
cyclical infinite worlds of ancient Hindu cosmology. In this viewpoint, our world is one of an
infinite number of distinct worlds, each governed by its own gods on their own cycles of creation
and destruction. Hinduism is the first religion to have formed a Cyclic Theroy of Time, that is
time runs in cycles-The Four Yugas, Aeons, Krutha, Tretha,Dwapara and Kali repeat themselves
without end.

Vedas say that before the creation of the universe Lord Vishnu is sleeping in the ocean of all
causes. His bed is a giant serpent with thousands of cobra like hoods. While Vishnu is asleep, a
lotus sprouts of his navel (note that navel is symbolised as the root of creation). Inside this lotus,
Brahma resides. Brahma represents the universe which we all live in, and it is this Brahma who
creates life forms.
Vishnu is the personification of the eternal multiverse that exists forever without any beginning
or end. Brahma is the personification of our temporary physical universe that was created in the
big bang. Brahma is said to have been created from the navel (which is a single point) of Vishnu,
described as a lotus blooming out of the navel, much like our big bang universe.

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“One of the most enduring images in the Vedic scriptures is that of Lord Brahma sitting on a
lotus the stem of which goes down to the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, who is also praised
as Hiranyagarbha. The fourteen planetary systems in Vedic cosmology are described to reside
inside the “stem” of this lotus, which is kind of perplexing because the universe is three
dimensional—and described as a sphere—but the lotus stem is one dimensional. How can we
squeeze three dimensions into one dimension? This post discusses this question, and shows how
the three dimensions are reduced to one dimension by “twisting” the single dimension using a
process like the “curved” flow of kundalini. The post discusses parallels between the body and
the universe, the process of primary and secondary creations, and how these are connected to
Sāńkhya as well as the forms of Lord Viṣṇu who are “controllers” in the material universe.”1

The story of Yashoda and the multiverse vision: The Bhagawatam, in which it is told that
Yashoda saw the whole universe in lord Krishna’s mouth, is essentially a text written to extol the
qualities of Lord Krishna; or is it? Does it show that there was another universe- many more that
she saw apart from the one in which she lived. Let us rear the story first:

One day, while playing in the fields, little Krishna secretly ate mud. His friends went and told
Yashoda about this. When Krishna returned home, Yashoda caught Krishna by his ears and
scolded him for putting dirt in his mouth. Krishna promptly replied that he had had a fight with
his friends in the morning and to take revenge they were all lying and that Yashoda shouldn't
believe them. He said that she was being unfair as she believed them instead of believing her
son.

Yashoda knew her son too well. She ordered, "If you have not taken any mud, then open your
mouth. I shall see for myself."

Krishna obediently opened his mouth.

But when Yashoda peered into his mouth, she was wonderstruck. She saw the entire
universe: the mountains the oceans, the planets, air, fire, moon and the stars in his small mouth.
Yashoda was stunned and began to wonder whether she were dreaming or actually seeing
something extraordinary. She fell on the ground, unconscious.

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One school of Buddhism is the Huayan, also known as the Flower Garland school. The idea is
that the flower garland, which represents all of reality, is made up of universes which all reflect
one another. Others have likened the multiverse to Indra’s net, a string of pearls in multiple
dimensions. This infinitely large net has a jewel at each vertex, which each reflects on another.

Universes could be visualized like individual flowers on a garland

The Rigveda presents many theories of cosmology. For example:

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 Hiranyagarbha sukta, its hymn 10.121, states a golden child was born in the universe and
was the lord, established earth and heaven, then asks but who is the god to whom we shall
offer the sacrificial prayers?
 Devi sukta, its hymn 10.125, states a goddess is all, the creator, the created universe, the
feeder and the lover of the universe
 Nasadiya sukta, its hymn 10.129, asks who created the universe, does anyone really know,
and whether it can ever be known.

According to Henry White Wallis, the Rigveda and other Vedic texts are full of alternative
cosmological theories and curiosity questions. For example, the hymn 1.24 of the Rigveda asks,
"these stars, which are set on high, and appear at night, whither do they go in the daytime?" and
hymn 10.88 wonders, "how many fires are there, how many suns, how many dawns, how many
waters? I am not posing an awkward question for you fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?"
To its numerous open-ended questions, the Vedic texts present a diversity of thought, in verses
imbued with symbols and allegory, where in some cases forces and agencies are clothed with a
distinct personality, while in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic activity such
as forms of mythical sacrifices.

The Rigveda contains the Nasadiya sukta hymn which does not offer a cosmological theory, but
asks cosmological questions about the nature of universe and how it began:
Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being;

Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?

Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?

Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;

Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not;
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,
Only He knows, or perhaps He does not know.
— Rigveda 10:129-6

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The concept of multiverses is mentioned many times in Hindu Puranic literature, such as in
the Bhagavata Purana:
Every universe is covered by seven layers – earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total energy and false
ego – each ten times greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this
one, and although they are unlimitedly large, they move about like atoms in You. Therefore You
are called limitless (Bhagavata Purana 6.16.37)
According to the Hindu text Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, “there are innumerable universes besides this
one.” This concept of multiple universes is well known to Hindus familiar with the scriptures.
But modern physicists have also been pondering whether our universe is all that we have or if
there are many universes out there.

Throughout much of modern history, our scientific understanding of the universe has been
limited by what we could see. As our telescopes have grown more powerful, the size of the
universe has increased as well. However, we can only “see” so far, leaving many scientists to
wonder what the universe is like beyond the far limits of our technology.

Some scientists even postulate that there may be not just one universe, but many—what’s known
as a multiverse. Max Tegmark, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has
proposed 4 types of Universes.1

Level One Multiverse: The Extension of Our Universe or Quilted Universe.

The universe that we actually can see is limited by the strength of our modern telescopes. Few
physicists believe the universe ends right at this point, although it’s impossible to know what
exists beyond the range of our telescopes.

The first type of multiverse suggests that our universe simply keeps on going, all the way to
infinity. If this were true, then an infinite number of possibilities exist out there, such as an
infinite number of Earths or Milky Way galaxies. And just as we are limited by our telescopes,
other universes would also be isolated by their own. In the Quilted Multiverse, the universe's
infinite extension in space leads to worlds necessarily repeating themselves (like the endless
library in the Borges story, which contains not only every conceivable book but a multitude of
"imperfect facsimiles: works which differ only in a letter or a comma").

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Level Two Multiverse: Pocket Universes
The second type of multiverse is similar to the first, but it suggests that as the universe expanded,
pocket universes were cut off from each other. Unlike the first type of multiverse, where the laws
of physics are the same everywhere, in this type they may vary radically among the different
pocket universes.

This can be tied to string theory, which has many possible solutions. Each one of these may
correspond to a separate universe. This leads to the thought that humans only exist because our
universe happens to be ideally suited for life (the “Goldilocks zone”). For example, if another
pocket universe did not have gravity, then life might never have started, leaving that universe
sterile.

Level Three Multiverse: Many Worlds

Like the first type of multiverse, the third supposes that the laws of physics are consistent across
all universes. In this case, though, new daughter universes appear at each moment in time,
leading to all possible futures existing somewhere.

Take the case of the Schrödinger’s cat paradox, which supposes that until the box is opened, the
cat exists in two states—dead and alive. According to the many worlds multiverse, separate
universes exist for each of those states (or wave functions). Of course, an observer in each of
those universes would be aware of only one of those outcomes.

Level Four Multiverse: The Mathematical Multiverse

The last type of multiverse moves beyond comprehensible physics and into the realm of
metaphysics. Tegmark proposes that each coherent system of mathematics may belong to some
kind of physical reality—or separate universe. So a system that does not make sense in our
universe might be perfect valid elsewhere.

None of these multiverses has been verified experimentally, but this classification system gives
physicists a good scaffolding on which to hang their future multiversal endeavors.

_____

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Every universe is covered by seven layers—
earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total
energy and false ego—each ten times
greater than the previous one. There are innumerable universes besides this one,
and although they are unlimitedly large,
they move about like atoms in You.
Therefore You are called unlimited.

Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.16.37

Analogies to describe multiple universes also exist in the Puranic literature:

1. Because You are limitless, neither the lords of heaven nor even You(Vishnu ie dont speak
for all of us) Yourself can ever reach the end of Your glories. The countless universes,
each enveloped in its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time to wander within You, like
particles of dust blowing about in the sky. The śrutis, following their method of
eliminating everything separate from the Supreme, become successful by revealing You
as their final conclusion (Bhagavata Purana 10.87.41)

2. The layers or elements covering the universes are each ten times thicker than the one
before, and all the universes clustered together appear like atoms in a huge
combination (Bhagavata Purana 3.11.41)

3. And who will search through the wide infinities of space to count the universes side by
side, each containing its Brahma, its Vishnu, its Shiva? Who can count the Indras in them
all—those Indras side by side, who reign at once in all the innumerable worlds; those
others who passed away before them; or even the Indras who succeed each other in any
given line, ascending to godly kingship, one by one, and, one by one, passing
away (Brahma Vaivarta Purana)

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In the Mahabharatha: Krishna responds to the warrior Arjuna's request by telling him that no
man can bear his naked splendour, then goes right ahead and gives him the necessary upgrade:
"divine sight". What follows is one of the wildest, most truly psychedelic episodes in world
literature.No longer veiled by a human semblance, Krishna appears in his universal aspect: a
boundless, roaring, all-containing cosmos with a billion eyes and mouths, bristling with
"heavenly weapons" and ablaze with the light of a thousand suns. The sight is fearsome not only
in its manifold strangeness but because its fire is a consuming one. "The flames of thy mouths," a
horrified Arjuna cries, "devour all the worlds … how terrible thy splendours burn!"

Arjuna Says: O lotus-eyed one, I have heard from You in detail about the appearance and
disappearance of every living entity, as realized through Your inexhaustible glories.

O greatest of all personalities, O supreme form, though I see here before me Your actual
position, I yet wish to see how You have entered into this cosmic manifestation. I want to see that
form of Yours.

If You think that I am able to behold Your cosmic form, O my Lord, O master of all mystic
power, then kindly show me that universal self.

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The Blessed Lord said: My dear Arjuna ... behold now My opulences, hundreds of thousands of
varied divine forms, multicolored like the sea.

O best of the Bharatas, see here the different manifestations of Adityas, Rudras, and all the
demigods. Behold the many things which no one has ever seen or heard before.

Whatever you wish to see can be seen all at once in this body. This universal form can show you
all that you now desire, as well as whatever you may desire in the future. Everything is here
completely.

But you cannot see Me with your present eyes. Therefore I give to you divine eyes by which you
can behold My mystic opulence.

Welcome to the multiverse: Five hundred years ago, the western mind considered itself the
lordly possessor of a solid, unmoving world. It was as recent as the 1920s that Edwin Hubble
found galaxies beyond our own, then realised they were racing away from us -some faster than
the speed of light, a supposedly impossible feat that is allowed here since it's not the galaxies that
are moving but space that's expanding. And now, as the latest in an increasingly vertiginous
series of perspectives, comes the chance that the universe is but one among many: a leaf in a
cosmic wood. What is more – as Brian Greene notes in this progress-report on what some are
calling the golden age of cosmology – such ideas are not the fevered speculation of autistic
savants but "emerge unbidden" from the calculations of physicists.

In the Inflationary Multiverse, universes randomly pop into being like holes in a hyperspatial
emmental, then fly apart as the cheese itself – the technical term is "inflaton field" – grows at an
exponential rate. It is the stuff of delirium. The Brane Multiverse posits other, unseen universes
hovering a whisker from our own. In the chapter on the Simulated Multiverse, Greene sees our
universe is a virtual one programmed by an alien civilisation. (As he wryly puts it: "evidence for
artificial sentience and simulated worlds is grounds for rethinking the nature of your own
reality".)

The mother of them all is what Greene calls the Ultimate Multiverse, which states that any world
that can be mathematically modelled – or even imagined – must perforce exist. We are back to
Arjuna, agog in front of a reality that encompasses "the visions from thy innumerable eyes, the
words from thy innumerable mouths". It is a joyfully bewildering concept that flags up the
impossibility of the endeavour; surely trying to define All That Exists is like trying to box the
wind or weigh a dream. What seems certain, as Greene writes, is that "what we've thought to be

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the universe is only one component of a far grander, perhaps far stranger, and mostly hidden,
reality." And what a delicious irony it is that science, that model of sober investigation, is
inexorably returning us to vistas so peculiarly like the deranged imaginings of our "superstitious"
past.

According to Carl Sagan:

"The Hindu religion is the only one of the world's great faiths dedicated to the idea that the
Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the
only religion in which time scales correspond to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles
run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long, longer
than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang."

The Multiverse, and Universes within Universes

The idea of the bubble universes forming out of the foam of the multiverse can also be
envisioned as universes within universes. This image is common in Eastern thought. For
example, the concept is visualized in Buddhist architecture. The Chaoyang North Pagoda, also
constructed by the Huayan school, has thirteen stories. On the base of the pagoda are two small
reliefs of itself. These two reliefs have imagined smaller reliefs of itself, and so on and so on,
seemingly forever. This reflects the Buddhist cosmology of the multiverse containing universes
within universes.This universe within universe idea also crops up in Hinduism. The Bhagavata
Purana contains a story of Lord Krishna’s youth. After being accused of eating dirt, Krishna’s
mother looks inside his mouth and sees the entire universe.

168
169
The concept of parallel universes appears in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana:

170
REFERENCE

1, 2. Celestial Mysteries of the Borobodur Temple,Dr Uday Dokras, Indo Nordic Author’s
Collective, Tampere,Finland,2020
3. https://www.ashishdalela.com/2017/05/08/universe-in-a-lotus-stem/
4. . https://www.economist.com/schools-brief/2015/08/15/multiversal-truths

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 https://www.lotussculpture.com/shiva1.html

Some Facts about Lord Shiva

Facts about Lord Shiva – Origin and meaning
A. The word Shiva (शिव) has been derived by reversing the letters of the
word vash (वि् ). Vash means to enlighten; thus the one who enlightens is
Shiva. Shiva is absolute, self-radiant. He remains radiant and also illuminates
the universe.
B. He is the auspicious and prosperity-bestowing principle.

2. Facts about Lord Shiva – Some other Names

2.1 Shankar
In ‘िं करोशत इशत िंकर: ।’ sham (िं) means welfare and karoti (करोशत) is the doer.
Thus the one who is responsible for one’s welfare is Shankar.
2.2 Mahankaleshvar
The presiding deity [Kshetrapaldev (guardian deity of the territory)] of the entire
universe is Kalpurush (one who is beyond time) meaning Mahakal (Mahankal).
Hence He is also named Mahankaleshvar.

2.3 Mahadev
At the time of creation and activity of the universe basically there are three
thoughts – absolute purity, absolute knowledge and absolute spiritual practice.
The deity who possesses all these three attributes is referred to as the deity of
all deities, Mahadev.

2.4 Bhalachandra
Bhal (भाल) means the forehead. The one who adorns the moon (chandra) on His
forehead is Bhalachandra (भालचंद्र). Ganapati, the son of Shiva also has
Bhalachandra as one of His Names.

2.5 Karpurgour
Shiva’s complexion is white akin to that of camphor (karpur). Hence the Name
Karpurgour.

2.6 Stenapati
Sten (स् तेन) means a thief. Stenapati (स्तेनपशत) thus means the caretaker of
thieves. In ancient times temples of Shiva were located on the outskirts of the
village. They were the hide-outs of robbers. It was here that robbers distributed
their share of stolen booty amongst themselves and even left one share for Lord
Shiva!

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2.7 Pingalaksha
The words pingal (शपं गल) and aksha (अक्ष) make up the
word Pingalaksha (शपं गलाक्ष). The bird named pingal, a type of owl, is able to
perceive the past, present and future. Since Lord Shiva has the same quality
He is referred to as Pingalaksha.

2.8 Nilkantha and Ashutosh

3. Facts about Lord Shiva – Special features

God created the universe from the five deities (principles) – Prajapati, Brahma,
Shiva, Vishnu and Minakshi. These deities possess all the characteristics of
God besides their own special features. According to the Shaiva sect Lord Shiva
in the nirbij superconscious state (samadhi) is Shiva’s unmanifest form, that is
in other words The Supreme God. According to them Shiva in meditation is
God and the one dancing or playing a game of dice with Parvati is the Great
Illusion (Maya). [Among the Vaishnavites Sheshashayi (Vishnu resting on the
serpent Shesh as His couch) or Anantashayani Vishnu is Vishnu’s unmanifest
form, that is The Supreme God. Their devotee loving Vishnu is God and the one
with Lakshmi is the Great Illusion.] The characteristics vary with the form. The
features of God are given in ‘Science of Spirituality : Vol. 7 – Supreme God,
God, Incarnations and Deities’. The other special features of Shiva are enlisted
below.

3.1 Physical features

A. Ganga
Just as the sun is the focal point of the solar system and the soul that of the
body, the focal point of divine consciousness (chaitanya) in every object and
pure particles (pavitrakas) is ga-aun. The flow from which ga-aun originates
is gan (गं) gaha (ग:) – Ganga (गंगा). Ga-aun flows from Shiva’s head. This itself is
called the descent of the Ganga from Shiva’s head.
The cohesion of ga-aun constitutes gans (attendants). According to the science
of Yoga, gan represents the eight demigods (ashtavasu) or the eight guardian
deities (dikpal) of the eight directions (dishas). The origin of the guardian
deities is also ga-aun. The guardian deities comprise of the angles of the
directions from which ga-aun flows. One goes towards God and grows through
the medium of directions alone. Ganapati is the presiding deity of various ga-
aun; hence He is called ‘Ganapati’, the master of pure particles.
Since the river Ganga has a fraction of the principle of the spiritual Ganga no
matter however much polluted it becomes, its purity is perpetually retained.
Hence if compared to any other water in the world the water from the Ganga is
the most pure. This is realised not only by those who can perceive from the
subtle dimension but also by scientific researchers. More information on the
Ganga is given in ‘Science of Spirituality : Vol. 9B – Shakti (Divine Energy)’.

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B. Moon
Shiva adorns the chandra (moon) on His forehead. The
words chandramas (चंद्रर्स् ) – chandrama (चंद्रर्ा) – chandra have been derived
from the three words cha (च), Indra (इं द्र) and [muhu (र्ु:)] mas (र्स् ) which mean
the state of cohesion. This means blending with something along with Indra.
(Indra’s frequencies are superior to those of other deities.) The chandrama has
absorbed frequencies from Prajapati, Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Minakshi
and imparts them to others along with Indra. The frequencies arising from
Prajapati, Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Minakshi blend with each other and
produce a number of groups of frequencies. Prajapati, Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu
and Minakshi are unmanifest (nirgun); but Their frequencies contain the three
components (gunas). The point where the three frequencies that is affection
(mamata), mercifulness (kshamashilata) and motherly love (vatsalya) originate
is referred to as the chandra (moon). Thus one can conclude
that chandrama (the moon principle) is that state in which the three attributes
of affection, mercifulness and motherly love are present. This is not the moon
that we see in the sky. The moon in the sky contains a component of
this chandra (moon).
‘Alhadyati iti chandraha (आल्हादयशत इशत चंद्र: ।)’ is the only definition of
the chandra (moon) described in all the texts giving the origin of words. (All
other words have varied descriptions regarding their origin in different texts.)
C. The third eye
 Shiva’s left eye is the first eye, the right eye is the second and the verticle
one in the subtle form, just above the midpoint of the eyebrows is the
third one. The upper eye is a representation of the combined energy of
both the right and left eyes. It is also the greatest seat (mahapith) of
extrasensory energy and is endowed with names such
as Jyotirmath, Vyaspith, etc.
 Chandra, Arka and Vaishvanar are the three eyes of Lord
Shankar. Arka is the sun from the ajanaj region while Vaishvanar is the
sun from the karmadev region. Therefore Shankar can view everywhere
in the universe. (Information on the ajanaj and karmadev regions is given
in ‘Science of Spirituality : Chapter 25 – Composition of the Universe’.)
 Shankar is three-eyed means He can perceive events in the past, present
and future as well.
 According to the science of Yoga the third eye means
the Sushumna channel (nadi).
D. The serpent (nag)
 One of the Names of Lord Shankar is Bhujangapatihari
(भुजंगपशतहारी). Bhujang (भुजंग) means a serpent or pure particles
(pavitrakas), pati (पशत), the nurturer and hari (हारी), the one with a garland
around His neck. Bhujangapatihari thus means the one who nurtures
pure particles and wears them like a garland. Various serpents represent
groups of pure particles. Though externally they appear like serpents,
internally they are a kind of ladders. To make spiritual progress one has

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 to climb up holding onto the tail of the serpent.Shankar adorns serpents
at nine sites on His body – one on the head, one around the neck, one on
each arm, one on each wrist, one around the waist and one on each
thigh. This implies that His body is comprised of pure particles or that
serpents of pure particles play all over the body of Lord Shiva who is
universal in nature.
 The serpent is also considered as Shiva’s weapon. The nine serpents
from the universe are also referred to as ‘Navanarayan’.
The Navanaths have originated from these nine serpents. Information
on Navanarayan and Navanaths is given in ‘Science of Spirituality :
Chapter 12 – Vishnu, point – Some other Names’.
 Kartikeya, Jotiba, Ravalnath and Sabbu are deities in the form of
serpents.
 A serpent is connected with all deities in some way or the other.
 A female serpent (nagin) is present in the body. It is called
the kundalini (spiritual energy). [Refer ‘Science of Spirituality : Chapter
38 – Path of Activation of Spiritual Energy (Kundaliniyoga)’]. Five
serpents wander in the body as five inner vital energies. One does not
possess the other four serpents in the body. However they can be
acquired through spiritual progress.
 The serpent is a representation of the God (Purush) principle. He is the
deity who endows progeny.
E. Holy ash (bhasma)
Bhu (भू) – bhava (भव) means to take birth. As (अस् ) – asma (अस् र्) – ashma (अि् र्)
means ash. That which takes birth and blends with ash is
called bhasma (भस् र्). Bhasma is the ash of the one who is born. Shma (ि् र्)
[sma (स् र्)] means ash and shru (शृ) – shan (िन्) means scattered. So, the place
where ash is scattered is the smashan (स्र्िान), that is the crematorium. The
earth is born from fire (the sun). All beings on the earth arise from and merge
into its fire. The skull of man is associated with memories (smruti) of the earth.
From outer space the shape of the earth resembles a skull. Ash contains the
following three types of memories (smruti) from the time before birth to that
after it.
 Yadnyasmruti: Memories of sacrificial fires (yadnyas) in
the ajanaj region (lok) and the regions beyond it. (Refer ‘Science of
Spirituality : Chapter 25 – Composition of the Universe’.)
 Parthivsmruti: Memories of death which are full of agony and sorrow,
with reference to the earth and the seven nether regions.
 Tanmaysmruti: Memories of sacrifice (austerities) in context with the
regions from the earth to the northern (Shiva) region and the southern
(dakshin) region.
The three horizontal stripes of ash on the forehead of Lord Shankar represent
these three memories. Ash projects the desires of a person. This shows how
harmful desires are. The dhananjay vital energy of every dead being made up of
the absolute earth element (pruthvi) surrounds the ash. (The universe has

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the mahadhananjay vital energy.) When a person is reborn this dhananjay vital
energy re-enters the body. The frequencies emitted by ash are mostly a result
of a painful death. The ash says, ‘Let go of ignorance. The physical body is not
real. The happiness derived from it is fake. Do not get trapped in it’. Human
ash is applied to a jyotirlinga. Pure ash is called holy ash (bhasma). Just as
holy ash is an essential ingredient in ritualistic worship so also it plays a very
important role in the Shaiva sect. It is considered as the semen of Lord Shiva.
Special significance is given to the holy ash from the fireplace (agnikunda) of
the Brahmans who perform the ritual of Agnihotra. The ash obtained after
cremation of a corpse amidst chanting of mantras is called human ash
(chitabhasma). Lord Shiva loves human ash. In Varanasi, the deity Vishveshvar
is always smeared with human ash. Holy ash is of three kinds,
namely shantikar, pushtikar and kamad. It cleanses sins. The Jabalshruti also
quotes that it is also beneficial in acquiring knowledge of Brahman.
Vibhuti is another synonym for holy ash. It is used in tantra, mantra, black
magic, etc. to guard the directions or as self-protection. The holy ash is invoked
with mantrâs and is then applied to the forehead of the child or the sick
person. Ashes (bhasma) of various kinds such as of iron, gold, pearl, diamond,
etc. is used in Ayurveda. These are highly efficacious. However this is not
revealed to people as it may frighten them.
F. Rudraksha
Shiva adorns chains of rudraksha beads around the knotted bun of hair on His
head, the neck, arms, wrists and waist.

G. Garment and the seat of tiger skin

The tiger (raja and tama components) is a symbol of cruelty. Shiva slayed such
a tiger (that is destroyed the raja-tama) and made a seat from its skin.
3.2 Spiritual characteristics

A. The one performing severe austerities and the great yogi: Shiva is the
only deity chanting The Lord’s Name continuously. He is always seated in
a bandha or a mudra. His temperature rises due to heat generated by
performing severe austerities; hence He uses the Ganga, the moon and
serpents which endow a cooling effect and lives on the snow-capped Kailas
mountain.

B. Short tempered: If Shiva stops His chanting by Himself He remains calm.

However if someone disturbs His chanting [e.g. as was done by Madan (the
deity of love)], the radiance generated by spiritual practice is suddenly expelled
and since the person in front of Him cannot tolerate it, that individual is
destroyed. This itself is referred to as ‘reducing to ashes by Shankar’s opening
of the third eye’. The troublemaker is 100% distressed while Shiva is only
0.01% distressed. Because of this distress Shiva’s nadibandha stops but the
posture is retained. Then Shiva performs the bandha once again.

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C. The one who is willing to undergo any distress for the sake of imparting
happiness to others: The poison generated during the churning of the celestial
ocean (samudramanthan) was burning the entire world but no deity came
forward to accept it. At that time Shiva drank that poison and saved the world
from destruction. Ingestion of the poison turned His neck blackish-blue and He
came to be known as Nilkantha (नीलकंठ); nil (नीळ) means blue and kantha (कंठ)
means the neck.

D. The one who is easily appeased (Ashutosh)

E. The one willing to bestow any boon when appeased: Once when Shiva
was pleased with Ravan not only did He gift him His wife but also His divine
phallus (atmalinga) (soul). [Ravan himself wanted to become Shiva with that
divine phallus.]

F. The one who has both deities and demons as His worshippers: Neither
did demons like Banasur, Ravan, etc. worship Vishnu nor did Vishnu bestow
boons upon any demon. However they worshipped Shiva who blessed them
with a boon. Often He as well as other deities were in trouble because of these
boons. Finally each time Vishnu would find a solution to these situations.
G. Master of the spirits: Since Shiva is the master of spirits, worshippers of
Shiva are generally not possessed by them.

H. One possessing contrasting characteristics (acceptance and repulsion)

simultaneously: He has the potential to create and bring about dissolution,
also the combination of serenity-angrer, the moon (tranquility) – the third eye
(radiance which reduces to ashes), sattvik (sattva predominant) –
tamasik (tama predominant) temperaments, etc.

4. Facts about Lord Shiva – Mission

4.1 Creation of the universe
Shiva-Parvati are called ‘जगत, the parents of the world.

 Fifty-two sounds (letters), that is nadabijas or bijamantras were

generated from the fifty-two notes emitted by Shankar’s small hourglass
shaped drum (Damaru) from which the universe was created. Nad (नद) –
nad ) is the process of flowing continuously. The sound
‘da (द), da (द), dam ’ meaning ‘I am giving youwas generated from
these bijas of sound. It was as though Shiva assured the universe ‘I
bestow you with spiritual knowledge, purity and penance’.
 Since Shiva is urdhvaretas He can create the universe with a mere
resolve (sankalpa).
4.2 Jagadguru

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।’, means one should worship Shiva for spiritual knowledge and Janardan
(Vishnu) for the Final Liberation (Moksha).
4.3 The one leading to the state beyond the three components (trigunatit)
Shankar destroys all the three components of Prakruti – sattva, raja and tama,
that is ignorance simultaneously.
4.4 Mission according to the time (kal)

https://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/knowledge/article/what-do-the-horizontal-
stripes-of-ash-on-forehead-of-lord-shiva-
represent.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIv9vSgcDO8QIVFJ1LBR2FDAXTEAMYASAAEgKiffD_B
wE

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Angkor Linga
CHAPTER IX
Unique SHIVA Temple
Trimurti-Sadashiva Statue at the Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta Caves represent the focal point of the Elephanta Island, located in the
Mumbai harbour off the coast of Mumbai (Bombay), India. In
1987, UNESCO designated the caves a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many domestic
and foreign tourists have visited it. In recent years, complaints have been made that
visitors mistreat this important cultural and historic site. Most of the sculptures had
been defaced by the Portuguese, who used the sculptures as target practice in the

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seventeenth century. The Portuguese also gave the island its modern
name, Elephanta from Gharapuri.

The caves have been dated back to the Silhara kings of the ninth through thirteenth
centuries (810–1260). Some of the sculptures of the site have been attributed to the
imperial Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (in present day Karnataka), the Trimurti of
Elephanta showing the three faces of Shiva almost akin to
the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh, the royal insignia of the Rashtrakutas.
Other Rashtrakuta sculptures include the reliefs of Nataraja and Sadashiva and the
splendid sculptures of Ardhanarishvara.

The rock-cut temple complex covers an area of 60,000 sq ft consisting of a main

chamber, two lateral ones, courtyards and subsidiary shrines. The site of those
magnificent caves contains beautiful reliefs, sculptures, and a temple to
the Hindu god Śiva. The caves have been hewn from solid rock.[

Legend advances that the temple complex serves as the abode of Shiva.

Trimurti-Sadashiva Statue

Trimurti Sadasiva, carved in relief at the end of the North-South axis, embodies the
most important sculpture. The three headed-Shiva image, representing Panchamukha
Shivaimage, stands twenty feet high. The right half-face shows him as a young person
with sensuous lips, embodying life and its vitality. In his hand he holds something
that resembles a rose bud; again with the promise of life and creativity. That face
closely resembles Brahma, the creator or Uma or Vamadeva, the feminine side of
Shiva.[7] The left half-face, on the side, resembles a young man, mustached, and angry.
He depicts Shiva as Aghora Bhairava, as the one whose anger can engulf the entire
world in flames leaving only ashes behind. That represents Shiva, the Destroyer. The
central face, benign, meditative, as the preserver Vishnu, depicting Shiva as the yogi—
Yogeshwar—in deep meditation praying for the 'preservation' of humanity.

Elephanta Caves are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a collection of cave temples
predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are on Elephanta Island,
or Gharapuri (literally "the city of caves"), in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi)
east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahārāshtra. The island, about 2 kilometres
(1.2 mi) west of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, consists of five Hindu caves and a
few Buddhist stupa mounds that date back to the 2nd century BCE, as well as a small
group of two Buddhist caves with water tanks.
The Elephanta Caves contain rock cut stone sculptures that show syncretism of
Hindu and Buddhist ideas and iconography. The caves are hewn from
solid basalt rock. Except for a few exceptions, much of the artwork is defaced and
damaged. The main temple's orientation as well as the relative location of other
temples are placed in a mandala pattern. The carvings narrate Hindu mythologies,
with the large monolithic 20 feet (6.1 m) Trimurti Sadashiva (three-faced Shiva),
Nataraja (Lord of dance) and Yogishvara (Lord of Yoga) being the most celebrated.

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These date them between 5th and 9th century, and attribute them to various Hindu
dynasties. They are more commonly placed between the 5th and 7th centuries. Most
scholars consider it to have been completed by about 550 CE
They were named Elefante – which morphed to Elephanta – by the colonial
Portuguese when they found elephant statues on it. They established a base on the
island, and its soldiers damaged the sculpture and caves. The main cave (Cave 1, or
the Great Cave) was a Hindu place of worship until the Portuguese arrived, whereupon
the island ceased to be an active place of worship.[2] The earliest attempts to prevent
further damage to the caves were started by British India officials in 1909. The
monuments were restored in the 1970s.In 1987, the restored Elephanta Caves were
designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is currently maintained by
the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

A sketch of the Elephanta Caves in 19th and early 20th century. The broken pillars seen in the
right image were restored in the 1970s.

Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri, is about 10 km (6.2 mi) east of the Gateway of

India in the Mumbai Harbour and less than 2 km (1.2 mi) west of Jawaharlal Nehru
Port. The island covers about 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) at high tide and about
16 km2 (6.2 sq mi) at low tide. Gharapuri is a small village on the south side of the
island.
It is 2.4 km (1.5 mi) in length with two hills that rise to a height of about 150 m
(490 ft). A narrow, deep ravine separates the two hills and runs from north to south.
On the west, the hill rises gently from the sea and stretches east across the ravine and
rises gradually to the extreme east to a height of 173 m (568 ft). Forest growth with
clusters of mango, tamarind, and karanj trees cover the hills with scattered palm
trees. The foreshore is made up of sand and mud with mangrove bushes on the fringe.
Landing quays sit near three small hamlets known as Set Bunder in the north-west,
Mora Bunder in the northeast, and Gharapuri or Raj Bunder in the south.
There are five rock-cut caves in the western hill and a brick stupa on the eastern hill.
The eastern hill has two Buddhist mounds and is called the Stupa hill. Close to the
five western hill caves, are Cave 6 and 7 on the eastern hill. The most visited and
significant cave is on the western hill and is called Cave 1 or the Great Cave, located
about a kilometer walk up a steep graded uphill. The Elephanta island is a protected

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monument area as per the requirements of UNESCO, A notification was issued by the
Government of India in 1985 declaring a buffer zone that includes "a prohibited area"
that stretches 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the shoreline.
The ancient history of the island is unknown in either Hindu or Buddhist records.
Archeological studies have uncovered many remains that suggest the small island had
a rich cultural past, with evidence of human settlement by possibly the 2nd century
BC. The Elephanta site was first occupied by Hinayana Buddhists, before the arrival of
the Brahmans to the island, to raise a large stupa to the Buddha with seven smaller
stupas around it, probably around the 2nd century BCE.Coins of the Kshatrapas
(Western Satraps) dating to the 4th century CE were found on the island. The regional
history is first recorded in the Gupta Empire era, but these do not explicitly mention
these caves. This has made the origins and the century in which Elephanta caves were
built a subject of a historic dispute. They have been variously dated, mostly between
from late 5th to late 8th century AD, largely based on the dating of other cave temples
in the Deccan region.[1] Colonial era historians suggested that the caves were built by
the Rashtrakutas in 7th century or after, a hypothesis primarily based on some
similarities with the Ellora Caves. This theory has been discredited by later findings.

The stone elephant that gave the name Elephanta. It used to be on the south shore of the island,
the British attempted to move it to England in 1864, it broke, the reassembled pieces are now at
the Jijamata Udyaan (above).

According to Archaeological Survey of India and UNESCO, the site was settled in
ancient times and the cave temples were built between 5th and 6th century.
Contemporary scholars generally place the completion of the temples to the second
quarter of the 6th century and as a continuation of the period of artistic flowering in
the Gupta Empire era. These scholars attribute these Cave temples to king
Krishnaraja of the Kalachuri dynasty. The dating to a mid 6th century completion and
it being a predominantly Shiva monument built by a Hindu Kalachuri king is based on
numismatic evidence, inscriptions, construction style and better dating of other
Deccan cave temples including the Ajanta Caves, and the more firm dating of
Dandin's Dasakumaracarita.

According to Charles Collins, the significance of the Elephanta Caves is better

understood by studying them in the context of ancient and early medieval Hindu
literature, as well as in the context of other Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples on
the subcontinent. The historic Elephanta artwork was inspired by the mythology,
concepts and spiritual ideas found in the Vedic texts on Rudra and later Shiva, the
epics, the Puranas and the Pashupata Shaivism literature corpus

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of Hinduism composed by the 5th-century. The panels reflect the ideas and stories
widely accepted and well known to the artists and cave architects of India by about
525 CE. The mythology varies significantly in these texts and has been much distorted
by later interpolations, but the Elephanta Cave panels represent the narrative version
most significant in the 6th century. The panels and artwork express through their
eclecticism, flux and motion the influence of Vedic and post-Vedic religious thought on
Hindu culture in mid 1st millennium CE.

After the caves' completion in the 6th century, Elephanta became popular regionally
as Gharapuri (village of caves). The name is still used in the local Marathi language. It
became a part of the Gujarat Sultanate rulers, who ceded it to the Portuguese
merchants in 1534. The Portuguese named the island "Elephanta Island" for the huge
rock-cut stone statue of an elephant, the spot they used for docking their boats and as
a landmark to distinguish it from other islands near Mumbai. The elephant statue was
damaged in attempts to relocate it to England, was moved to the Victoria Gardens in
1864, was reassembled in 1914 by Cadell and Hewett, and now sits in the Jijamata
Udyaan in Mumbai.

A sketch and a photo of the Elephanta Caves in 19th century

Scholars are divided who most defaced and damaged the Elephanta Caves. According
to Macneil, the monuments and caves were already desecrated during the Sultanate
rule, basing his findings on the Persian inscription on a door the leads to the grand
cave. In contrast, others such as Ovington and Pyke, link the greater damage to be
from the Christian Portuguese soldiers and their texts which state they used the caves
and statues as a firing range and for target practice.
Macneil concurs that Elephanta Caves were defaced and damaged during the colonial
period, but assigns the responsibility not to the soldiers but to the Portuguese
authorities. The colonial era British publications state they were "defaced by the zeal
of Mahommedans and Portuguese". Yet a third theory suggests that neither Muslim

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rulers nor Portuguese Christians damaged the site because they both plastered the
artwork and caves. It was Marathas who tried to remove that plaster, according to this
theory which Wendy Doniger states is "possibly true", and it was Marathas that
caused damage to the artwork in the 17th century.
The Portuguese ceded the island in 1661 to the colonial British, but by then the Caves
had seen considerable damage. The Portuguese had also removed and then lost an
inscription stone from the caves. During the British rule, many Europeans visited the
caves during their visit to Bombay, then published their impressions and memoirs.
Some criticized it as having "nothing of beauty or art", while some called it "enormous
artwork, of extraordinary genius".
The British relied on the port city of Bombay (now Mumbai), which led to it becoming a
major urban center and the migration of Hindus looking for economic opportunities.
The Elephanta caves re-emerged as a center of Hindu worship, and according to
British administration records, the government charged the pilgrims a temple tax at
least since 1872.
In 1903, the Hindus petitioned the government to waive this fee, which the British
agreed to on three Shiva festival days if Hindus agreed. The Elephants Caves were,
otherwise, left in its ruinous condition.

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In the late 1970s, the Government of India restored the main cave in its attempt to
make it a tourist and heritage site. The caves were designated a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1987 as per the cultural criteria of UNESCO: the caves "represent a
masterpiece of human creative genius" and "bear a unique or at least exceptional
testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation which is living or which has
disappeared."

The island has two groups of rock-cut caves, hewn from solid basalt rock. The larger
group of caves, which consists of five caves on the western hill of the island, is well
known for its Hindu sculptures. The primary cave, numbered as Cave 1, is about
1.0 km (0.62 mi) up a hillside, facing the Mumbai harbour. Caves 2 through 5 are next
to Cave 1 further southeast, arranged in a row. Cave 6 and 7

Overview of Elephanta Caves site.

are about 200 m (660 ft) northeast of Cave 1 and 2, but geologically on the edge of the
eastern hill.

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The two hills are connected by a walkway. The eastern hill is also called the Stupa hill,
while the western hill is called the Canon hill, reflecting their historic colonial-era
names, the ancient Stupa and the Portuguese era firing Canons they host respectively.
All the caves are rock-cut temples that together have an area of
5,600 m2 (60,000 sq ft). At their most elaborate, they have a main chamber, two lateral
chambers, courtyards, and subsidiary shrines, but not all are so fully developed. Cave
1 is the largest and is 39 metres (128 ft) deep from the front entrance to the back. The
temple complex is primarily the abode of Shiva, depicted in widely celebrated carvings
which narrate legends and mythologies of Shaivism. However, the artwork
reverentially displays themes from Shaktism and Vaishnavism traditions of Hinduism
as well.
Cave 1: Main, Great Cave
The main cave, also called Cave 1, Grand Cave or the Great Cave, is 39.63 metres
(130.0 ft) square in plan with a hall (mandapa). The basic plan of the cave can be
traced back to the plan of the ancient Buddhist viharas, consisting of a square court
surrounded by cells, built from about 500 to 600 years before in India.[38] The Cave
has several entrances, the main entrance is unassumingly small and hides the grand
hall inside. The main entrance faces north, while two side entrances face east and
west. The cave's main entrance is aligned with the north–south axis, unusual for a
Shiva shrine (normally east–west).[8][18][1] However, inside is an integrated square plan
Linga shrine (garbha-griya) that is aligned east–west, opening to the sunrise.[10]

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 Elephanta main cave plan. The 6th century temple follows a mandala design, according to George Michell.

Shiva linga in elephanta cave at west side

Layout (3D Google Arts & Culture tour):

1. Ravananugraha
2. Shiva-Parvati, Mount Kailash
3. Ardhanarishvara
4. Sadashiva Trimurti
5. Gangadhara

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6. Wedding of Shiva
7. Shiva slaying Andhaka
8. Nataraja
9. Yogishvara
16. Linga
East Wing Shrine
10. Kartikeya
11. Matrikas
12. Ganesha
13. Dvarapala
West Wing Shrine
14. Yogishvara
15. Nataraja
To reach the main cave, a visitor or pilgrim has to walk up 120 steep steps from the
beach or take the tourist toy train. At the main entrance are four pillars, with three
open porticoes and an aisle at the back. Pillars, six in each row, divide the hall into a
series of smaller chambers. The roof of the hall has concealed beams supported by
stone columns joined together by capitals.

Main entrance, Cave 1///Side entrance/Main mandapa and pillars

The temple is enclosed in the cave, it has interior walls but no exterior wall. The pillars
create space and symmetric rhythm as they support the weight of the hill above. The
main mandapa recesses into a pillared vestibule (ardha-mandapa) on the south side,

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while a pillared portico (mukha-mandapa) connects it to the main entrance. Embedded
within the Great Cave are dedicated shrines, the largest of which is the square plan
Linga shrine (see 16 in plan). It is a square garbha-griya (womb house) with four
entrances, located in the right section of the main hall. Steps lead from the four
doorways into the sanctum, which has a linga in the mulavigraha style. Each doorway
is guarded by a dvarapala on each side, for a total of eight dvarapalas, their heights
spanning floor to the ceiling.[40] These were badly damaged when the Portuguese ceded
control of this region to the British. The linga shrine is surrounded by a mandapa and
circumambulation path (pradakshina-patha) as in other Hindu temples. The pillars are
similarly aligned east–west to this shrine and have an east entrance. Overlaid, as if
fused, on the architecture of this temple is another open temple aligned to the north–
south direction with three faced Sadashiva as its focal center. One features the
abstract, unmanifest, aniconic symbol of Shiva, the other anthropomorphic, manifest,
iconic symbol of Shiva. The mandapa pillars of the two align up.[40]
The northern entrance to the cave is flanked by two panels of Shiva dated to
the Gupta period, both damaged. The left panel depicts Yogishvara (Shiva as the Lord
of Yoga) and the right shows Nataraja (Shiva as the Lord of Dance).[41] The Sadashiva
is flanked by two large friezes, one of Ardhanarishvara and the other of
Gangadhara.[42] The walls of the mandapa feature other Shaivism legends. All the
friezes, states Stella Kramrisch, feature the vyaktavyakta concept of Samkhya, where
the state of spiritual existence transitions between the unmanifest-manifest, the
figures leap out of the cave walls towards the spectator as if trying to greet the
narrative. Even the manifested Sadashiva is shown to be rising out of the rocks.[42]
Each wall has large carvings of Shiva-related legends, each more than 5 metres (16 ft)
in height. The central Shiva relief Trimurti is located on the south wall opposite the
main entrance. Also called the Sadashiva, it is the iconic form of a pancamukha
linga is set in a mandala pattern with the abstract linga form of Shiva. [43] The
Sadashiva is a colossal carving, a bit over 6.27 metres (20.6 ft), depicting Tatpurusha
(Mahadeva), Aghora (Bhairava), Vamadeva (Uma) and Sadyojata (Nandin). [43] The
carving is unusual because the standard ancient Hindu texts for murti design state
that the Tatpursha should face east, but in Elephanta it is the north face (pointing
towards the main entrance.
Smaller shrines are located at the east and west ends of the caves. The eastern
sanctuary serves as a ceremonial entrance, and its shrine shows iconography
of Shaktism tradition.
Sadasiva: Trimurti

Trimurti Shiva flanked by the dvarapalas.

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The Trimurti is considered a masterpiece and the most important sculpture in the
caves. It is carved in relief on the south wall of the cave facing the north entrance,
along the north–south axis. It is also known as Sadashiva and Maheshmurti. The
image, 6 m (20 ft) in height, depicts a three-headed Shiva, representing Panchamukha
Shiva.
The three heads represent three essential aspects of Shiva: creation, protection, and
destruction. As per another version, the three heads symbolize compassion and
wisdom. The right half-face (west face) shows him holding a lotus bud, depicting the
promise of life and creativity. This face is symbolism for Brahma, the creator
or Uma or Vamadeva, the feminine side of Shiva and creator. The left half-face (east
face) is that of a moustached young man. This is Shiva as the terrifying Aghora or
Bhairava, the chaos creator and destroyer. This is also known as Rudra-Shiva, the
Destroyer. The central face, benign and meditative Tatpurusha, resembles the
preserver Vishnu. This is the Shiva form as the "master of positive and negative
principles of existence and preserver of their harmony". The three-headed Shiva are
his creator, preserver and destroyer aspects in Shaivism. They are equivalently
symbolism for Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, they being equivalent of the three aspects
found in Shaivism.
Gangadhara

Shiva bringing Ganges River to earth.

The Trimurti Shiva is flanked on its left by Ardhanarisvara (a half-Shiva, half-Parvati

composite) and Gangadhara legend to its right. The Gangadhara image to the right of
the Trimurti shows Shiva and Parvati standing. Shiva brings the River Ganges down
from the heavens to serve man, and her immense power is contained effortlessly in
Shiva's hair as she descends from heaven. The artists carved a small three bodied
goddess up high, a symbolism for Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati. The mother
goddess Parvati stands tall next to Shiva, smiling. The carving is 4 m (13 ft) wide and
5.207 m (17.08 ft) high.
The Gangadhara image is highly damaged, particularly the lower half of Shiva seen
seated with Parvati, who is shown with four arms, two of which are broken. From the

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crown, a cup with a triple-headed female figure (with broken arms) to depict the three
major rivers in Hindu texts. An alternative interpretation of the three-bodied goddess
in Gangadharamurti panel here and elsewhere is that it represents the regenerative
powers of rivers in the form of Mandakini, Suradhani and Bhagavati. In this grotto
scene, Shiva is sculpted and bedecked with ornaments, while gods gather to watch the
cosmic source of earthly abundance. The gods and goddesses shown are identifiable
from the vahana (vehicle) and icons, and they
include Brahma (left), Indra (left), Vishnu (right), Saraswati, Indrani, Lakshmi, and
others.
Wrapped on one of the arms of Shiva is his iconic coiling serpent whose hood is seen
near his left shoulder. Another hand (partly broken) gives the semblance of Shiva
hugging Parvati, with a head of matted hair. A damaged ornamented drapery covers
his lower torso, below the waist. Parvati is carved to the left of Shiva with a coiffured
hair dress, fully bedecked with ornaments and jewellery.[49] Between them stands
a gana (dwarf jester) expressing confused panic as to whether Shiva will be able to
contain the mighty river goddess. In the lower left of the panel is a kneeling devout
figure in namaste posture representing the heroic mythical king Bhagiratha who
worked hard to bring the river of prosperity to his earthly kingdom, but unaware of the
potentially destructive forces that came with it.[49]
Ardhanarishvara

Ardhanarishvara (centre): half female (Parvati) and half male (Shiva), feminine-masculine equivalence.

On the wall to the east of the Trimurti is a damaged four-

armed Ardhanarishvara carving. This image, which is 5.11 m (16.8 ft) in height. It
represents the ancient Hindu concept of essential interdependence of the feminine and
the masculine aspects in the universe, for its creation, its sustenance and its
destruction. It is represented as half woman shown as half of Parvati in this Elephanta
panel on the right side, with breast, waist, feminine hair and items such as a mirror in
the upper hand. The second half-man side is Shiva with male characteristics and

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items iconographically his symbol. In Shaivism, the concept pictorially symbolizes the
transcendence of all duality including gender, with the spiritual lacking any
distinctions, where energy and power (Shakti, Parvati) is unified and is inseparable
with the soul and awareness (Brahman, Shiva).
In the panel, the relief shows a headdress (double-folded) with two pleats draped
towards the female head (Parvati) and the right side (Shiva) depicting curled hair and a
crescent. The female figure has all the ornamentation (broad armlets and long
bracelets, a large ring in the ear, jewelled rings on the fingers) but the right male figure
has drooping hair, armlets and wristlets. One of his hands rests on Nandi bull's left
horn, Shiva's mount, which is fairly well preserved. The pair of hands at the back is
also bejewelled; the right hand of the male side holds a serpent, while the left hand of
the female side holds a mirror. The front left hand is broken, while a large part of the
lower half of the panel was damaged at some point. Around the Ardhanarishwara are
three layers of symbolic characters. The lowest or at the same level as the viewer are
human figures oriented reverentially towards the androgyne image. Above them are
gods and goddesses such as Brahma, Vishnu, Indra and others who are seated on
their vahanas. Above them are flying apsaras approaching the fused divinity with
garlands, music, and celebratory offerings.
Shiva slaying Andhaka

Shiva slaying Andhaka

The panel in the northwest side of the cave, on the wall near west entrance and the
Linga shrine (see 7 in plan), is an uncommon sculpture about the Andhakasura-
vadha legend. It shows Bhairava, or Virabhadra, a ferocious form of Shiva killing the
demon Andhaka (literally, "blind, darkness"). The relief is much ruined below the
waist, is 3.5 m (11 ft) high and posed in action. Though a relief, it is carved to give it a
three dimensional form, as if the ferocious Shiva is coming out of the rocks and
impaling Andhaka with his trident.

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Bhairava's headgear has a ruff on the back, a skull, and a cobra over the forehead,
and the crescent high on the right. His facial expression is of anger, the conviction of
something he must do, and one in the middle of the action. The legs and five of the
eight arms are broken, attributed to Portuguese vandalism. The smaller broken image
Andhaka is seen below Bhairava's image. Also depicted in his right hand is the
symbolic weapon that Shaiva mythology states Shiva used to kill the destructive
elephant demon. A hand holds a bowl to collect the blood dripping from the slain
Andhaka, which Shaiva legend states was necessary because the dripping blood had
the power to become new demons if they got nourished by the ground. Furthermore,
the artwork shows ruined parts of a male and two female forms, figures of two
ascetics, a small figure in front, a female figure, and two dwarfs.[5] The uppermost part
shows flying apsaras bringing garlands.

Kalyanasundara: the wedding of Shiva and Parvati. Shiva as Yogishvara, god of Yoga.

Wedding of Shiva
The niche image carved on the southwest wall, near the Linga shrine (see 6 on plan) is
the wedding of Shiva and Parvati. This legend is called the Kalyanasundara in Hindu
texts. Parvati is seen standing to Shiva's right, the customary place for a Hindu bride
at the wedding. The carvings are substantially damaged, but the ruined remains of the
sculpture have been significant to scholarly studies of Hindu literature. In many
surviving versions of the Puranas, the wedding takes place in King Parvata's palace.
However, in this Elephanta Cave panel, the narrative shows some earlier version. Here
King Parvata standing behind Parvati gives away the bride to Shiva while Brahma is
the priest in the grotto relief. Gods, goddesses and celestial apsaras are cheering
witness to the wedding. Vishnu is witness to the marriage, standing tall behind the
sitting Brahma on the right side of the panel. Just above the main images rishi (sages)
and a few characters hanging from the ceiling are seen blessing the wedding.
The groom Shiva is shown calm and young, while Parvati is depicted as shy and
emotional. Her head is tilted towards him and her eyelids joyfully lowered, while his

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hand (now broken) is holding hers. Their dress reflect the Hindu customs. He wears
the sacred thread across his chest, she the customary jewelry. The other characters
shown in the wedding carry items or are shown holding items that typically grace a
Hindu wedding. Chandra (moon god), for example, holds a traditionally decorated
water vessel (kalash). Brahma, the priest, is squatting on the floor to the right tending
the yajna fire (agni mandapa)
Yogishvara: Lord of Yoga

The panel in the east side of the portico next to the north entrance (see 9 on plan) is
Shiva in Yoga. This form of Shiva is called Yogishvara, Mahayogi, Lakulisa.
Shiva, states Stella Kramrisch, is the "primordial yogi" in this panel. He is the master
of discipline, the teacher of Yoga arts, the master who shows how yoga and meditation
leads to the realization of ultimate reality.
The relief is in a dilapidated condition with most of the arms and legs broken.He is
seated in padmasana lost in his meditation. His posture is well formed and suggests
that the 6th century artist knew this asana. He sits on a lotus with a stalk shown as if
coming out of the earth, his legs are crossed symmetrically. Two Nagas flank the lotus
and express their reverence with a namaste posture. The great yogi is being
approached by various Vedic and Puranic gods and goddesses, as well as monks and
sadhus, yet there is a halo around him that keeps them at bay as if they admire it but
do not wish to disturb his meditation.
In some ways, the yogi artwork shown in this Hindu cave are similar to those found in
Buddhist caves, but there are differences. Yogi Shiva, or Lakulisa, wears a crown here,
his chest is shown vaulting forward as if in breathing exercises found in Hindu yoga
texts, the face and body expresses different energy. This Shiva yogi comes across as
the "lord of the caves" or Guhesvara in medieval Indian poetry, states
Kramrisch.[62] According to Charles Collins, the depiction of Shiva as Yogi in Elephanta
Cave 1 is harmonious with those found in the Puranas dated to early and mid 1st
millennium CE.
Nataraja: Lord of Dance

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 Shiva as Nataraja, god of dance.

The panel facing the Yogishvara, on the west side of the portico next to the north
entrance (see 8 on plan) is Shiva as the Nataraja, "cosmic dancer" and "the lord of
dancers".It is also called the Nrittamurti.
The badly damaged relief panel is 4 m (13 ft) wide and 3.4 m (11 ft) high and set low
on the wall. His body and arms are shown as wildly gyrating in the lalita mudra, a
symbolism for occupying all of space, soaring energy and full bodied weightlessness.
His face here resembles the Tatpurusha, or the manifested form of Shiva that
preserves and sustains all of creation, all of creative activity. This is an eight-armed
depiction of Nataraja. The parts of the panel that have survived suggest that he is
holding an axe, a coiled serpent is wrapped around its top. In another he holds a
folded cloth, possibly symbolic veil of maya.
There are fewer gods, goddesses and observers in this panel than others in this cave,
with Brahma, Vishnu, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Parvati are visible and have a facial
expression of being spellbound. Also present are his sons
leaping Ganesha and Kartikeya holding Shiva's staff, as well as an ascetic and a rishi,
thus weaving the family life and the ascetic monastic life, the secular and the spiritual
tied in through metaphorical symbolism of dance within the same panel. The dancer
and destroyer aspects of Shiva are clustered in the northwest part of the cave, in
contrast to yoga and creator aspects that are found in the northeast parts.[70] This 6th-
century Nataraja shares architectural elements with those found in temples in the
western parts of South Asia such as in Gujarat, and in upper Deccan region.
Mount Kailash and Ravananugraha

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Left: Shiva and Parvati on Mount Kailasha. Right: Ravana shaking Mount Kailash.

The carvings at the east entrance are battered and blurry. One in the southeast corner
of the mandapa (see 2 on plan) depicts Shiva and Parvati in Mount Kailash in the
Himalayas, and the shows the Umamaheshvara story. The scene includes rocky
terrain and clouds layered horizontally. On top of the rock sit the four-armed Shiva
and Parvati by his side. Nandi stands below her, while celestial apsaras float on the
clouds above.There are traces of a crown and a disc behind Shiva, but it is all
damaged. The scene is crowded with accessory figures, which may be because the
eastern entrance was meant to have a devotional focus.
The panel facing the Mount Kailash panel towards the northeast corner (see 1 on plan)
depicts demon king Ravana trying to lift Kailash and bother Shiva, a legend
called Ravananugraha. The upper scene is Mount Kailash, where Shiva and Parvati
are seated. Shiva is recognizable with a crown, and other characters are badly
damaged. A portion of ascetic skeletal devotee Bhringi relief survives and he is seated
near Shiva's feet. Near Shiva an outline of what may have been Ganesha and
Kartikeya are visible. Below the mountain surface is shown the demon-king Ravana is
seen with a few arms, trying to unsuccessfully shake Shiva and Parvati in Mount
Kailash. The rest of the details are blurry and speculative. According to Charles
Collins, the discernible elements of this panel are generally consistent with those in
medieval era Puranas, though there is a lack in literal correspondence with any single
text.

Linga shrine

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Shiva Linga shrine inside the cave complex.

The central shrine of the Great Cave temple is a free-standing square stone cella, with
entrances on each of its sides. Each door is flanked by two dvarapalas (gate
guardians), for a total of eight around the shrine. The height of the eight dvarapalas is
about 4.6 m (15 ft). All are in a damaged condition except those at the southern door
to the shrine. The Shaiva guardians carry weapons and flank the doors.
Six steps lead to the inside of the cella from the floor level. In the center is
the mulavigraha Linga, is set on a raised platform above the floor of the shrine by
1.8 m (5 ft 11 in). It is the abstract unmanifest symbol of Shiva in union with the Yoni,
and the symbol of Parvati together symbolising the creative source and the
regenerative nature of existence. The temple and all the pillars are laid out to lead the
pilgrim's view towards it, the cella is visible from any point inside the cave and its
most significant progression.
East wing: Shaktism

The smaller east shrine.

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On the east side of the main hall is a separate shrine. It is a 17 m (56 ft)-wide
courtyard with a circular pedestal. It once had a seated Nandi facing the Linga shrine,
but its ruins have not been restored. To the south side of this eastern courtyard is the
Shaktism shrine, with a lion, each seated with a raised forepaw as guardian. Inside
the west face of this small shrine (see 10–12 of plan) are Sapta Matrikas, or the "seven
mothers" along with Parvati, Kartikeya (Skanda) and Ganesha. The smaller shrine's
sanctum features a linga and has a circumambulatory path around it. The sanctum
door has Shaiva dvarapalas.
The Shakti panel in the east shrine is unusual in that counting Parvati, it features
eight mothers (Asta matrikas) in an era when Sapta matrikas were more common such
as at Samalaji and Jogeshwari caves. Additionally, the mothers are flanked on one
side with Ganesha and the other with Skanda (Kartikeya) when typical artwork from
mid 1st millennium show the Shakta mothers with Ganesha and Shiva. According to
Sara L. Schastok, the Skanda in the east shrine of Elephanta Cave 1 is significant,
just like the one found in Deogarh Hindu temple site, because he is depicted with
regalia, weapons and icons similar to Shiva and because he is surrounded by gods
and goddesses. By portraying Skanda with Matrikas, he is equated with the Krittikas
legend and thereby Kartikeya, and by showing him so prominently centered the artists
are likely communicating the unity of Skanda-Shiva, that all these divinities are in
essence the same spiritual concept, "all emanations of the lingam at the very heart of
Elephanta", according to Schastok.
West wing: Other traditions
On the west side of the main hall is another attached shrine, though in a much more
ruined state. The larger cave on the south side of the west shrine is closed, contains
ruins and is bigger than the eastern side shrine. Some of the artworks from here were
moved to museums and private collections by mid 19th century, including those
related to Brahma, Vishnu and others. The western face has two panels, one showing
another version of Shiva in Yoga (see 14 on plan) and another Nataraja (see 15 on
plan). Between these is a sanctum with a Shiva Linga.
This Yogi Shiva panel is damaged, but unlike the other Yogi depiction, here the leg
position in Yoga asana has survived. The Yogishvara is seated on a lotus, and near
him are two badly defaced characters, possibly one of Parvati and another ascetic.
Above him are ruin remains of celestial gods or goddesses or apsaras. The Yogi Shiva
is wearing a crown, and once again there is a space of isolation around the meditating
yogi in which no other character enters. Below him, under the lotus, are Nagas and
several badly damaged figures two of whom are in namaste reverence posture. The
Nataraja shown in the west shrine is similar in style to one inside the main mandapa.
However, states Collins, its depth of carving appears inferior and it seems more eroded
being more open to rains and water damage.
Caves 2-5: Canon hill[

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Cave 3 (left) and Cave 4 (right). The caves are smaller, the works of art inside mostly
damaged. 3D Tour.

To the south-east of the Great Cave is Cave 2. The cave is unfinished. The front of this
cave was completely destroyed and restored in the 1970s with four square pillars. It
has two small cells in the back.
Cave 3 is next to Cave 2, as one continues to go away from the main shrine. It is a
portico with six pillars, and a mandapa with pillars. The portico is 26 m (85 ft) long
and 11 m (36 ft) deep and is supported by four reconstructed pillars. At the back of
the portico are three chambers. The central door at the back of the portico leads to a
damaged shrine, the sanctum seems to be for a Linga, but that is lost. The shrine is a
plain room 6 m (20 ft) deep by 5.7 m (19 ft) wide with a low altar. The shrine door has
some traces of sculpture. The dvarapalas on each side, leaning on dwarfs with flying
figures over the head, are now in fragments. There are two other chambers, one on
each side of the shrine.
Cave 4 is quite damaged, the large verandah lacking all its columns. The relief remains
suggest the cave was once a Shaiva temple as well. The shrine in the back contains a
lingam. There are also three cells for monks and a chapel at each end of the verandah.
Cave 5 is unfinished and in a very damaged state, with no artistic remains.
Stupa hill: caves 6-7, stupas 1-2

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Location map of Elephanta's Stupa Hill with its Buddhist monuments: caves 6 and 7, stupas 1
and 2. Photograph of Cave 6, and plan of the cave.

Across the ravine from Cave 1 on the hill on the other side are two Buddhist caves,
together with the remains of a stupa and water tanks. It seems the Buddhists were the
first occupants of the island.
One is a large hall known as Cave 6, or Sitabai's temple cave (18.963835°N
72.934125°E). The portico has four pillars and two pilasters. The hall has 3 chambers
at the back, the central one a shrine and the rest for monks or priests. The hall is
devoid of any decoration, except for the door of the central shrine, which has pilasters
and a frieze, with the threshold decorated with lion figures.] The sanctum has no
remaining image. Cave 6 is historically significant because it was converted and used
as a Christian church by the Portuguese in the later years when the island was a part
of their colony (at some point between 1534 and 1682).
Next, along the face of the eastern hill to the north of Sitabai's cave is Cave 7
(18.965100°N 72.934766°E), another small excavation with a veranda, which was
probably to be three cells, but was abandoned following the discovery of a flaw in the
rock.
Past Cave 7, to the east, is a dry pond, with large artificial boulders and several
Buddhist cisterns along its banks. Near the cistern, now at the end of the north spur
of the hill, is a mound that was identified as the remains of a
Buddhist stupa (18.966026°N 72.936753°E). This stupa, state Michell and
Dhavalikar, was originally much taller and dates to about the 2nd century BCE.

Lost monuments

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An Elephanta artwork depicting Sadashiva now at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu

Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. RIGHT Tourists taking pictures of the Trimurti

Many artworks from the Elephanta Caves ruins are now held in major museums
around India. These include an almost completely destroyed Durga statue with only
the buffalo demon with Durga's legs and some waist surviving. Other scholarly studied
museum held Elephanta sculpture includes a part of Brahma head, several ruins of
Vishnu from different statues, a range of panels and free-standing stone carvings.
According to Schastok, some of these are "surely not part of the Great Cave", but it is
unclear where they were found when they were moved elsewhere, or when ruins were
cleared and restoration process initiated.
The significant statues of Vishnu are difficult to explain and to position inside other
surviving caves. One theory states that some of the caves must have represented
the Vaishna tradition. Another theory by some scholars such as Moti Chandra
suggests that the island once had open-air structural Hindu temples in addition to the
caves, but these were the first victims of art destruction.
The Vishnu sculptures found among the Elephanta ruins express different styles. One
wears a dhoti and has a looped girdle, while holding a conch at an angle near his
thigh. The remnants of his sides suggest that this was likely a four arm iconography.
Another statue has elements of Shiva and Vishnu. It was identified to be Shiva by
Pramod Chandra, as Kartikeya by Moti Chandra, and as Vishnu by others. It shows a
chain link near the thigh, has a gada (mace) on side, and someone standing next to
him with a damaged upper portion but with a small waist and full breasts suggestive
of a Devi. This statue too is wearing a dhotti.

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The island also had a stone horse according to 18th century records, just like the
stone elephant that made colonial Portuguese call it "Ilha Elefante". However, this
horse was removed to an unknown location before 1764.
The convenient location of these caves near Mumbai (in comparison to other sites
that are less well served by Indian travel infrastructure) and Western curiosity for
historic Indian culture made Elephanta Caves a subject of numerous guide books and
significant scholarly interest in the 20th century. The early speculations and
misconceptions about these caves led to many interpretations and scholarly
disagreements but also increased the support for their preservation. The publication of
their condition, sketches and interpretation by James Burgess in 1871 brought wider
attention. The earliest efforts to preserve the Elephanta Caves were taken by British
India officials in 1909 when the site was placed under the Indian Archaeological
Department and the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act included it within its scope.
This helped isolate the island and preserve the ruins.
More specific legislation to preserve the Elephanta Island monuments were enacted
with the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958 and
Rules (1959); The Elephanta Island (Protected Monument) Rules of 1957, which
prohibits mining, quarrying, blasting, excavation and other operations near the
monument; the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act promulgated in 1972 with its Rules
promulgated in 1973; a Notification issued in 1985 declaring the entire island and a 1-
kilometre (0.62 mi) area from the shore as "a prohibited area"; a series of Maharashtra
State Government environmental acts protecting the site; the 1966 Regional and Town
Planning Act; and the 1995 Heritage Regulations for Greater Bombay.[18] However, it
was in the 1970s that the site received active conservation and restoration efforts.
These efforts put back the ruins of Cave 1 and select parts of broken pillars in other
caves, along with developing the island as a heritage site.

A tourist toy train from dock to the Elephanta Caves; a typical boat that runs between Gateway
of India and Elephanta Island.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Aurangabad Circle maintains and manages
the Elephanta Caves. It is responsible for monitoring and stabilisation of the rock face,
construction of supports to the cave structures where pillars have collapsed, and
consolidation of cave floors and construction of a parapet wall surrounding the site. In
addition, it maintains the visitor facilities and an on-site museum which receives
1,000 visitors a day.After declaring the caves a World Heritage Site, UNESCO and the
ASI have worked together to monitor the site and implement conservation methods on
a routine basis.

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 CHAPTER X
Shiva and Sagan
Carl Sagan and the Search for Life
He was a leading planetary astronomer, a pioneer in the search for
extraterrestrial biology, a spellbinding teacher, a believer in Hindu Cosmology
and the most effective public advocate for the values of science the world has
ever seen.

Carl Sagan (1934-1996), American planetary astronomer, exobiologist, popular

educator, and advocate for science. Portrait of Carl Sagan courtesy of Andy
Levin/PARADE.

To hundreds of millions of people, Sagan communicated his passion for the

universe of science. “When you’re in love,” he said, “you want to tell the world.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) grew up in a working-class family in Brooklyn. At age

seven, he went to the public library to find out what the stars are. The
answer—that the stars are suns, only very far away, and the Sun is a star, but
close up—opened boundless vistas in his young mind. He understood that if
those countless stars are suns, they might have their own planets. The
universe could be teeming with life. The idea was delectable.

Sagan also learned about a powerful method, called science, that could help
him explore such ideas. He knew then what he wanted to do with his life, and

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he prepared himself well. He went to the University of Chicago, where he
studied biology and physics, and earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics in 1960. His
mentors were the geneticists Hermann Muller and Joshua Lederberg, the
geochemist Harold Urey, and the planetary astronomer Gerard Kuiper. Three of
them were Nobel Laureates.

"Ask courageous questions. Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder
and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to critical scrutiny.
Be aware of human fallibility. Cherish your species and your planet."—Carl Sagan

As part of his wide-ranging Ph.D. thesis, Sagan solved an outstanding puzzle in

solar system astronomy: Why is Venus such a strong source of microwave
radiation? At the time, it was widely assumed that Venus had a warm and wet
climate, a plausible enough environment for life. But Sagan calculated that the
dense carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus sustains an extreme greenhouse
effect, which keeps the surface hot enough to melt lead and to emit the
observed microwaves. Many years later the Pioneer Venus spacecraft verified
this explanation. Surely nothing could live near the surface of Venus.

After teaching genetics at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, Sagan

joined the astronomy faculty at Harvard University, where he gave a series of
popular lectures called “Planets as Places.” This was a radical idea at the time.
Few scientists had thought seriously about the geology and climates of other
worlds. Few if any had recognized that the study of other planets could provide
vital clues for understanding the Earth. By 1963, Sagan was already concerned
that increasing carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere would lead to serious
global warming.

These were the years when the spacecraft exploration of the solar system was
just beginning. Sagan became a familiar figure at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, where he was a principal investigator in every
American spacecraft mission to the planets, including the Mariner flybys of
Venus and Mars, the Viking orbiters and landers sent to Mars, and the Pioneer
and Voyager missions to explore the outer solar system.

In 1967, Sagan and James Pollack, his first graduate student, solved another
major mystery of the solar system: What causes the seasonal “wave of
darkening” observed on Mars? The most popular view ascribed the
phenomenon to seasonal changes of vegetation on the planet. But Sagan and
Pollack proposed instead that seasonal winds alternately deposit light-colored
Martian dust on darker highland rock and then remove it again. This
explanation was later verified by the Viking spacecraft in orbit around Mars.

In 1968, Sagan joined the astronomy department at Cornell University. There

he established and ran a laboratory, taught popular courses (including one on

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“Critical Thinking“), edited Icarus (which he turned into the leading scientific
journal of solar system studies), supervised graduate students, and maintained
a prodigious output of publications. He authored or co-authored two dozen
books and more than a hundred scientific papers, many which were seminal,
including forty on planetary atmospheres, fifty on other solar system topics,
thirty-three on astrophysical and laboratory syntheses of organic molecules,
thirty on extraterrestrial biology and SETI (the search for extraterrestrial
intelligence), and others on science policy.

At Cornell, Sagan directed an extensive series of laboratory experiments to

simulate the atmospheric and surface chemistry of planets, moons, and
comets. The results showed that, under a wide range of observed conditions in
the solar system, prevailing sources of energy (such as ultraviolet light and
electrical discharge) will stimulate the production of complex organic
molecules, including the chemical building blocks of life, in high yields. These
results were regarded with some skepticism at the time. Today, we know that
such substances exist in giant interstellar clouds and on the surfaces of many
worlds in the outer solar system. The stuff of life appears to be common in the
universe. Sagan assumed that life itself was also widespread.

But what about intelligent life? And advanced civilizations? Despite confident
assertions on all sides of the question, no one knows whether they are
numerous, rare, or nonexistent. One point however seems clear: Other things
being equal, we should expect that the number of advanced civilizations in the
universe will be proportional to their average lifetime. If the average civilization
lasts no more than a few centuries, then at any given time there will not be
very many of them. But if some survive for many millions of years, they will be
more common. In that case, the nearest civilizations might be close enough for
us to detect with radio telescopes. The only way to find out is to make the
necessary observations. With that in mind, Sagan took part in and worked to
build public and institutional support for a number of SETI projects.

As the nuclear arms race began to escalate again in the late 1970s, Sagan
became increasingly concerned about the life expectancy of our own
civilization. In March 1983, he very nearly died during a ten-hour emergency
operation to replace his esophagus. While still in intensive care, he learned
about President Reagan’s call to build a space-based anti-missile “shield.” This
he regarded as a technically hopeless scheme that would destabilize nuclear
deterrence and perhaps lead to the very war it was supposed to prevent. From
his hospital bed, Sagan promptly drafted a petition to Congress opposing the
project. Many leading American scientists signed the petition, and Sagan
remained a strong critic of “missile defense.”

In the same year Sagan also participated in an extensive scientific study of the
atmospheric consequences of nuclear war. He and his colleagues calculated
that smoke from firestorms in cities might reach the stratosphere and block
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enough sunlight to cool the Earth, causing a catastrophic “nuclear winter.”
Their analysis used techniques previously developed to model the cooling of the
Earth resulting from major volcanic eruptions and the more drastic cooling due
to dust lofted by the asteroid impact that destroyed the dinosaurs. Nuclear
winter was at once plausible and controversial. Later, more detailed studies
suggested that the climatic consequences of nuclear war would be less severe
than calculated, but still sufficient to cripple agriculture in the northern
hemisphere.

The widespread discussion of nuclear winter contributed to a substantial

rethinking of nuclear war doctrines, particularly in the Soviet Union. In 1986,
Sagan briefed the Soviet Central Committee on the subject. Some of those
present later said that his effect was profound. Gorbachev personally told
Sagan that he had studied the nuclear winter research and it bolstered the
case for deep cuts in the nuclear arsenals. Some Russian scientific colleagues
credit Sagan with having a major influence on ending the cold war.

Sagan regarded the prevalence of scientific ignorance in a technological society

as a prescription for disaster. To promote public understanding of and support
for science, he created the popular Cosmos television series, co-founded The
Planetary Society (a non-profit public interest group) and used countless
articles and interviews to popularize the values of reason, curiosity, critical
thinking, and an unbiased search for the truth. While sharply critical of
pseudoscience, nationalism, chauvinism, fundamentalism, and other irrational
beliefs, he consistently defended the widest freedom of thought and expression.
Sagan was never afraid to entertain extraordinary ideas, but he always insisted
that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

He taught that the unrivaled success of science is due to its combination of

openness to new ideas with the obligation to subject those ideas to the most
critical scrutiny. He believed that science and democracy share essential
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values: a free exchange of ideas and information, accountability, and the
questioning of authority. Sagan resolutely accepted the verdicts of science even
when they contradicted his own fondest hopes and expectations. While he
would have liked nothing better than to find evidence for life on other worlds,
he instead argued the case that the surface of Venus must be lifeless and that
seasonal changes on Mars have nothing to do with life. In both instances, he
was guided by a hard-headed analysis of the evidence. By his life and works,
he taught that we must always follow the evidence rather than accept
uncritically what we merely wish to believe. He maintained that this principle is
as valid in the social and political worlds as in the sciences.

In December 1996, after a courageous two-year struggle, Sagan died of a rare

bone marrow disease. The Federation of American Scientists issued a tribute,
which noted that in the midst of a life dedicated to scholarship and the
popularization of science, Carl Sagan “found the time, and had the courage, to
be an intellectual gladiator on issues involving the planet’s survival and, in
particular, on the prevention of nuclear war.” Like a magnificent comet, he
illuminated the lives of millions, and we will not see his like again.

—Steven Soter

This is an excerpt from COSMIC HORIZONS: ASTRONOMY AT THE CUTTING

EDGE, edited by Steven Soter and Neil deGrasse Tyson, a publication of the New
Press. © 2000 American Museum of Natural
History. https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/curriculum-collections/cosmic-
horizons-book/carl-sagan-quest-for-life

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 CHAPTER XIII
Cambodia and Its shiva Temple

Motto of Cambodia
’"Nation, Religion, King"
Angkor’s most impressive and best known temple, Angkor Wat is the best preserved of all
the Angkor monuments. The temple is an object of pride for Cambodia, its depiction
appears on the national flag. It is a richly decorated, very large temple; the total temple
area including the moat measures 1.5 kilometers long by 1.3 kilometers wide, or a total of
about 2 square kilometers. Angkor Wat is the biggest Hindu temple in Cambodia.

Cambodia also Kampuchea officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, French: Royaume du

Cambodge), is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast

209
Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometers (69,898 square miles) in area, bordered by Thailand to the
northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
The sovereign state of Cambodia has a population of over 16 million. The official religion
is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by approximately 95 percent of the population. The country's
minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 hill tribes. The capital and largest
city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic and cultural centre of Cambodia. The kingdom is
an electiveconstitutional monarchy with a monarch, currently Norodom Sihamoni, chosen by
the Royal Throne Council as head of state. The head of government is the Prime Minister,
currently Hun Sen, the longest serving non-royal leader in Southeast Asia, ruling Cambodia
since 1985.

In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes
of Chenla under the name "Kambuja".This marked the beginning of the Khmer Empire, which
flourished for over 600 years, allowing successive kings to control and exert influence over
much of Southeast Asia and accumulate immense power and wealth. The Indianised
kingdom facilitated the spread of first Hinduism and then Buddhism to much of Southeast Asia
and undertook many religious infrastructural projects throughout the region, including the
construction of more than 1,000 temples and monuments in Angkor alone. Angkor Wat is the
most famous of these structures and is designated as a World Heritage Site.
After the fall of Angkor to Ayutthaya in the 15th century, a reduced and weakened Cambodia
was then ruled as a vassal state by its neighbors. In 1863, Cambodia became a protectorate of
France, which doubled the size of the country by reclaiming the north and west from Thailand.
Cambodia gained independence in 1953. The Vietnam War extended into the country with the
US bombing of Cambodia from 1969until 1973. Following the Cambodian coup of 1970 which
installed the right-wing pro-US Khmer Republic, the deposed king gave his support to his former
enemies, the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge emerged as a major power, taking Phnom Penh in
1975 and later carrying out the Cambodian genocide from 1975 until 1979, when they were
ousted by Vietnam and the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea, supported by
the Soviet Union in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War (1979–91).

Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations
mission (1992–93). The UN withdrew after holding elections in which around 90 percent of the
registered voters cast ballots. The 1997 factional fighting resulted in the ousting of the
government by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party, who remain in power
as of 2019.

Cambodia is a member of the United Nations since 1955, ASEAN, the East Asia Summit,
the WTO, the Non-Aligned Movement and La Francophonie. According to several foreign
organisations, the country has widespread poverty, pervasive corruption, and lack of political
freedoms, low human development and a high rate of hunger. Cambodia has been described
by Human Rights Watch's Southeast Asian Director, David Roberts, as a "vaguely communist
free-market state with a relatively authoritarian coalition ruling over a superficial democracy".

While per capita income remains low compared to most neighboring countries, Cambodia has
one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with growth averaging 7.6 percent over the last
decade. Agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles,

210
construction, garments and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international
trade. The US World Justice Project's 2015 Rule of Law Index ranked Cambodia 76 out of 102
countries, similar to other countries in the region.

The "Kingdom of Cambodia" is the official English name of the country. The English
"Cambodia" is an Anglicization of the French "Cambodge", which in turn is the French
transliteration of the Khmer kampuciə. Kampuchea is the shortened alternative to the country's
official name in Khmer prĕəh riəciənaacak kampuciə. The Khmer endonym Kampuchea derives
from the Sanskrit name कम्बोजदे ि kambojadeśa, composed of दे ि deśa ("land of" or "country
of") and कम्बोज kamboja, which alludes to the foundation myths of the first ancient Khmer
kingdom. The term Cambodia was already in use in Europe as early as 1524, since Antonio
Pigafetta (an Italian explorer who followed Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation of the
globe) cites it in his work Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (1524-1525)
as Camogia.

Colloquially, Cambodians refer to their country as either srok khmae [srok ˈkʰmae]), meaning
"Khmer's Land", or the slightly more formal prɑteih kampuciə- Country of Kampuchea". The
name "Cambodia" is used most often in the Western world while "Kampuchea" is more widely
used in the East.

There exists sparse evidence for a Pleistocene human occupation of present-day Cambodia,
which includes quartz and quartzite pebble tools found in terraces along the Mekong River,
in Stung Treng and Kratié provinces, and in Kampot Province, although their dating is
unreliable. Some slight archaeological evidence shows communities of hunter-
gatherers inhabited the region during Holocene: the most ancient archaeological discovery site in
Cambodia is considered to be the cave of L'aang Spean, in Battambang Province, which belongs
to the Hoabinhian period. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of radiocarbon dates
around 6000 BC. Upper layers in the same site gave evidence of transition to Neolithic,
containing the earliest dated earthenware ceramics in Cambodia.
Archaeological records for the period between Holocene and Iron Age remain equally limited. A
pivotal event in Cambodian prehistory was the slow penetration of the first rice farmers from the
north, which began in the late 3rd millennium BC. The most curious prehistoric evidence in
Cambodia are the various "circular earthworks" discovered in the red soils near Memot and in
the adjacent region of Vietnam in the latter 1950s. Their function and age are still debated, but
some of them possibly date from 2nd millennium BC.

Other prehistoric sites of somewhat uncertain date are Samrong Sen. (not far from the ancient
capital of Oudong), where the first investigations began in 1875, and Phum Snay, in the northern
province of Banteay Meanchey. An excavation at Phum Snay revealed 21 graves with iron
weapons and cranial trauma which could point to conflicts in the past, possible with larger cities
in Angkor. Prehistoric artifacts are often found during mining activities in Ratanakiri.
Iron was worked by about 500 BC, with supporting evidence coming from the Khorat Plateau, in
modern-day Thailand. In Cambodia, some Iron Age settlements were found beneath Baksei
Chamkrong and other Angkorian temples while circular earthworks were found beneath Lovea a
few kilometres north-west of Angkor. Burials, much richer than other types of finds, testify to
improvement of food availability and trade (even on long distances: in the 4th century BC trade

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relations with India were already opened) and the existence of a social structure and labor
organization. Also, among the artifacts from the Iron Age, glass beads are important evidence.
Different kinds of glass beads recovered from several sites across Cambodia, such as the Pham
Snaky site in northwest and the Preheat site in the southeast show that there were two main
trading networks at the time. The two networks were separated by time and space, which indicate
that there was a shift from one network to the other at about 2nd–4th century AD, probably with
changes in socio-political powers.

Pre-Angkor an and Angkor an era

During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, the Indianised states of Funan and its successor, Chenla,
coalesced in present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. For more than 2,000 years, what
was to become Cambodia absorbed influences from India, passing them on to other Southeast
Asian civilizations that are now Thailand and Laos. Little else is known for certain of these
polities, however Chinese chronicles and tribute records do make mention of them. It is believed
that the territory of Funan may have held the port known to Alexandrian geographer Claudius
Ptolemy as "Kattigara". The Chinese chronicles suggest that after Jayavarman I of Chenla died
around 690, turmoil ensued which resulted in division of the kingdom into Land Chenla and
Water Chenla which was loosely ruled by weak princes under the dominion of Java.
The Khmer Empire grew out of these remnants of Chenla, becoming firmly established in 802
when Jayavarman II (reigned c790-850) declared independence from Java and proclaimed
himself a Devaraja. He and his followers instituted the cult of the God-king and began a series of
conquests that formed an empire which flourished in the area from the 9th to the 15th
centuries. During the rule of Jayavarman VIII the Angkor empire was attacked by
the Mongol army of Kublai Khan, however the king was able to buy peace. Around the 13th
century, monks from Sri Lanka introduced Theravada Buddhism to Southeast Asia. The religion
spread and eventually displaced Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism as the popular religion of
Angkor; however it was not the official state religion until 1295; when Indravarman III took
power.
The Khmer Empire was Southeast Asia's largest empire during the 12th century. The empire's
centre of power was Angkor, where a series of capitals were constructed during the empire's
zenith. In 2007 an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern
techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world with an
urban sprawl of 2,980 square kilometres (1,151 square miles.The city, which could have
supported a population of up to one million people and Angkor Wat, the best known and best-
preserved religious temple at the site, still serves as a reminder of Cambodia's past as a major
regional power. The empire, though in decline, remained a significant force in the region until its
fall in the 15th century.

Dark ages of Cambodia

After a long series of wars with neighboring kingdoms, Angkor was sacked by the Ayutthaya
Kingdom and abandoned in 1432 because of ecological failure and infrastructure
breakdown. This led to a period of economic, social, and cultural stagnation when the kingdom's
internal affairs came increasingly under the control of its neighbors. By this time, the Khmer
penchant for monument building had ceased. Older faiths such as Mahayana Buddhism and
the Hindu cult of the god-king had been supplanted by Theravada Buddhism.

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Angkor Wat (æŋkɔːr ˈwɒt; "City/Capital of Temples")

Height of architectural skills of the Khmer

The temple represents the height of architectural skills of the Khmer builders. Its very detailed
carved bas reliefs that cover much of the temple show impressive craftsmanship. Unlike other
Angkor temples, Angkor Wat is oriented towards the West and dedicated to Vishnu, where
previous temples face east and are dedicated to Shiva.
Angkor Wat was the state temple of King Suryavarman II, who built the temple during the first
half of the 12th century. He was one of Angkor’s greatest Kings who ruled for almost 40 years
and expanded the Khmer empire. Some historians believe that the temple also served as a
funerary temple for the King. This could explain its orientation to the West; the setting sun (in
the West) symbolizes the end of the cycle of life.

Mount Meru, the center of Hindu cosmology

Angkor Wat is a mountain temple build to represent Mount Meru, the center of the world in
Hindu cosmology. The temple’s five prasats or sanctuary towers represent the peaks of the
sacred mountain, while the moats represent the oceans that surround Mount Meru.
The temple’s three tiers are surrounded by large galleries, that were introduced in earlier temples
like the Ta Keo. One of Angkor Wat’s major attractions are the many intricate and well
preserved bas reliefs with depictions of scenes from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, as
well as many hundreds of statues of female devatas, a Hindu deity.
Angkor Wat was cleared at the start of the 20th century, after which extensive restoration work
has been carried out. Around the end of the 13th century Angkor Wat was converted into a
Buddhist temple.
Approach to the temple
Surrounding the temple complex is a 190 meter wide moat. At the Western end is a 12 meter
wide bridge, in front of which is a terrace where lions and Naga snakes guard the temple.
Crossing the bridge the visitor approaches the impressive Western gate, which was built to
resemble the front view of the temple itself.
The structure consists of long galleries with a three part gopura topped by towers that have partly
collapsed. At both ends of the structure is a pavilion, large enough to enable elephants to go
through. The Western gate contains apsaras and devatas as well as magnificent carvings on its
lintels showing Vishnu, Garuda, warriors and scenes from the epic Ramayana. Only after passing
the Western gate, the Angkor Wat temple comes in sight.
Behind the Western gate is a 350 meter long processional walkway elevated about 1½ meters
above the ground towards the temple. On either side of the walkway is a library building. Past
the libraries are two lakes, reflecting the silhouette of the of Angkor Wat’s towers. The temple
itself is build on raised platform about 330 meters long and 255 meters wide. The structure
comprises of three rectangular tiers each higher one smaller than the one below it encircled by
long galleries with corner towers and a gopura in the center of its sides.
Bas reliefs’ galleries of the third tier
The third tier is surrounded by long concentric galleries. Its walls contain some of the finest and
best preserved bas reliefs of Angkor Wat, including:
 The battle of Lanka, a storey from the epic Ramayana, where Rama fights Ravana who
abducted his wife Sita

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  The battle of Kurukshetra from the epic Mahabharata, between the Kauravas and the
Pandavas, depicting soldiers and commanders on elephants or riding chariots
 A 90 meter panel of the Royal Procession. Two sections depict King Suryavarman II and a
procession of court ladies, another section shows a procession of soldiers on foot or on
horses and elephants and a parade of Brahmin priests
 The Heavens and Hells and the Judgment of Sinners by Yama, the Hindu God of Death.
Depictions of the 37 heavens with palaces with servants and the 32 hells and the
punishments and tortures received there, each one for a specific sin committed
 The churning of the ocean of milk, a 50 meter long panel. This storey from the Mahabharata
tells how an elixir of immortality over which the Gods and the demons fight is produced by
churning the ocean with Mount Meru used as the churning rod
 Vishnu and his incarnation Krishna
 The victory of Vishnu over the asuras
 The abduction of Shiva by Ravana
 Other scenes from the Ramayana
Within the third enclosure, right after passing the main entrance on the West end is galleries that
delimit four courtyards. Its walls are decorated with devatas, apsaras and rishis, while the
pediments contain carvings of Vishnu and Krishna, one of Vishnu’s incarnations. The galleries
also contain a number of Buddha images, placed there after Angkor Wat was converted into a
Buddhist temple.
The platform with 5 lotus bud shaped towers
The second tier measuring 100 by 115 meters is enclosed by galleries. On each of its four corners
are towers that have partly collapsed. On top of the structure is a square platform about 55 meters
wide that contains five towers shaped like lotus buds. The platform is surrounded by galleries;
with a sanctuary tower on each if its corners.
In the middle stands the 42 meter high central sanctuary on each side opening to a vestibule in
which Buddha statues are found. The walls of the tower are decorated with well preserved
devatas. Inside is the cella, a chamber that enshrined a large statue of Vishnu.

History
Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometers (3.4 mi) north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short
distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centered at Baphuon. In an
area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures, it is the southernmost
of Angkor's main sites.
According to legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to serve as a palace
for his son Precha Ket Mealea. According to the 13th-century Chinese traveler Zhou Daguan,
some believed that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect.
The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century,
during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 – c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as
the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary
inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may
have been known as "Varah Vishnu-lok" after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended
shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177,
approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the
traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman

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VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a
few kilometers to the north.Towards the end of the 12th century, Angkor Wat gradually
transformed from a Hindu centre of worship to Buddhism, which continues to the present day
Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was largely neglected after
the 16th century it was never completely abandoned. Fourteen inscriptions dated from the 17th
century discovered in Angkor area testify to JapaneseBuddhist pilgrims that had established
small settlements alongside Khmer locals. At that time, the temple was thought by the Japanese
visitors as the famed Jetavana garden of the Buddha, which originally located in the kingdom
of Magadha, India. The best-known inscription tells of Ukondafu Kazufusa, who celebrated
the Khmer New Year at Angkor Wat in 1632.

Facade of Angkor Wat, a drawing by Henri Mouhot, c. 1860

Sketch of Angkor Wat, a drawing by Louis Delaporte, c. 1880

One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese friar who
visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to
describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and
decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."
In the mid-19th century, the temple was effectively rediscovered by the French naturalist and
explorer Henri Mouhot, who popularized the site in the West through the publication of travel
notes, in which he wrote:

“ One of these temples, a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some

ancient Michelangelo, might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings.
It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to
the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.

”
Angkor Wat may relate to the architecture of the Greek and Roman record explored in terms of
the west rather than east orientation of the temple. Some architects have written that it is 'correct'
for the construction to be facing to the west. In temple orientations for the Greek and Etruscan
context, west is associated with "right" and the "underworld" to suggest a religious connection of
the building. Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the

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Khmers could have built the temple and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. His
reports inspired the French government, already an established presence in Indochina, to begin a
systematic study of the ruins. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together from stylistic
and epigraphic evidence accumulated during subsequent clearing and restoration work. There
were no ordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement, including cooking utensils,
weapons, or items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is only the evidence of
the monuments themselves. An exploration commission began drawing up a list of principal
monuments. Subsequent missions copied inscriptions written on Angkor buildings so scholars
might translate them and learn something of Angkor's history. By 1885 they had worked up a
chronology of the rulers and developed the outlines of a description of the civilization that had
produced the temple complex. In 1898 the French decided to commit substantial funds to
Angkor's preservation. Centuries of neglect had permitted the jungle to recapture many of the
more significant structures, and unless efforts were made to free the buildings from the embrace
of huge banyan and silk-cotton trees, they might soon be crushed to destruction.

The 20th century saw considerable restoration of Angkor Wat. Gradually teams of laborers and
archeologists pushed back the jungle and exposed the expanses of stone, permitting the sun once
again to illuminate the dark corners of the temple. Work was interrupted by the Cambodian Civil
War and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little
damage was done during this period. Camping Khmer Rouge forces used whatever wood
remained in the building structures for firewood, and a shoot-out between Khmer Rouge and
Vietnamese forces put a few bullet holes in a bas relief. Far more damage was done after the
wars, by art thieves working out of Thailand, which, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, claimed
almost every head that could be lopped off the structures, including reconstructions.

The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has
factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbor
Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian national flags since the
introduction of the first version circa 1863. From a larger historical and even transcultural
perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride sui
generis but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage
production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial and universal
exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937. Angkor Wat's aesthetics were also on
display in the plaster cast museum of Louis Delaporte called musée Indo-chinois which existed
in the Parisian Trocadero Palace from c.1880 to the mid-1920s.

The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region
led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading
Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the
northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since AD 1351
(Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, AD 1431 Cambodia gained independence from
France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time. It is safe to say that
from the colonial period onwards until the site's nomination as UNESCO World Heritage in
1992, this specific temple of Angkor Wat was instrumental in the formation of the modern and
gradually globalised concept of built cultural heritage.

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In December 2015, it was announced that a research team from University of Sydney had found
a previously unseen ensemble of buried towers built and demolished during the construction of
Angkor Wat, as well as massive structure of unknown purpose on its south side and wooden
fortifications. The findings also include evidence of low-density residential occupation in the
region, with a road grid, ponds and mounds. These indicate that the temple precinct, bounded by
moat and wall, may not have been used exclusively by the priestly elite, as was previously
thought. The team used LiDAR, ground-penetrating radar and targeted excavation to map
Angkor Wat.
Architecture

Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple

mountain (the standard design for the empire's state temples) and the later plan of
concentric galleries. The construction of Angkor Wat also suggests that there was a celestial
significance with certain features of the temple. This is observed in the temple's east-west
orientation, and lines of sight from terraces within the temple that show specific towers to be at
the precise location of the sunrise on a solstice. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru,
the home of the gods: the central quincunx of towers symbolizes the five peaks of the mountain,
and the walls and moat symbolize the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean.[31] Access to the
upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to
the lowest level.
Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led
many (including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it
to serve as his funerary temple. Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs,
which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction—prasavya in Hindu terminology—as this is the
reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral
services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container which may have been a
funerary jar which was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the
greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however, note
that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that
Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.

A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the
temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she
argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as
the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat,
this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to
perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens
above." Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in
academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham
Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.
The Angkor Wat temple's main tower aligns to the morning sun of the Spring Equinox.
Style
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture—the Angkor Wat
style—to which it has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled
and confident in the use of sandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as the main building material.

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Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and
for hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified,
although natural resins or slaked lime has been suggested.
The temple has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design. According to Maurice
Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the
restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its
proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style."
Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towers
shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting
enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple. Typical
decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs, and on pediments extensive garlands
and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, being more static
and less graceful than earlier work. Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting
and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gilding on some figures on the
bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.

Outer enclosure

View of the west wall of the outer enclosure of Angkor Wat

The outer wall, 1,024 m (3,360 ft) by 802 m (2,631 ft) and 4.5 m (15 ft) high, is surrounded by a
30 m (98 ft) apron of open ground and a moat 190 m (620 ft) wide and over 5 kilometers (3 mi)
in perimeter. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the
west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge. There
are gopuras at each of the cardinal points; the western is by far the largest and has three ruined
towers. Glaize notes that this gopura both hides and echoes the form of the temple proper. Under
the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have
occupied the temple's central shrine. Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further
entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large
enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side and a
closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated
with lotus rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the wall
with blustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and devatas, including
(south of the entrance) the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth.

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The outer wall encloses a space of 820,000 square meters (203 acres), which besides the temple
proper was originally occupied by the city and, to the north of the temple, the royal palace. Like
all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of perishable materials rather than of stone, so
nothing remains of them except the outlines of some of the streets. Most of the area is now
covered by forest. A 350 m (1,150 ft) causeway connects the western gopura to the temple
proper, with naga balustrades and six sets of steps leading down to the city on either side. Each
side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal point, in front of the third set of stairs
from the entrance, and a pond between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later
additions to the design, as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to
the central structure
Central structure

Aerial view of the central structure; in front of the central structure lies the cruciform terrace.
The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three
rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikka interprets
these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu. Each gallery has
a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners,
forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set
back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west
side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.

The outer gallery measures 187 m (614 ft) by 215 m (705 ft), with pavilions rather than towers at
the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries
extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on
the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand
Gods"). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most
have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims,
most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked
out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water. North and south of the cloister
are libraries.

Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking libraries
by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level
upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level
enclosure is 100 m (330 ft) by 115 m (377 ft), and may originally have been flooded to represent
the ocean around Mount Meru. Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and
gopuras of the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the
kingdom of the gods. This inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m (200 ft) square with axial
galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located below the

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corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake
ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to
the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central shrine rises 43 m (141 ft) to a height
of 65 m (213 ft) above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the central tower
is raised above the surrounding four. The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu
and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism,
the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated
the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its
treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.

Decoration
Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor
Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner
walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the
Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these, "the greatest known
linear arrangement of stone carving". From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western
gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and
the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of
the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a
procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hellsand 37 heavens of Hinduism.

Decoration on the corner

On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk,
showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's
direction (Mannikka counts only 91 asuras, and explains the asymmetrical numbers as
representing the number of days from the winter solstice to the spring equinox, and from the
equinox to the summer solstice). It is followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th-century
addition). The northern gallery shows Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize,
"The workmanship is at its worst")

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Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devata; there are more than 1,796
depictions of devata in the present research inventory. Angkor Wat architects employed small
apsara images (30 cm (12 in)–40 cm (16 in)) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. They
incorporated larger devata images (all full-body portraits measuring approximately 95 cm
(37 in)–110 cm (43 in)) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to
the tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging the
remarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewellery and decorative
flowers, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.

Construction techniques
________________________________________________________________

Corridor
The stones, as smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints that are
sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise and tendon joints in some
cases, while in others they used dovetails and gravity. The blocks were presumably put in place
by a combination of elephants, coir ropes, pulleys and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot noted
that most of the blocks had holes 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter and 3 cm (1.2 in) deep, with more
holes on the larger blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join them
together with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help
maneuver them into place.
The monument was made out of 5 million to 10 million sandstone blocks with a maximum
weight of 1.5 tons each. In fact, the entire city of Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone
than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and occupied an area significantly greater than
modern-day Paris. Moreover, unlike the Egyptian pyramids which use limestone quarried barely
0.5 km (0.31 mi) away all the time, the entire city of Angkor was built with sandstone quarried
40 km (25 mi) (or more) away. This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry
approximately 25 miles (40 km) to the northeast. The route has been suggested to span 35
kilometers (22 mi) along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 kilometers (22 mi) crossing

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the lake, and finally 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) against the current along Siem Reap River, making a
total journey of 90 kilometres (56 mi). However, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda
University in Tokyo, Japan have discovered in 2011 a shorter 35-kilometre (22 mi) canal
connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery. The two believe that the
Khmer used this route instead.

Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels and even roofs are carved. There are miles of reliefs
illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling
chariots as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing girls
with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1,000 square metres of
bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with
bronze sheets. These were highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers.
While excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated a stone sculpture
under 4 feet (1.2 m), this took about 60 days to carve. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also
conducted experiments to quarry limestone which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about
400 tons of stone. The labor force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone must
have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skills required to carve
these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artifacts that
have been dated to the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power

Is Angkor Wat a wonder of the world?

The classic Seven Wonders of the Ancient World list includes only monuments around the
Mediterranean Sea. There are several other wonders of the world lists, among them wonders of
nature, engineering and the industrial world. Although not on any of these lists, Angkor Wat is
often considered “the 8th Wonder of the World”.
It is located on a site measuring 162.6 hectares (1,626,000 m2; 402 acres). Originally constructed
as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, it was gradually
transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built by the
Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura present-day Angkor),
the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from
the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-
preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre
since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It
has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime
attraction for visitors.

Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and
the later galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu
mythology: within a moat more than 5 kilometers (3 mi) long and an outer wall 3.6 kilometers
(2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the
temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to
the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the
grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the
numerous devatas adorning its walls.

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The modern name, Angkor Wat (Khmer: (alternate name: Nokor Wat, Khmer: means "Temple
City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor (Khmer: ) meaning "city" or "capital city", is a
vernacular form of the word nokor (Khmer: which comes from
the Sanskrit word nagara (Devanāgarī: नगर). Wat (Khmer is the Khmer word for "temple
grounds", also derived from Sanskrit vāṭa (Devanāgarī: वाट), meaning "enclosure".
The original name of the temple was Vrah Viṣṇuloka or Parama Viṣṇuloka (Sanskrit), which
means the sacred dwelling of Vishnu.
Modern day Angkor Wat
As with most other ancient temples in Cambodia, Angkor Wat has faced extensive damage and
deterioration by a combination of plant overgrowth, fungi, ground movements, war damage and
theft. The war damage to Angkor Wat's temples however has been very limited, compared to the
rest of Cambodia's temple ruins, and it has also received the most attentive restoration.
The restoration of Angkor Wat in the modern era began with the establishment of the
Conservation d'Angkor (Angkor Conservancy) by the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO)
in 1908; before that date, activities at the site were primarily concerned with exploration. The
Conservation d'Angkor was responsible for the research, conservation, and restoration activities
carried out at Angkor until the early 1970s and a major restoration of Angkor was undertaken in
the 1960s. However, work on Angkor was abandoned during the Khmer Rouge era and the
Conservation d'Angkor was disbanded in 1975. Between 1986 and 1992, the Archaeological
Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple, as France did not recognize the
Cambodian government at the time. Criticism has been raised about both the early French
restoration attempts and particularly the later Indian work, with concerns over damage done to
the stone surface by the use of chemicals and cement.

In 1992, following an appeal for help by Norodom Sihanouk, Angkor Wat was listed in
UNESCO's World Heritage in Danger (later removed in 2004) and World Heritage Site together
with an appeal by UNESCO to the international community to save Angkor. Zoning of the area
was set up to protect the Angkor site in 1994, APSARAwas established in 1995 to protect and
manage the area, and a law to protect Cambodian heritage was passed in 1996. A number of
countries such as France, Japan and China are currently involved in various Angkor Wat
conservation projects. The German Apsara Conservation Project(GACP) is working to protect
the devatas, and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple, from damage. The organization’s
survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of
natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts.
Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of further
collapse: the west facade of the upper level, for example, has been buttressed by scaffolding
since 2002, while a Japanese team completed restoration of the north library of the outer
enclosure in 2005. World Monuments Fund began conservation work on the Churning of the Sea
of Milk Gallery in 2008 after several years of studies on its condition. The project restored the
traditional Khmer roofing system and removed cement used in earlier restoration attempts that
had resulted in salts entering the structure behind the bas-relief, discoloring and damaging the
sculpted surfaces. The main phase of work ended in 2012, with the final component being the
installation of finials on the roof of the gallery in 2013.
Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the
Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration- and radiation-resistant filamentous
cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was

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 found in internal and external Preah Khan Samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only
in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan. Replicas were also made to
replace some of the lost or damaged sculptures.
Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the largest religious monument in the world but didn't make the new
list of Seven Wonders of the World? Or that it is actually rented for a profit to an entity outside
of Cambodia? A few of these 20 Angkor Wat facts may surprise you.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia's famous UNESCO World Heritage Site is breathtaking and thrilling to
explore. The temple ruins have a way of igniting the inner archaeologist in all of us. You won't
soon forget wandering the sprawling, carved ruins of a once-great civilization!
 The sandstone used to construct Cambodia's national monument, at least 5 million tons worth,
had to be carried from a quarry 25 miles away.
 Angkor Wat was shifted from Hindu to Buddhist use sometime around the late 13th century. The
temple is still used by Buddhists as a place of worship today.
 One of the first Westerners to see Angkor Wat was Antonio da Madalena, a Portuguese monk,
who visited in 1586. Long before Europeans arrived, a Chinese emissary named Zhou Daguan
lived in Angkor for one year between 1296 and 1297; he created a written account of his
experience there sometime before 1312. Zhou Daguan's book, the only account of 13th-century
Angkor, was translated into English by Peter Harris in the book A Record of Cambodia.
 Henri Mouhot, a French explorer, helped bring Angkor Wat to fame in the West by publishing an
account of his visit in the mid-19th century. His book is Travels in Siam, Cambodia, Laos, and
Annam.
 Angkor Wat was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. The site suffered from decades
of unregulated tourism and looting; many ancient statues have been decapitated and their heads
sold to private collectors. An international collaborative effort has helped to slowly restore sites
and prevent further collapse of unstable structures.
 Sokimex, a private company founded by an ethnic Vietnamese-Cambodian businessman, has
rented Angkor Wat from Cambodia since 1990 and manages tourism there for profit. Sokimex
also has a petroleum division, manages hotels, and runs Sarika Air Services.
 Most of the money to restore Angkor Wat comes from foreign aid. Only an estimated 28% of
ticket sales goes back into the temples.
 A three-day pass to explore the Angkor temples costs US $62. A single-day pass is available for
US $37, or a week-long pass can be purchased for US $72.
 Jacqueline Kennedy risked a visit to Angkor Wat during the Vietnam War to fulfill a "lifelong
dream" of seeing the monument.
 The Angkor temple Ta Prohm—famous for the large vines that strangle the ruins—was used as
the set for the hit movie Tomb Raider. Paramount was charged US $10,000 per day for seven
days to film there. Unfortunately, some of the iconic trees growing through the ruins at Ta Prohm
have had to be removed to preserve the temple from further collapse.

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 Chapter XII
Similarities between the SHIVA TEMPLES of
Cambodia and India

“It is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen,
particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration
and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of.”
António da Madelena, a Portuguese monk and one of the first Western visitors to Angkor Wat, to
describe the world’s largest Hindu temple complex. And rightly so, for the incredible detailing
and magnificent scale of Cambodia’s most iconic monument is the ultimate expression of Khmer
architectural genius.

In the late sixteenth century a mythical encounter was reported during an elephant hunt in the
dense north of the Tonle Sap, or Great Lake of central Cambodia. King Satha of Cambodia and
his retainers were beating a path through the undergrowth when they were halted by stone giants
and a massive wall. The King, the fable reported, ordered six thousand men to clear away the
forest overgrowth around the wall, thereby exposing the city of Angkor--"lost" for over a
century.Subsequent reports from Portuguese missionaries described its five gateways, with
bridges flanked by stone figures leading across a moat. There were idols covered in gold,
inscriptions, fountains, canals, and a "temple with five towers, called Angor." For four centuries,
this huge complex has inspired awe among visitors from all over the world, but only now are its
origins and history becoming clear.
This book begins with the development of the prehistoric communities of the area and draws on
the author's recent excavations to portray the rich and expansive chiefdoms that existed at the
dawn of civilization. It covers the origins of early states, up to the establishment, zenith, and
decline of this extraordinary civilization, whose most impressive achievement was the co70,000
people. This book begins with the development of the prehistoric communities of the area and
draws on the author's recent excavations to portray the rich and expansive chiefdoms that existed
at the dawn of civilization. It covers the origins of early states, up to the establishment, zenith,
and decline of this extraordinary civilization, whose most impressive achievement was the
construction of the gilded temple mausoleum of Angkor Wat in the twelfth century, allegedly by
70,000 people.

The Civilization of Angkor-Charles Higham, University of California Press, 2004

Hindu temples typically consist of a prayer hall called a mandapa and a sanctuary, inner
sanctum, or central shrine called a garbhargriha . The sanctuary contains an icon of the Hindu

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 deity the temple is dedicated to and is off limits to everyone but priests at the temple. What are
the commonalities and differences between North Indian and South Indian temple?
Most of the North Indian temples do not contain surrounding corridors and halls, while
many South Indian temples like the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai contain surrounding
corridors and halls. In North Indian temples you can find that the tallest towers are constructed
over the sanctum sanctorum. What are 3 basic components of the Hindu temple?
The basic form of a Hindu structural temple consists of the following.
 Garbhagriha: It literally means 'womb-house' and is a cave like a sanctum. ...
 Mandapa: It is the entrance to the temple. ...
 Shikhara or Vimana: ...
 Amalaka: ...
 Kalasha: ...
 Antarala (vestibule): ...
 Jagati: ...
 Vahana:

Mt. Meru is not only home to the gods, it is also considered an axis-mundi. Similarly, the
symbolism of Angkor Wat serving as an axis mundi was intended to demonstrate the Angkor
Kingdom's and the king's central place in the universe.

Are there any-indianTwins-of-Angkor-wat - the Cambodian temples in the family of Hindu

Temples. In this 75 page research on the similarities of the cambodoan and hindu temples
pointing to the fact that there are truly similar temples in India such as that of Angkor.In my
paper The-indianTwins-of-Angkor-wat - Do the Cambodian temples have Hindu fascimiles in
India.2020, Indo Nordic author'd collective
https://www.academia.edu/44197799/The_indianTwins_of_Angkor_wat_Do_the_Cambodian_te
mples_have_Hindu_fascimiles_in_India- I have answered this question.

Are all Shiva temples in same longitude?

 8 Shiva temples in a straight line--same longitude: Kedarnath 79.0669° Kalahashti
79.7037° Ekambaranatha- Kanchi 79.7036° Thiruvanamalai 79.0747°
Thiruvanaikaval 78.7108 Chidambaram Nataraja 79.6954° Rameshwaram 79.3129°
Kaleshwaram N-India 79.9067°

Guess what is common between all the prominent temples

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There are some mysteries that are difficult to be solved. The lack of answers only makes these
enigmas more intriguing. Here, we look at some prominent temples and find out what is common
between them.
1. Kedarnath
2. Kalahashti
3. Ekambaranatha- Kanchi
4. Thiruvanamalai
5. Thiruvanaikaval
6. Chidambaram Nataraja
7. Rameshwaram
8. Kaleshwaram N-India
Make a guess as to what is common between all these prominent temples.
If your answer is they all are Shiva temples, you are only partially correct.
It is actually the longitude in which these temples are located.
They all are located in 79° longitudes. What is surprising and awesome is that how the architects
of these temples many hundreds of kilometres apart came up with these precise
locations without GPS or any such gizmo like that.
1. Kedarnath 79.0669°
2. Kalahashti 79.7037°
3. Ekambaranatha- Kanchi 79.7036°
4. Thiruvanamalai 79.0747°
5. Thiruvanaikaval 78.7108
6. Chidambaram Nataraja 79.6954°
7. Rameshwaram 79.3129°
8. Kaleshwaram N-India 79.9067°
See the pictures — all are in a straight line.

You will be surprised to know that there are Shiva temples in India which are built in a straight
line from Kedarnath to Rameswaram. Wonder what science and technology we had with our
ancestors, which we could not understand till today? The Kedarnath of Uttarakhand, the
Kaleshwaram of Telangana, Kalahasti of Andhra Pradesh, Akhaseshwar of Tamil Nadu,
Chidambaram and finally the Rameswaram temples have been built in the geographical straight
line of or nearer to that of 79° E 41 ‘54 “Longitude.
All these temples represent the expression of gender in the 5 elements of nature, which we call
the punch Tatwa (Five Elements) in common language. “Punch tatwa” that is Earth, water, fire,
air and space. These has released these five Shiva LINGAS on the basis of five elements.
1. Water is represented at Thiruvnanakwal Temple,
2. The representation of the fire is in Thiruvannamalai,
3. The air is represented in Kalahasti,
4. The earth is represented in Kanchipuram and in the cold
5. The space or the sky is represented at Chidambaram Temple! These five temples
represent the wonderful mating of Vastu-Vigyan-Veda.

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A specialty is also found in these temples in a geographical manner. These five temples were
built according to Yoga Science, and have been placed in a certain geographical alignment with
each other. There will certainly be science that will affect the human body.
These temples were constructed about four thousand years ago when there was no satellite
technology available to measure the latitude and longitude of those places. So how was the five
temples so accurately established?

There is a distance of 2383 km between Kedarnath and Rameswaram. But all these temples fall
in almost the same parallel line. After all, thousands of years ago, the technology with which
these temples had been built in a parallel line is a mystery to this day. The Shimmer lamp in the
Srikalahasti temple shows that it represents AIR Linga. The water spring in the inner plateau of
the Thiruvanikka temple represents WATER-Linga. The huge lamp on the Annamalai hill
represents FIRE-Linga. The Sawanbhu Linga of the sands of Kanchipuram represents the
EARTH Linga and the incorporeal (NIRAKAR) state of Chidambaram is r epresenting as the
incorporeal, heavens (AKASH) Eather element of God. Flickering lamps in the SriKalahasti
temple shows the play of wind (respiration of Vayu Linga), Water spring in the innermost
sanctum of the Tiruvanaikka temple shows the temple’s relationship to the element
water, Annual Kartikai Deepam (giant lamp is lighted atop the Annamalai hill) shows the

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Annamalaiyaar’s manifestation as fire, Swayambhu lingam of sand at Kanchipuram signifies the
Siva’s association with the earth while the formless space (Akasa) at Chidambaram shows the
association of lord with formlessness or nothingness.
What is more surprising now is that the five Lingas, representing the five elements of the
universe, had been installed centuries ago in a similar line. Indeed we should be proud of our
ancestors ‘knowledge and intelligence that they had that advanced science and technology that
even modern science has perhaps yet to achieve. It is believed that it is not only the five temples
but also many more temples in this line which lie in the straight line from Kedarnath to
Rameswaram. This line is also called the “SHIVA SHAKTI AKSH Rekha”. It is likely to have
been made by keeping the entire temple of Kailash in the regions which falls in 81.3119° E!?
The answer only the Universe knows. …

Isn’t
it amazing? Mahakal? What is the relationship between the Shiva Jyotirlingams……??
The distance of the remaining Jyotirlingams from Ujjain is also interesting:
Ujjain to Somnath-777 km
Ujjain to Omkareshwar-111 km
Ujjain to Bhimashankar-666 km
Kashi Vishwanath from
Ujjain-999 km
From Ujjain, Mallikarjun-999 km
Kedarnath from
Ujjain-888 km
Ujjain to Tryanbakeshwar-555 km
Ujjain to Baijnath-999 km
Rameswaram-1999 km from Ujjain
From Ujjain to Nauseshwara-555 km

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How people have constructed temples separated by thousands of miles (2383 km between
Kedarnath and Rameswaram) on almost same longitude, remains a mystery. There was nothing
in Hinduism without any reason. Ujjain is considered to be the centre of the Earth. As a centre
for thousands of years in Sanatan Dharma, a man-made instrument for calculating the sun and
astrology in Ujjain has also been created about 2050 years ago. And when the imaginary line on
Earth Imaginary was created by the British scientist about 100 years ago, the central part of it
was Ujjain. Even today, scientists come to Ujjain to know about the sun and space.
Indeed there are some mysteries that are difficult to be solved and the lack of answers only
makes these enigmas more intriguing!

MYSTERY OF THE SHIVA TEMPLES OF CAMBODIA AND Bharat(INDIA)

Angkor wat is shrouded in mystery- however much one may deny that. As archaeologist and
anthropologist Charles Higham explains, “Curiously, there are no direct references to it in the
epigraphic record, so we do not know its original name and controversy remains over its function
and aspects of its symbolic status.” Originally dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, the complex
was later converted to Buddhist use (the word “wat” typically refers to Buddhist monasteries),
and continues to be a site of religious pilgrimage today. Symbolically, west is the direction of
death, which once led a large number of scholars to conclude that Angkor Wat must have existed
primarily as a tomb. This idea was supported by the fact that the magnificent bas-reliefs of the
temple were designed to be viewed in an anticlockwise direction, a practice that has precedents
in ancient Hindu funerary rites. Vishnu, however, is also frequently associated with the west, and
it is now commonly accepted that Angkor Wat most likely served both as a temple and as a
mausoleum for Suryavarman II.

Wall detail of apsara figures, Angkor Wat © Felix Hug / Lonely Planet

Celestial nymphs

Angkor Wat is famous for having more than 3000 beguiling apsaras (heavenly nymphs) carved
into its walls. Each of them is unique, and there are 37 different hairstyles for budding stylists to
check out. Many of these exquisite apsaras were damaged during efforts to clean the temples

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with chemicals during the 1980s, but they are being restored by the teams with the German
Apsara Conservation Project. Bat urine and droppings also degrade the restored carvings over
time. These 1,200 square meters of carved bas reliefs at Angkor Wat, representing eight different
Hindu stories. Perhaps the most important narrative represented at Angkor Wat is the Churning
of the Ocean of Milk , which depicts a story about the beginning of time and the creation of the
universe. It is also a story about the victory of good over evil. In the story, devas (gods) are
fighting the asuras (demons) in order reclaim order and power for the gods who have lost it. In
order to reclaim peace and order, the elixir of life (amrita) needs to be released from the earth;
however, the only way for the elixir to be released is for the gods and demons to first work
together. To this end, both sides are aware that once the amrita is released there will be a battle to
attain it.

The level of detail

Visitors to Angkor Wat are struck by its imposing grandeur and, at close quarters, its fascinating
decorative flourishes. Stretching around the outside of the central temple complex is an 800m-
long series of intricate and astonishing bas-reliefs – carvings depicting historical events and
stories from Hindu mythology.

Henri Mouhot’s etching from 1804

Eleanor Mannikka explains in her book Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship that the spatial
dimensions of Angkor Wat parallel the lengths of the four ages (Yuga) of classical Hindu

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thought. Thus the visitor to Angkor Wat who walks the causeway to the main entrance and
through the courtyards to the final main tower, which once contained a statue of Vishnu, is
3
metaphorically travelling back to the first age of the creation of the universe.

Like the other temple-mountains of Angkor, Angkor Wat also replicates the spatial universe in
miniature. The central tower is Mount Meru, with its surrounding smaller peaks, bounded in turn
by continents (the lower courtyards) and the oceans (the moat). The seven-
headed naga (mythical serpent) becomes a symbolic rainbow bridge for humankind to reach the
abode of the gods.While Suryavarman II may have planned Angkor Wat as his funerary temple
or mausoleum, he was never buried there as he died in battle during a failed expedition to subdue
the Dai Viet (Vietnamese).

How was Angkor Wat built?

The sandstone blocks from which Angkor Wat was built were quarried from the holy mountain
of Phnom Kulen, more than 50km away, and floated down the Siem Reap River on rafts. The
logistics of such an operation are mind-blowing, consuming the labour of thousands. According
to inscriptions, the construction of Angkor Wat involved 300,000 workers and 6000 elephants. It
was not fully completed.

Moat

The outermost boundary of a Khmer temple was often surrounded by a moat, a body of water
symbolic of the Cosmic Sea (blue highlights above).This is the Moat. Angkor Wat is surrounded
by a 190m-wide moat, which forms a giant rectangle measuring 1.5km by 1.3km. From the west,
a sandstone causeway crosses the moat. For Hindus, the Cosmic Sea is the source of creative
energy and life, the starting point for the journey toward salvation.The temple visitor begins his
journey by crossing the sea on causeways lined with serpents, beasts similarly intimately
associated with both Hindu and Khmer myths of creation (we explore the serpent in detail in our
guidebook to Angkor).

Outer wall- Enclosure Walls as Sacred Mountain Ranges

Angkor Thom was the capital and walled city built in the late 12th to early 13th century by
Jayavarman VII, the greatest of the Khmer rulers. Within its boundaries are enclosed
temples such as Bayon and Ta Prohm.
From the quite intact and vast environs of Angkor Wat to the tree coiled ruins of Ta Phrom
is a simple journey in terms of miles. But a much more intense one in terms of atmosphere
and mood. Huge trees have the late 12th century temple built by Jayavarman VII, who was
a Mahayana Buddhist, in their octopus like grip. It is a combat once again here — between
the gigantic roots and the crumbling stones. The ruins look eerie yet picturesque which is
why they are the scenic locales for films. For Indians this temple with its many apsaras and
branches torn-asunder walls, has a special significance: The Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI)has helped restore the temple, and conserve it.

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Continuing on his way to the center of the temple, the visitor passes through a series of massive
enclosure walls; these walls recreate sacred mountain ranges, symbolic of obstacles that must be
overcome on the path to enlightenment (green highlights in Fig. 1below ). Monumental tower
gateways, called gopurams, grant the visitor passage through the walls, each successive one
revealing a more sacred area, farther removed from the outside world.

The combination of concentric enclosure walls with large gateways was derived directly from
South Indian Hindu architectural precedent. Enclosure walls make their first appearance very
early in the Khmer building tradition — at the late 9th century pre-Angkor site of Roluos in the
temples of Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei — and are a constant feature in all subsequent temples.
The rectangular outer wall, which measures 1025m by 800m, has a gate on each side, but the
main entrance, a 235m-wide porch richly decorated with carvings and sculptures, is on the
western side. There is a statue of Vishnu, 3.25m in height and hewn from a single block of
sandstone, located in the right-hand tower. Vishnu’s eight arms hold a mace, a spear, a disc, a
conch and other items. You may also see locks of hair lying about. These are offerings both from
young people preparing to get married and from pilgrims giving thanks for their good fortune.

Bas reliefs
Bas reliefs of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, hundreds of metres long and adorned by
hundreds of delicately carved devas, asuras and apsaras that are so varied in their poses,
expressions and attire. Thus, while Angkor Wat’s architecture is distinctly Khmer, its inspiration
is essentially Indian.

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A section of the outer wall at Angkor Wat © Tushar Dayal / CC BY 2.0

Avenue

The avenue is 475m long and 9.5m wide and lined with naga balustrades, leading from the main
entrance to the central temple, passing between two graceful libraries and then two pools, the
northern one a popular spot from which to watch the sun rise.

Central complex

The central temple complex consists of three storeys, each made of laterite, which enclose a
square surrounded by intricately interlinked galleries. The Gallery of a Thousand Buddhas
(Preah Poan) used to house hundreds of Buddha images before the war, but many of these were
removed or stolen, leaving just the handful we see today.

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Towers

The corners of the second and third storeys are marked by towers, each topped with symbolic
lotus-bud towers. Rising 31m above the third level and 55m above the ground is the central
tower, which gives the whole grand ensemble its sublime unity. Five Sanctuary Towers as Mount
Meru

At the center of the temple stand sanctuaries with tower superstructures (red highlights above
picture ).
 The mountain residence of the gods. Under Hindu cosmology, the gods have always
been associated with mountains. The sanctuary’s form, dominated by its large tower,
recreates the appearance of the gods’ mountaintop residence, Mount Meru. The mountaintop
residence of the gods carried particular symbolic resonance for the Khmer people.
 God’s cave. The sanctuary proper, located directly under the tower, is where an image of
the deity resides (see exhibit at right). Its dark interior is designed to represent the cave into
which god descends from his mountain home and becomes accessible to human beings.
 The sacred intersection. At the Hindu temple’s sanctuary, the worlds of the divine and
living connect: the god’s vertical axis (mountaintop to cave) intersects with the visitor’s
horizontal axis (temple entrance to cave). The entire universe emanates from this
intersection, as unity with god is the goal of earthly existence. In Hinduism, god is believed
to temporarily physically inhabit his representation in the sanctuary; the Hindu temple is
arranged to enable the direct devotee-to-deity interaction that necessarily follows. Unlike
other faiths, there is no religious intermediary and no abstraction; god is manifest before the
devotee’s eyes, a profound encounter.

It is here, among the peaks of Mount Meru, that the visitor’s symbolic journey ends in nirvana:
the pairs of opposites characteristic of worldly existence (e.g., good versus bad, right versus
wrong) fuse into a single infinite everythingness beyond space and time.

Upper level

The stairs to the upper level are immensely steep, because reaching the kingdom of the gods was
no easy task. Also known as Bakan Sanctuary, the upper level of Angkor Wat is open to a
limited number per day with a queuing system.

There is very little direct historical evidence of Angkor Wat complex in Kampuchea having any
links with Southern India. The links, however, are part of a larger cultural flora and fauna as
will be discussed below. There is evidence that Angkor Wat, the intriguing temple complex of
Cambodia was inspired by Mahabalipuram sculptures. When one compares the sculptures of
Angkor Wat and the ancient temples of Mahabalipuram, one can find a number of similarities.
The ancient, Indian traders sailed to the South-East Asian countries from the seaport of
Mahabalipuram- interacting socially and commercially with people of many countries in Indo-
China and south East Asia. Khmer King Suryavarman II who was a descendant of the Tamil
Kings Cholas, the rulers of Tamil Nadu is supposed to be responsible for building this huge

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complex in the 12th century. Tamil-Brahmi Inscription and sacred prayers in Sanskrit on the
walls of these unique temples are still the “writing on the wall” literally to bear testimony to this.

From the historical perspective, it is widely acknowledged by everyone that the Angkor Wat
temple is uniquely Cambodian heritage.”Khmer king Suryavarman II began construction on
Angkor Wat shortly after ascending to the throne in 1113. Although the names of any architects
or designers are lost to history, it is likely that Suryavarman’s chief priest and spiritual advisor
Divakarapandita was highly influential in the temple’s construction”. AD Classics: Angkor Wat
Hindu temple architecture is governed by ‘Vaastu Shastra’ written in Sanskrit. Hindu temples are
consecrated by following Vedic rituals, which are basically Indo-Aryan in its core. There is
nothing Dravidian or South Indian about Vaastu Shastra and Vedic rituals.

The principles of Vaastu Shastra allows some variation in the architectural styles. So there are
various regional styles of Hindu temples. Angkor Wat is an example of Khmer architecture,
which is different from the Southern Indian temple architecture. This aspect has been already
acknowledged by UNESCO experts,

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“Khmer architecture evolved largely from that of the Indian sub-continent, from which it soon
became clearly distinct as it developed its own special characteristics, some independently
evolved and others acquired from neighboring cultural traditions. The result was a new artistic
horizon in oriental art and architecture”. From UNESCO site, Angkor
The old name Kambojadesa (Kampuchea) is itself is derived from Sanskrit.According to
Encyclopedia Britannica, “the ancient Kingdom of Cambodia is known as
Kambujadesa”. Kambuja-desa | ancient kingdom, Cambodia. There is a Khmer legend, - Hindu
prince of unknown origins, Kambu Swayambhuva, married a Naga princess named Mera. The
combination Kambu and Mera became Khmer. In Sanskrit the descendants of Kambu became
Kambu’ja’ (meaning born of Kambu), their country became Kambujadesa. Kambojadesa
Khmer and South Indian Temple Architecture Styles have many glaring differences, obvious
even to a casual tourist. Just compare the South Indian on the left and Khmer on the right.

1. Angkor Wat has five central towers in ‘quincunx’ pattern that symbolises the five
peaks of Meru Mountain, unlike the single pyramid shaped tower in South Indian
temples.
2. South Indian temples have characteristic gate towers (gopurams), not found in Khmer
temples (see the photo above).
3. Angkor Wat is surrounded by a water-filled moat, without a central water tank, while
South Indian temples have central water tank.
4. The most glaring difference being Angkor Wat has mountain like towers (gopuram)
representing Hindu mythological Meru Mountain. Unlike the pyramid shaped towers
(gopuram) of South India.

Tamil Influences: There's Tamil brahmi scripture in Anghor wat . There's history of a Tamil
king who went to East Asian countries for trading and to be correct in cholan period . He ruled
Cambodia under a Cambodian king . There's a similar building knowledge and influence it

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mixed with another culture and their knowledge of building . ofourse Tamil can't take the full
credits for the temple. But its influence undeniable. Tower looks different but the way if building
it's the same technology unlike pyramid. Carved or moulded it maybe melting . Who knows but
the truth we know is just after the cholan's in the Cambodia the anghorwat was built. That's the
same period as the most of the south Indian temples built which is similar to that . It could have
been built by khemer people but the technology came from south India and mixed with local or
other technology of building. There's still words of old Tamil And culture.In conclusion, Angkor
Wat was built by Jayavarman-II, a Khmer king, a fact that is well attested by history. There is
nothing to suggest otherwise. Hindu temple architecture including that of Angkor Wat is
governed by ‘Vaastu Shastra’ written in Sanskrit text, and consecrated according to Vedic
rituals, which are basically Indo-Aryan in its character.

Angkor Wat follows the same principles of Indo-Aryan temple architecture but it has uniquely
Khmer style, unrelated to Southern India. There are several glaring differences between South
Indian and Angkor Wat architecture, obvious even to a casual tourist.For more on tamil
Influences read our books-4
1. Hindu temples of Bharat Cambodia and Indonesia
2. Ancient Maritime Trade of the Tamilians & Kalingans
3. DEVRAJA Parts I,II & III

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The gates with or without gopurams or towers just denotes entries or opening , which also
denotes 9 opening in a human body. The above picture shows 4 openings in the external
compound, 4 on the inner compound and 1 entry to the central body . ( garbhagraha )

Water around the temple for defence . There are quite of few temple in india in such style
especially south india ( For eg. Ananthapura Lake Temple). More over water around the

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temple is more of an convenience, if you see none of the other khmer or angkor dynasity
temples has water around it.During Raja raja and rajendra chola period their rule were from
Srilanka to Malayasia and their influence even further. Just in Tamilnadu there are 4 types
of different types of temple architecture.

Vaastu shastra itself is from pranava veda a Tamil text which is sources of all 4 vedas which is
mentioned in bhavadam and few upanishads and veda vyasa himself has mentioned in his works
. Ofcourse angkor wat can be said built by Jayavarman-II but by the influence of cholas Cause
the khmers were shaivites and cholas were both shaivites and vaishnavites. Though theTamil
rulers did not build Angkor Wat. it was built under Tamil (Chola) rule.

Suryavarman II built the Angkor Wat. Like many other expeditions, Rajendra Chola decimated
Sri Vijaya empire (modern day Indonesia) at the request of Sailendra . Sri Vijaya was a mightly
empire controlling the Strait of Malacca (present day Chinese nightmare, Lol!). They started
monopolizing the trade route which Cholas and the surrounding kingdoms found difficult to
trade. Though Cholas were friendly with Srivijaya during the Raja Raja chola rule, relationship
deteriorated when they started controlling the trade route impacting Chola trade with China.

The decimation of Sri Vijaya and the successful expedition and conquest of Malaysia, Indonesia,
Thailand, Burma, some parts of Cambodia and Vietnam earned Rajendra Chola the title
‘Gadaram vendran (one who conquered Gadaram)’ and also made all the kings his vassals. Like
most other far off expeditions, Cholas did not rule the areas directly, rather installed vassals and
collected tributes. This continued for the next 150 or so years though it slowly went down.

It was during the reign of Kulothunga I (Rajendra Chola’s son) that Suryavarman II ascended the
throne in Cambodia. He too maintained friendly relations and had lot of trade relationships. The
South east Asia was abundant with Tamils reining control in trade and polity by and large.
Though all the kingdoms were Saivists (followed God Shiva), the Khmer king Suryavarman II
however, followed Vishnu.

The architecture of Angkor Wat is therefore heavily influenced by and resembles the South
Indian Temple architecture. Like all temples in South India, Angkor Wat also was built to
function as a garrison. The temples are all built like a city in themselves. They provided shelter
and protection for the people during emergencies like war or calamities. That is the reason they
have layered defense structures (wall inside wall inside wall with water and other obstacles in
between) similar to forts. However, Angkor Wat was built as a city in itself to celebrate the
victory of Suryavarman II over the expeditions. This is also characteristic of the chola empire
(Rajendra chola II built Gangai konda cholapuram to celebrate his victory over the Ganges
country). It is a fusion of Chola and Khmer architecture.

Before the Cholas, the Pallavas were quite influential in the South east Asia. Towards the end of
12th century, it was transformed into a Buddhist temple. See our paper on

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 Building Materials of the shiva Temples
GRANITES and other ROCKS
With rare watercolors from Mahabalipuram Temples 4

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1. Sailors named this Shore Temple as Seven Pagodas due to its tall structure

It is said that the sculpture in Mahabalipuram and that of Angkor Wat in Cambodia have
striking resemblance. The marvel of the sculptures within the temple complex is that with just a
chisel & a hammer, workers of that time carved not only beautiful statues and more but also tried
to narrate the stories of Gods & Goddess. This temple was constructed by the most famous rulers
of this region, Pallavas around 600-700 A.D. Theyused Mahabalipuram as a trading sea port and
this temple also acted as the landmark for navigation. This is also the reason that artisans from
many foreign lands worked on building of this temple and other monuments in Mahabalipuram.
Their cultural influence is quite evident here like the carvings of lion & dragon which is
characteristic of Chinese & other South-East Asian countries. It is one of the oldest stone temples
in South India.

When seen from a distance it resembles the Dharamraja rath (Chariot). The shore temple is a
collection of seven temples or seven pagodas as popularly known. Out of these seven temples
five temples are still visible while two temples are submereged in the water. The tip of one such
temple can be seen inside the water during a ferry ride which is available near to the beach area.
According to the legends and history books, Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram was called
‘Kadalmalai’ meaning the land of sea and mountain. Later it got its popular name
Mahabalipuram after the the kind-hearted asura king Mahabali. However, when the Pallavas
started ruling the place, the name was changed again and kept after the name of one the first
powerful kings from this dynasty namely Narasimhavarman-I who was also known as Mamallan.
Here are the interesting facts about Mahabalipuram and the must visit places when in this coastal
town:

In the case of Angkor also, the five stone towers are intended to mimic the five mountain ranges
of Mt. Meru—the mythical home of the gods, for both Hindus and Buddhists. The temple
mountain as an architectural design was invented in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian architects
quite literally envisioned temples dedicated to Hindu gods on earth as a representation of Mt.
Meru. The galleries and the empty spaces that they created between one another and the moat are
envisioned as the mountain ranges and oceans that surround Mt. Meru. Mt. Meru is not only

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home to the gods, it is also considered an axis-mundi. An axis-mundi is a cosmic or world axis
that connects heaven and earth. In designing Angkor Wat in this way, King Suryavarman II and
his architects intended for the temple to serve as the supreme abode for Vishnu. Similarly, the
symbolism of Angkor Wat serving as an axis mundi was intended to demonstrate the Angkor
Kingdom’s and the king’s central place in the universe. In addition to envisioning Angkor Wat as
Mt. Meru on earth, the temple’s architects, of whom we know nothing, also ingeniously designed
the temple so that embedded in the temple’s construction is a map of the cosmos (mandala) as
well as a historical record of the temple’s patron.

Angkor Wat as a Mandala

According to ancient Sanskrit and Khmer texts, religious monuments and specifically temples
must be organized in such a way that they are in harmony with the universe, meaning that the
temple should be planned according to the rising sun and moon, in addition to symbolizing the
recurrent time sequences of the days, months and years. The central axis of these temples should
also be aligned with the planets, thus connecting the structure to the cosmos so that temples
become spiritual, political, cosmological, astronomical and geo-physical centers. They are, in
other words, intended to represent microcosms of the universe and are organized as mandalas. In
our paper

The spread of Hindu Culture and Religion

we have harnessed the knowledge that Tamilians and their trade reached Cambodia amongst
other countries. Hence it would not be difficult to assume that the Temple architects of Chola
kings also participated in the construction of the Angkor complex. In The Indian twin of Angkor
Wat Cambodia, world's largest religious monument - it is mentioned that the temple at M

ahabalipuram resembles the Angkor temple.5

The temple at Mahabalipuram

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 1. Sailors named this Shore Temple as Seven Pagodas due to its tall structure

2. A miniature shrine with the Bhu Varaha (Vishnu) image in a well type enclosure of the Shore
Temple/3. Durga on a lion with small carved shrine in the Shore Temple

4. Sivalinga with Shiva, Uma and their son Skanda in the Shore Temple complex

5. Pancha Rathas (Pandava Rathas) which is popular for its rock-cut architecture

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6. Architectural feature on the Arjuna Ratha in the Pancha Rathas complex

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7. Carvings on the Bhima Ratha, Pancha Rathas

8. Olakkannesvara Temple above the Mahishasuramardhini Cave Temple and view of the
lighthouse from there

9. Krishna Cave Temple is a testimony to the ancient art of Vishwakarma Sthapathis (wooden
sculpture)

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10. Pictorial description of the descent of the Ganges and Arjuna's Penance, Krishna Cave
Temple

11. Lord Krishna lifting Govardhan Hill in the Krishna Cave Temple

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12. Re-incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Varaha (boar) lifting Bhudevi, the mother earth from the sea,
Varaha Cave Temple

Another temple that is said to resemble Angkor Wat is the Sree Padmanabhaswamy
Temple
Origin of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple:

A
rare old aerial view of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple RIGHT) Angkor is at left

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Of all the Hindu temples in India, the wealthiest by far is the
Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. According to Guinness World Records, this temple replaced
the Tirupati Temple (also in India) as the richest Hindu temple in the world in 2011 due to the
discovery of secret cellars containing a vast treasure of gold, silver and precious stones.It is also
said to resemble Angkor and also is a temple built for Vishnu.

One of the Holiest Abodes of Vishnu

The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located in Thiruvananthapuram, which is situated in the
south-western Indian state of Kerala. The principal deity worshiped at this temple is Vishnu.
According to one source, the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is one of the
108 Divya Desams in India. These 108 temples are mentioned by the Hindu Azhvars (saints)
between the 6th and 9th centuries AD as the holiest abodes of Vishnu. Therefore, the Sree
Padmanabhaswamy Temple has been occupying an important place in the Hindu religion for a
very long time.

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Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is located in Thiruvananthapuram on LEFT Angkor at right

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Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple during ‘Lakshadeepam’

There is a blurring of lines between fact and myth, between faith and reason, but it remains an
enigma to the believer and non-believer alike, offering a protective carapace to the faithful.

Who constructed the temple and when?

Answers to both cannot be retrieved from the mists of time. References in old chronicles,
allusions in a few important Sanskrit, Tamil and Malayalam verse narratives, as well as popular
legends, have together created a distinct and unmistakable chronicle of its antiquity. Anything
connected to the temple was regarded in high esteem and was seen as a symbol of divinity. The
Lord’s was the last word!

Sage Vilwanangalam and Divakara Muni

Legends have woven dramatic and interesting tales about how it all came into being. Among the
lores associated, two stories run on parallel lines and are related to two saintly and devout figures
from different eras — Sage Vilwamangalam and Divakara Muni — the former a Namboothiri by
birth, and the latter a Tulu Brahmin from the northern end of Kerala. What they shared in
common was their intense devotion to Lord Krishna.

The Playful Krishna

It is said that Krishna assumed the form of a human child and was his playful self in the
hermitage, often a nuisance during their prayers. When this became a routine, the normally patient
sages scolded and punished the prankster. The child vanished, reminding them they would have to
travel long and hard to see him again at Ananthankadu.

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Journey to Ananthankadu
The repentant mendicants are said to have been on a difficult journey of self-realization and
discovery, and it is believed that they reached the spot where the present temple stands,
presumably the densely wooded Ananthankadu. Both versions make mention of a pariah woman
who was instrumental in helping the mendicants identify the place.

‘Ananthashayanam’

The vision of the child returned, manifesting as Sree Padmanabha, or Mahavishnu, the Preserver.
Unable to internalize this extremely huge form, he pleaded that the vision shrink to just three
times the size of his ‘yogadand’ or staff which would mean 18 feet in length.
When the transformation took place, the presence of the God made the sage perform three
circumambulations and make an offering of raw mango (the only thing available on the spot) in a
coconut shell. And to this day every ritual offering to the deity consists of the salted raw mango in
the original coconut shell (now covered with gold) used by the hermit.

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Presence of a Pariah Woman
The third legend has a leitmotif that combines a human story with an element of the miraculous.
A pariah woman working near the woods saw a lovely infant, protected by a hooded serpent. She
immediately alerted the villagers who reported it to the ruler. Court astrologers confirmed the
presence of divinity and a temple was built at this spot, where the ruler of the land subsequently
built the present edifice.

What does it mean?

The Virupaksha temple (originally called Lokesvara temple) at Pattadakal in Karnataka

(Dineshkannambadi/Wikimedia Commons)

yuga (Sanskrit: युग, lit. 'age'), in Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism), is a large period of time, as it
relates to the past, present and future. It is mostly used to describe one of the four dharmic ages -
Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga or Kali Yuga -, or a cycle of the four ages, Chatur
Yuga.Depending on context, it can refer to one of the seasons, generations, reigns, kalpas (days
of Brahma), stages of creation (manifest, maintain, unmanifest), or 1,000 year periods.The
archaic form of the Sanskrit word "yuga" is "yug". Other forms are "yugam", "yugānāṃ" and
"yuge". In latin language, "juga", or "jug", is used from "jugum", meaning "yoke", used to
connect two oxen (e.g. cali-juga = kali-yuga). The word "yuga", as well as "yoga", is derived
from Sanskrit: युज्, romanized: yuj, lit. 'to join, or yoke', believed to be derived from proto-Indo-
European language yeug, 'to join or unite'[6].
There are a total of four yugas: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga, each
having 1/4th less duration and dharma than the previous (Satya most, Kali least). The descending

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yugas see a gradual decline of dharma, wisdom, knowledge, intellectual capability, lifespan,
emotional and physical strength.
Within a yuga are Sandhis, or a starting Sandhya and ending Sandhyansa, both lasting 1/10th the
main part of the yuga. Most of the characteristic changes can occur in
these Sandhyas and Sandhyansas, especially if that change is from Kali Yuga to Satya Yuga (two
extremes).

 Satya Yuga (Krita Yuga, "the age of truth", or "hindu golden age"): the first and best yuga. It
is the age of truth and perfection. This yuga has no crime, and all humans are kind and
friendly. The Krita Yuga is so named because there is one religion, and all people are
saintly : therefore they are not required to perform religious ceremonies. Humans are long
living, powerfully built, honest, youthful, vigorous, erudite and virtuous. The Vedas are one.
All mankind can attain to supreme blessedness. There is no agriculture or mining, as the
earth yields those riches on its own. Weather is pleasant, and everyone is happy. There is no
religious sect. There is no disease, decrepitude, or fear of anything. Virtue reigns supreme.
Human stature is 21 cubits (33 ft, 6 inches). Average human lifespan is 400 years

 Treta Yuga: this is the second yuga in chronological order. "Treta" means the "third", there
are 3 quarter virtues or truth, and 1 quarter sin or untruth. In this age, virtue diminishes
slightly. At the beginning of the age, many emperors rise to dominance and conquer the
world. Wars become frequent and weather begins to change to extremities. People become
slightly diminished, compared to their predecessors. Agriculture, labour and mining become
existent.There are 3 quarter virtues and 1 quarter sin. Normal human stature is 14 cubits (22
ft, 4 inches). Average human lifespan is 300 years[

 Dvapara Yuga: this is the third yuga in order. "Dvapara" means "two"/"second, there are 2
quarter virtues or truth and 2 quarter sin or untruth. In this age, people become tainted with
qualities, and aren't as strong as their ancestors. Diseases become rampant. Humans are
discontent and fight each other. Vedas are divided into four parts. People still possess
characteristics of youth in old age. Average lifespan of humans is around a few centuries.
There are 1 half virtue and 1 half sin. Normal human stature is 7 cubits (11 ft, 2 inches).
Average human lifespan is 200 years[

 Kali Yuga: the final age. It is the age of darkness and ignorance. People stop
following dharma, and lack virtue. They become slaves to their passions and are barely as
powerful as their earliest ancestors in the Satya Yuga. Society falls into disuse, and people
become liars and hypocrites. Knowledge is lost, and scriptures are diminished. Humans eat
forbidden and dirty food. The environment is polluted, water and food become scarce.
Wealth is heavily diminished. Families become non-existent. There is 1 quarter virtue, and 3
quarter sins. Normal human stature is 3.5 cubits (5 ft, 3 inches). Average human lifespan is
100 years.

1.Thus the visitor to Angkor Wat who walks the causeway to the main entrance and through the
courtyards to the final main tower, which once contained a statue of Vishnu, is metaphorically
travelling back to the first age of the creation of the universe.

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2. Like the other temple-mountains of Angkor, Angkor Wat also replicates the spatial universe in
miniature. The central tower is Mount Meru, with its surrounding smaller peaks, bounded in turn
by continents (the lower courtyards) and the oceans (the moat). The seven-
headed naga (mythical serpent) becomes a symbolic rainbow bridge for humankind to reach the
abode of the gods.

While Suryavarman II may have planned Angkor Wat as his funerary temple or mausoleum, he
was never buried there as he died in battle during a failed expedition to subdue the Dai Viet
(Vietnamese). It has long been known that the Angkor Wat temple astronomy is derived from
Puranic and Siddhantic ideas. The Vedic roots for the division of the solar year in Angkor Wat
run into two unequal halves. This division is across the equinoxes and that number has not
changed very much during the passage of time from the Brahmanas to the construction of the
Angkor Wat temple, so it is not surprising that it figures so prominently in the astronomy. It also
appears that the count of 189 days may have been obtained by doubling the measured period for
the spring season.
The astronomy of Angkor Wat has the lesson that the medieval and ancient Indian temple
complexes, which were also built with basic astronomical observations in mind, should be
examined for their astronomical bases.4

Angkor Wat, the front side of the main complex (Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikimedia
Commons)
The great Visnu temple of Angkor Wat was built by the Khmer Emperor Suryavarman II, who
reigned during AD 1113-50. This temple was one of the many temples built from AD 879-1191,
when the Khmer civilisation was at the height of its power. The Visnu temple has been called
one of humankind’s most impressive and enduring architectural achievements.
More than 20 years ago, Science carried a comprehensive analysis by Stencel, Gifford and
Morón (SGM) of the astronomy and cosmology underlying the design of this temple. The

254
authors concluded that it served as a practical observatory where the rising sun was aligned on
the equinox and solstice days with the western entrance of the temple, and they identified 22
sighting lines for seasonally observing the risings of the sun and the moon. Using a survey by
Nafilyan and converting the figures to the Cambodian cubit or hat (0.435 m), SGM demonstrated
that certain measurements of the temple record calendric and cosmological time cycles.
In addition, SGM showed that the west-east axis represents the periods of the yugas. The width
of the moat is 439.78 hat; the distance from the first step of the western entrance gateway to
balustrade wall at the end of causeway is 867.03 hat; the distance from the first step of the
western entrance gateway to the first step of the central tower is 1,296.07 hat; and the distance
from the first step of bridge to the geographic center of the temple is 1,734.41 hat. These
correspond to the periods of 4,32,000, 864,000, 1,296,000, 1,728,000 years for the Kali,
Dvapara, Treta, and Krta yuga, respectively. SGM suggest that the very slight discrepancy in the
equations might be due to human error or erosion or sinking of the structure.
In the central tower, the topmost elevation has external axial dimensions of 189.00 hat east-west,
and 176.37 hat north-south, with the sum of 365.37. In the words of SGM, this is “perhaps the
most outstanding number” in the complex, “almost the exact length of the solar year.” But SGM
were not able to explain the inequality of the two halves, which is the problem that we take up in
this paper. We will show that these numbers are old Satapatha Brahmana numbers for the
asymmetric motion of the sun.

The Historical Background of Angkor Wat

The kings of the Khmer empire ruled over a vast domain that reached from what is now southern
Vietnam to Yunan, China and from Vietnam westward to the Bay of Bengal. The structures one
sees at Angkor today, more than 100 temples in all, are the surviving religious remains of a
grand social and administrative metropolis whose other buildings - palaces, public buildings, and
houses - were all built of wood and are long since decayed and gone. As in most parts of India,
where wood was plentiful, only the gods had the right to live in houses of stone or brick; the
sovereigns and the common folk lived in pavilions and houses of wood.
Over the half-millenia of Khmer rule, the city of Angkor became a great pilgrimage destination
because of the notion of Devaraja, which has been explained by Lokesh Chandra as a coronation
icon. Jayavarman II (802-850) was the first to use this royal icon. According to Lokesh Chandra,
Devaraja means ‘King of the Gods’ and not ‘God-King’. He is Indra and refers to the highly
efficacious aindra mahabhiseka of the Rgvedic rajasuya tradition as elaborated in the
Aitareyabrahmana. It was not a simple but a great coronation, a mahabhiseka. It was of
extraordinary significance that Jayavarman II performed a Rgvedic rite, which lent him
charismatic authority.

The increasingly larger temples built by the Khmer kings continued to function as the locus of
the devotion to the Devaraja, and were at the same time earthly and symbolic representations of
mythical Mt Meru, the cosmological home of the Hindu gods and the axis of the world-system.
The symbol of the king’s divine authority was the sign (linga) of Siva within the temple’s inner
sanctuary, which represented both the axes of physical and the psychological worlds. The
worship of Siva and Visnu separately, and together as Harihara, had been popular for

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considerable time in southeast Asia; Jayavarman’s chief innovation was to use ancient Vedic
mahabhiseka to define the symbol of government. To quote Lokesh Chandra further,

The icon used by Jayavarman II for his aindra mahabhiseka, his Devaraja = Indra (icon), became
the symbol of the Cambodian state, as the sacred and secular sovereignty denoted by
Prajapatısvara/Brahma, as the continuity of the vital flow of the universal (jagat) into the stability
of the terrestrial kingdom (raja = rajya). As the founder of the new Kambuja state, he contributed
a national palladium under its Cambodian appellation kamraten jagat ta raja/rajya. Whenever the
capital was transferred by his successors, it was taken to the new nagara, for it had to be
constantly in the capital.

Angkor Wat is the supreme masterpiece of Khmer art. The descriptions of the temple fall far
short of communicating the great size, the perfect proportions and the astoundingly beautiful
sculpture that everywhere presents itself to the viewer.
As an aside, it should be mentioned that some European scholars tended to date Angkor Wat as
being after the fourteenth century. The principal reason was that some decorative motifs at
Angkor Wat show a striking resemblance to certain motifs of the Italian Renaissance. This
argument, which is similar to the one used in dating Indian mathematical texts vis-a-vis Greek
texts, has been proven to be wrong. In the words of Cœdes, “If there is some connexion between
the twelfth-century art of the Khmers, the direct heirs to the previous centuries, and the art of the
Renaissance, it must have been due to a reverse process, that is to the importation of oriental
objects into Europe.”

Astronomy of Altars and Temples

To understand the astronomical aspects of Angkor Wat, it is necessary to begin with the Indian
traditions of altar and temple design on which it is based. And since the Angkor Wat ritual
hearkened to the Vedic past, it stands to reason that its astronomy was also connected to the
Vedic astronomical tradition.

In a series of publications I have shown that the Vedic altars had an astronomical basis. In the
basic scheme, the circle represented the earth and the square represented the heavens or the deity.
But the altar or the temple, as a representation of the dynamism of the universe, required a
breaking of the symmetry of the square. As seen clearly in the agnicayana and other altar
constructions, this was done in a variety of ways. Although the main altar might be square or its
derivative, the overall sacred area was taken to be a departure from this shape. In particular, the
temples to the goddess were drawn on a rectangular plan. In the introduction to the Silpa
Prakasa, a ninth-twelfth century Orissan temple architecture text, Alice Boner writes, “[the Devı
temples] represent the creative expanding forces, and therefore could not be logically be
represented by a square, which is an eminently static form. While the immanent supreme
principle is represented by the number ONE, the first stir of creation initiates duality, which is
the number TWO, and is the producer of THREE and FOUR and all subsequent numbers upto
the infinite.” The dynamism is expressed by a doubling of the square to a rectangle or the ratio
1:2, where the garbhagrha is now built in the geometrical centre. For a three-dimensional

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structure, the basic symmetry-breaking ratio is 1:2:4, which can be continued further to another
doubling.

The constructions of the Harappan period (2,600-1,900 BC) appear to be according to the same
principles. The dynamic ratio of 1:2:4 is the most commonly encountered size of rooms of
houses, in the overall plan of houses and the construction of large public buildings. This ratio is
also reflected in the overall plan of the large walled sector at Mohenjo Daro called the citadel
mound. It is even the most commonly encountered brick size.
There is evidence of temple structures in the Harappan period in addition to iconography that
recalls the goddess. Structures dating to 2000 BC, built in the design of yantras, have been
unearthed in northern Afghanistan. There is ample evidence for a continuity in the religious and
artistic tradition of India from the Harappan times, if not earlier. These ideas and the
astronomical basis continued in the architecture of the temples of the classical age. Kramrisch
has argued that the number 25,920, the number of years in the precessional period of the earth, is
also reflected in the plan of the temple.

According to the art-historian Alice Boner,

[T]he temple must, in its space-directions, be established in relation to the motion of the
heavenly bodies. But in as much as it incorporates in a single synthesis the unequal courses of
the sun, the moon and the planets, it also symbolises all recurrent time sequences: the day, the
month, the year and the wider cycles marked by the recurrence of a complete cycle of eclipses,
when the sun and the moon are readjusted in their original positions, anew cycle of creation
begins.

It is clear then that the Hindu temple is a conception of the astronomical frame of the universe. In
this conception, it serves the same purpose as the Vedic altar, which served to express the
motions of the sun and the moon. The progressive complexity of the classical temple was
inevitable given an attempt to bring in the cycles of the planets and other ideas of the yugas into
the scheme.

A text like the Silpa Prakasa would be expected to express the principles of temple construction
of the times that led to the Angkor Wat temple. Given the prominence to the yuga periods in
Angkor Wat and a variety of other evidence, it is clear that there is a continuity between the
Vedic and Puranic astronomy and cosmology and the design of Angkor Wat.

Solar and lunar measurements

Some of the solar and lunar numbers that show up in the design of the Angkor Wat temple are
the number of naksatras, the number of months in the year, the days in the lunar month, the days
of the solar month, and so so. Lunar observations appear to have been made from the causeway.
SGM list 22 alignments in their paper, these could have been used to track not just the solar and
lunar motions but also planetary motions.

The division of the year into the two halves: 189 and 176.37 has puzzled SGM. But precisely the
same division is described in the Satapatha Brahmana. In layer 5 of the altar described in the
Satapatha, a division of the year into the two halves in the proportion 15:14 is given. This

257
proportion corresponds to the numbers 189 and 176.4, which are just the numbers used at
Angkor Wat.

Consider the physics behind the asymmetry in the sun’s orbit. The period from the autumnal
equinox to the vernal equinox is smaller than the opposite circuit. The interval between
successive perihelia, the anomalistic year, is 365.25964 days, which is 0.01845 days longer than
the tropical year on which our calendar is based. In 1,000 calendar years, the date of the
perihelion advances about 18 days. The perihelion was roughly on 18 December during the time
of the construction of Angkor Wat; and it was on 27 October during early second millennium
BC, the most likely period of the composition of the Satapatha Brahmana. In all these cases, the
perihelion occurs during the autumn/winter period, and so by Kepler’s 2nd law we know that the
speed of the sun in its orbit around the earth is greater during the months of autumn and winter
than in spring and summer.

During the time of the Satapatha Brahmana, the apogee was about midway through the spring
season, which was then somewhat more than 94 days. The extra brick in the spring quadrant may
symbolically reflect the discovery that this quarter had more days in it, a discovery made at a
time when a satisfactory formula had not yet been developed for the progress of the sun on the
ecliptic.

It is possible that the period from the spring equinox to the fall equinox was taken to be about
189 days by doubling the period of the spring season; 176 days became the period of the reverse
circuit.

Why not assume that there was no more to these numbers than a division into the proportions
15:14 derived from some numerological considerations? First, we have the evidence from
the Satapatha Brahmana that expressly informs us that the count of days from the winter to the
summer solstice was different, and shorter, than the count in the reverse order. Second, the altar
design is explicitly about the sun’s circuit around the earth and so the proportion of 15:14 must
be converted into the appropriate count with respect to the length of the year. Furthermore, the
many astronomical alignments of the Angkor Wat impress on us the fairly elaborate system of
naked-eye observations that were the basis of the temple astronomy.

But since precisely the same numbers were used in Angkor Wat as were mentioned much earlier
in the Satapatha Brahmana, one would presume that these numbers were used as a part of
ancient sacred lore. We see the count between the solstices has been changing much faster than
the count between the equinoxes because the perigee has been, in the past two thousand years,
somewhere between the autumn and the winter months. Because of its relative constancy, the
count between the equinoxes became one of the primary ‘constants’ of Vedic/Puranic astronomy.
The equinoctial half-years are currently about 186 and 179, respectively, and were not much
different when Angkor Wat temple was constructed. Given that the length of the year was known
to considerable precision, there is no reason to assume that these counts were not known. But it
appears that a ‘normative’ division according to the ancient proportion was used.
As it was known that the solar year was about 365.25 days, the old proportion of 15:14 would
give the distribution 188.92 and 176.33, and that is very much the Angkor Wat numbers of 189

258
and 176.37 within human error. In other words, the choice of these ‘constants’ may have been
determined by the use of the ancient proportion of 15:14.6

Sectional Perspective of Angkor Wat and Indian temple at RIGHT Indian Temple
2. Each side of the monastery measures some 900 feet (270 metres) in length and is
composed of monks' cells;
3. Each worshipping point, excepting the southern one, has a staircase connection with the
monastery courtyard in front.
4. The monastery is square in plan, being 281m on each side. The structure holds more than
170 such cells and 92 altars of worship.
5. Two entrance provisions on the north and one in the east. Temple plan of Paharpur
6. The central shrine is a terraced structure springing from a cruciform ground plan and
expanding from a mid-pile of square configuration. The unflustered wall surfaces of the
lower two terraces are decorated with friezes containing terracotta plaques showing
different scenes. The courtyard around the central shrine is dotted with several units of
straggling structural ruins. Of them, Panchavede , a group of five votive stupas. Evidence
of other sacred objects and shrines is found throughout, including the Jaina chaturmukhar
structure, which displays the artistic and religious influences of the monastery's three
main residential groups: images of Jaina deities abound on its main walls, and Buddhist
terra-cotta artwork and sacred Hindu sculptures are found on its base walls.
7. During rain, the excavated place becomes a lake, completely placing the lower areas of
the underground room wall together with their unique rock and clay relieves, resulting in
damage by the activity of salt and dangerous plants growth, while water increasing by
capillary activity impacts the higher areas.

259
8. Entrance in Paharpur is from north and east whereas in Angkor Wat it is from the west.
9. Sikhara of Angkor Wat ws terraced wheres in Paharpur it could have been terraced but it
is still unknown.
10. Paharpur was of brick and Angkor Wat was of stone.
11. Paharpur monastery is much older than those and more importantly Buddhism spread to
south-east asia via bengal, so is the architecture and its not the whole monastery, only it's
ruins.
12. The 3d image of assumed Paharpur compared with Angkor Wat could have been like
this- Paharpur complex is similar but much smaller in scale to Angkor Wat.The basic
idea is the same, massive central stupa surrounded by smaller and more and more
numerous stupas. Some other diffrences we get are –
Bas reliefs speak of Hindu God Vishnu in Angkor Wat and in Paharpur it speaks of more
or less Buddhist culture. Comparative Analysis
13. Angkor wat has a huge water moat for protection whereas Paharpur does not have it.

One of the few countries to have diplomatic relations with Cambodia in the 1980’s, India
accepted the south-east Asian nation’s request to restore Angkor Wat and signed a six-year
agreement regarding the same.Following this, it assigned funds and a team of ASI archaeologists
for the historic project.Dr. B Narasimhaiah, who has written a book documenting India’s
contribution (Angkor Vat: India’s Contribution in Conservation, published by the ASI, 1994),
headed the team for much of the time.When the Archeological Survey India team arrived in
Cambodia, they knew they faced a challenging task. The temple complex lay in ruins, with signs
of decay everywhere. Encroaching tentacles of wilderness had torn asunder the courtyards, moss
had turned the walls sooty black and a thick green blanket of water hyacinth carpeted the moat.
the Indian archeologists persevered with the help of Cambodian workers and in the presence of an
armed escort. Employing conservation techniques and material available at the time, they begun
the mammoth task that had been started by French conservators (who had fled in 1972 leaving
their work unfinished).Spending Rs 30 million over a period of seven years, the ASI team
completed the task in 1993. For the war-weary Cambodians, this restoration deeply endeared

India to them.

As Cheng Phon, Cambodia’s then-minister of culture had dramatically said in 1988:“By restoring
Angkor Wat, the Indian team is in fact healing our souls.”

260
 https://www.thebetterindia.com/146776/asi -angkor-wat-india-connection-cambodia-
history/Of Legends & Legacy: The Unique Link Between India & Cambodia’s Angkor
Wat!

REFERENCES

1.The Classical Hindu Temple: An Embodiment Of The Astronomical Knowledge Of The

Time,bySubhash Kak- 2016 https://swarajyamag.com/culture/the-classical-hindu-temple-
an-embodiment-of-the-astronomical-knowledge-of-the-time

2- https://swarajyamag.com/culture/the-hindu-temple-is-a-representation-of-the-cosmos-
and-the-mystery-of-time 2016

3. Eleanor Mannikka explains in her book Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship Angkor Wat:
Ars Orientalis, Published By: The Smithsonian Institution

4.Read them on academia.edu,researchgate.net and scribd

5 https://in.musafir.com/Blog/the-indian-twin-of-angkor-wat-cambodia-worlds-largest-religious-
monument.aspx
6. How The Sublime Vishnu Temple At Angkor Wat Is An Expression Of Vedic Astronomy
Subhash Kak- 2016,https://swarajyamag.com/culture/how-the-sublime-vishnu-temple-at-
angkor-wat-is-an-expression-of-vedic-astronomyThis piece was first published as a paper
titled ‘The Solar Numbers in Angkor Wat’
The other two works brilliantly written by the author and quoted ad verbatim here are: The
Classical Hindu Temple: An Embodiment Of The Astronomical Knowledge Of The Time
The Hindu Temple Is A Representation Of The Cosmos And The Mystery Of Time

261
Shiva Tandava Stotram – English Lyrics and Meaning

Jatatavigalajjala pravahapavitasthale
Galeavalambya lambitam bhujangatungamalikam
Damad damad damaddama ninadavadamarvayam
Chakara chandtandavam tanotu nah shivah shivam

With his neck consecrated by the flow of water that flows from his hair,
And on his neck a snake, which is hung like a garland,
And the Damaru drum that emits the sound “Damat Damat Damat Damat”,
Lord Shiva did the auspicious dance of Tandava. May he give prosperity to all of us.

Jata kata hasambhrama bhramanilimpanirjhari

Vilolavichivalarai virajamanamurdhani
Dhagadhagadhagajjva lalalata pattapavake
Kishora chandrashekhare ratih pratikshanam mama

I have a deep interest in Shiva

Whose head is glorified by the rows of moving waves of the celestial Ganga river,
Which stir in the deep well of his hair in tangled locks.
Who has the brilliant fire burning on the surface of his forehead,
And who has the crescent moon as a jewel on his head.

Dharadharendrana ndinivilasabandhubandhura
Sphuradigantasantati pramodamanamanase
Krupakatakshadhorani nirudhadurdharapadi
Kvachidigambare manovinodametuvastuni

May my mind seek happiness in Lord Shiva,

In whose mind all the living beings of the glorious universe exist,
Who is the companion of Parvati (daughter of the mountain king),
Who controls unsurpassed adversity with his compassionate gaze, Which is all-pervading
And who wears the Heavens as his raiment.

Jata bhujan gapingala sphuratphanamaniprabha

Kadambakunkuma dravapralipta digvadhumukhe
Madandha sindhu rasphuratvagutariyamedure
Mano vinodamadbhutam bibhartu bhutabhartari

May I find wonderful pleasure in Lord Shiva, who is the advocate of all life,
With his creeping snake with its reddish brown hood and the shine of its gem on it
Spreading variegated colors on the beautiful faces of the Goddesses of the Directions,
Which is covered by a shimmering shawl made from the skin of a huge, inebriated elephant.

Sahasra lochana prabhritya sheshalekhashekhara

Prasuna dhulidhorani vidhusaranghripithabhuh
Bhujangaraja malaya nibaddhajatajutaka
Shriyai chiraya jayatam chakora bandhushekharah

May Lord Shiva give us prosperity,

Who has the Moon as a crown,

262
Whose hair is bound by the red snake-garland,
Whose footrest is darkened by the flow of dust from flowers
Which fall from the heads of all the gods – Indra, Vishnu and others.

Lalata chatvarajvaladhanajnjayasphulingabha
nipitapajnchasayakam namannilimpanayakam
Sudha mayukha lekhaya virajamanashekharam
Maha kapali sampade shirojatalamastunah

May we obtain the riches of the Siddhis from the tangled strands Shiva’s hair,
Who devoured the God of Love with the sparks of the fire that burns on his forehead,
Which is revered by all the heavenly leaders,
Which is beautiful with a crescent moon.

Karala bhala pattikadhagaddhagaddhagajjvala

Ddhanajnjaya hutikruta prachandapajnchasayake
Dharadharendra nandini kuchagrachitrapatraka
Prakalpanaikashilpini trilochane ratirmama

My interest is in Lord Shiva, who has three eyes,

Who offered the powerful God of Love to fire.
The terrible surface of his forehead burns with the sound “Dhagad, Dhagad …”
He is the only artist expert in tracing decorative lines
on the tips of the breasts of Parvati, the daughter of the mountain king.

navina megha mandali niruddhadurdharasphurat

Kuhu nishithinitamah prabandhabaddhakandharah
nilimpanirjhari dharastanotu krutti sindhurah
Kalanidhanabandhurah shriyam jagaddhurandharah

May Lord Shiva give us prosperity,

The one who bears the weight of this universe,
Who is enchanting with the moon,
Who has the celestial river Ganga
Whose neck is dark as midnight on a new moon night, covered in layers of clouds.

Praphulla nila pankaja prapajnchakalimchatha

Vdambi kanthakandali raruchi prabaddhakandharam
Smarachchidam purachchhidam bhavachchidam makhachchidam
Gajachchidandhakachidam tamamtakachchidam bhaje

I pray to Lord Shiva, whose neck is bound with the brightness of the temples
hanging with the glory of fully bloomed blue lotus flowers,
Which look like the blackness of the universe.
Who is the slayer of Manmatha, who destroyed the Tripura,
Who destroyed the bonds of worldly life, who destroyed the sacrifice,
Who destroyed the demon Andhaka, who is the destroyer of the elephants,
And who has overwhelmed the God of death, Yama.

Akharvagarvasarvamangala kalakadambamajnjari
Rasapravaha madhuri vijrumbhana madhuvratam

263
Smarantakam purantakam bhavantakam makhantakam
Gajantakandhakantakam tamantakantakam bhaje

I pray to Lord Siva, who has bees flying all around because of the sweet
Scent of honey coming from the beautiful bouquet of auspicious Kadamba flowers,
Who is the slayer of Manmatha, who destroyed the Tripura,
Who destroyed the bonds of worldly life, who destroyed the sacrifice,
Who destroyed the demon Andhaka, who is the destroyer of the elephants,
And who has overwhelmed the God of death, Yama.

Jayatvadabhravibhrama bhramadbhujangamasafur
Dhigdhigdhi nirgamatkarala bhaal havyavat
Dhimiddhimiddhimidhva nanmrudangatungamangala
Dhvanikramapravartita prachanda tandavah shivah

Shiva, whose dance of Tandava is in tune with the series of loud

sounds of drum making the sound “Dhimid Dhimid”,
Who has fire on his great forehead, the fire that is spreading out because of the
breath of the snake, wandering in whirling motions in the glorious sky.

Drushadvichitratalpayor bhujanga mauktikasrajor

Garishtharatnaloshthayoh suhrudvipakshapakshayoh
Trushnaravindachakshushoh prajamahimahendrayoh
Sama pravartayanmanah kada sadashivam bhaje

When will I be able to worship Lord Sadashiva, the eternally auspicious God,
With equanimous vision towards people or emperors,
Towards a blade of grass and a lotus, towards friends and enemies,
Towards the most precious gem and a lump of dirt,
Toward a snake or a garland and towards the varied forms of the world?

Kada nilimpanirjhari nikujnjakotare vasanh

Vimuktadurmatih sada shirah sthamajnjalim vahanh
Vimuktalolalochano lalamabhalalagnakah
Shiveti mantramuchcharan sada sukhi bhavamyaham

When I can be happy, living in a cave near the celestial river Ganga,
Bringing my hands clasped on my head all the time,
With my impure thoughts washed away, uttering the mantra of Shiva,
Devoted to the God with a glorious forehead and with vibrant eyes?

Imam hi nityameva muktamuttamottamam stavam

Pathansmaran bruvannaro vishuddhimeti santatam
Hare gurau subhaktimashu yati nanyatha gatim
Vimohanam hi dehinam sushankarasya chintanam

Anyone who reads, remembers and recites this stotra as stated here
Is purified forever and obtains devotion in the great Guru Shiva.
For this devotion, there is no other way or refuge.
Just the mere thought of Shiva removes the delusion.

264
About the Author
The author has worked for 30 years in the human resources arena in India and abroad. He was
Group Vice -President of MZI Group in New Delhi and has anchored Human Relations in Go
Air and Hotel Holiday Inn;was General Manager-Health Human Resources at the Lata
Mangeshkar Hospital amd Medical college. Is currently Consultant to Gorewada International
Zoo,Nagpur and visiting Faculty at the Central Institute of Business Management and Research,
Nagpur.

In Sweden he anchored HR in Stadbolaget RENIA, SSSB and advisor to a multi millionaire. He

has studied in Nagpur, India where he obtained degrees of Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of
Arts(Managerial Economics) and Bachelor of Laws. He has done his Graduate Studies in labour
laws from Canada at the Queen's University, Kingston; a MBA from USA, and Doctorate from
Stockholm University, Sweden. Apart from that he has done a Management Training Program in
Singapore.

A scholar of the Swedish Institute, he has been an Edvard Cassel Fund and Wineroth Fund
Awardee.A scholar for the Swedish Institute for 5 years.In 1984 he was involved with the
Comparative Labour Law Project of the University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, U.S.A. He was
also visiting lecturer there. In 1985 he was invited by the President of Seychelles to do a study of
the efficacy of the labour laws of Seychelles.

Author of a book on a Swedish human resource law, his brief life sketch is part of the English
study text book of 7 th Class Students in Sweden -“Studying English. SPOTLIGHT 7”- and
8th Class students in Iceland - “SPOTLIGHT 8- Lausnir.”

RESEARCH PAPERS-320 + in Researchgate and academia.edu & scribd

Followers(readers) 65,000 consolidated as on 26 th September,2020.

265
 Dr. Uday Dokras
B.Sc., B.A. (Managerial Economics), LL.B., Nagpur University, India
Certificat'e en Droit, Queen’s University. Ontario, Canada,
MBA, CALSTATE,Los-Angeles, USA,
Ph.D. Stockholm University, Sweden,
Management and Efficacy Consultant, India

Reviews of the Book PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The authors highlight the benefits of paying attention to human resources and offer success and
failure factors guideline for a variety of potential practitioners and students in global project
marketplace.
Ms.Ylva Arnold, Head HR- Norstedts Publishers, Stockholm SWEDEN

266
From the Newspaper Times of India March 24, 2018

267
Iceland Sweden both countries use the English Text SPOTLIGHT-one of the lessons
in which is about Dr Uday Dokras

268
Prof. S.Deshpande,President of the Indian Instituye of Architects, New Delhi INDIA
releasing the book of Dr Dokras HINDU TEMPLES on the web in CARONA
gimes( May 2010)

269
270
271
272
Some of my books

273
274
 Tech Papers BOOKS on CAMBODIA on
Academia.edu
Technical Papers & Articles
1. Southeast Asia had 3 great empires

275
2. Vastu Shastra at Angkor Sites

3.
Where, What, Why of Jayavarman II (Part I) The SRIVIJAY
CONNECT

4. Kampuchea-Kambujadeśa

5. Elephants in Khemer Culture

6. The Mystery of the Transfer of Indic Images to Cambodia

276
7. Supernatural Ancestors of the Cambodian people

8. WHO? WHERE? WHAT? of JAYAVARMAN II Part II

9. Significance of SUNLIGHT & NUMEROLOGY to the Angkor Temples

10.
REGNANT NAMES (in Sanskrit) OF CAMBODIAN MONARCHY

11.
Mandala empire- The Rise and Antecedents of Jayavarman II

277
12.
Interpretational Issues of the word Devaraja as construed in
translationof this Khemer Honorofic Title

13.
Honorific Epithet of SE Asian Kings

14.
HARIHARA -Interpretational Issues of this strange Indic God figure
in the Khemer Imperial Frame

15. The Hindu Tradition of Coronation of Khemer kings

16.
The Khmer Civilization as an Integration of Cultures

278
 17.
Common Ocean of the Nusuntara- By Dr Uday Dokras

18.
Mandala Empire of FUNAN and the rise of Jayavarman II

AND MY BOOKS
I.THE BATTLES for Angkor Wat or Preah Pisnulok-

II.Newer Essays on Khemer inspired by Jayavarman II

III.Scientific Angkor BOOK I

279
IV.Scientific Angkor and Borobudur Book II

2 Readers2 Related PapersView Impact

V.South East Asian Architecture BOOK II

VI.South East Asian Architecture BOOK I

VII.Suvarnabhoomi BOOK

280
VIII.Time-Line of Khemer Temples

IX.ENTER…… THE KINGDOM THAT VANISHED- Angkor

X.Book V on Mandala of the Oriental Kingdoms

XI.HINDU CAMBODIA

281
XII.HYDROLOGY of ANGKOR

XIII.DEVRAJA- Book I of a Trilogy of 3 books

The Great Civilizations of South East Asia -HINDU Era

XIV.Devraja and Raj Dharma BOOK II

God King and Kingly Religion The HINDU Era of Great Civilizations of
Khemer

XV.DEVRAJ- The God Kings of Indo China-Cambodia.

XVI.Hindu tempels of Bharat Cambodia and Indonesia

282
Some of the 80 BOOKS BY DR UDAY DOKRAS
Published by
The Indo Swedish Author’s Collective Stockholm
The Indo Nordic Author’s Collective Finland

Tamil People as Traders and Voyagers

283
 The Cambodian Trilogy

I.HINDU CAMBODIA

II.HYDROLOGY of ANGKOR
ANGKOR is known as a Hydraulic city- full or canals and river and waterways. It
is this water system they say that brought the downfall of this intrinsic kingdom.
But is that TRUE?

III.ENTER…… THE KINGDOM THAT

VANISHED- Angkor
284
Building Materials of the Hindu Temple
In depth study of how Building Materials of the Hindu Temple was used in
India,Indonesia and Cambodia and India

The Art & Architecture of THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

COMPLEX, AMRITSAR

285
Mathematics in Temple Designs

Jain ART
Book on Jain Art and Iconography

Jain Temples- Part I -Complete Compendium-Book I

A to Z of the architecture, Design,Cosmology,Philosophy of Jain temples in

286
 Jain Temples II
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF JAIN TEMPLES AND THE
ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS(ORIGINAL) OF 3JAIN TEMPLES of Nagpur

DWARKA- CELESTIAL MYSTERIES of the Lost

CITY of KRISHNA

TIRUPATI TEMPLE Book part I and Part II

287
Vahanas- the vehicles of Hindu Gods
Vahanas- the vehicles of Hindu Gods. Animals in Hinduism. demi Gods

SATYANARAYAN PUJA-The Complete Compendium

Satyanarayan Puja or 9 Graha Puja( a puja of 9 planets) has been performed by
most Hindus not only now but for 1,000’s of years.

MAHALAXMI Puja
Hindu Goddess MAHALAXMI Puja

288
ARCHITECTURE OF PALESTINE

Palestine my Love
Palestine my Love is about the culture arts and crafts of palestine so we recognize
it as a entity that is fighting for recognition of not only its legitimacy but also its
cultural heritage

QUINTET (5) BOOKS ON MANDALA

Unravelling the MAZE of the MANDALA BOOK I

First part of a two book treatise on MANDALAS. This introductory phase
introduces mandalas
289
Maze of MANDALA BOOK II
Advanced Mandala routine for those who want to know more about MANDALAS

Mandala BOOK III on Nakshatra

BOOK IV MANDALA & ARCHITECTURE

The Use of Mandalas in Building Temples and Modern Buildings

290
Book V on Mandala of the Oriental Kingdoms

Islamic Architectureal Arts of of Imam Ali's 2 Shrines

Hindu Gods in Scandinavia

Did the Hindu Gods originate or live in Scandinavia once? Find out

291
Book on Divinity and Architecture
What is divinity? How has man tried to harness architecture to create magic in
space

Virat Hridaya Padma-sthalam CHIDAMBARAM

Temple -Celestial Mysteries
This book is about a mysterious and revered tempe built by the Chola Kings of
South India 2000 years ago

T2- Temple Tech. A Book

How are Hindu temples built and the technology that follows this craft. From A to
Z Complete Guide.

292
Rendezvous with Sri RAM Portfolio of Temple Art by
Srishti Dokras, Architect Special section on Hindu
Foods by Karan Dokras, Product Guru

Best Foot Forward

The story of Footwear through the ages up to COVID times

Hindu Temple Panorama-Celestial Mysteries

A to Z of Temples. A total Panoramic View of design and architecture of Hindu
temples in 350 page...

DUOLOGY (2) on JAINISM

293
 Ativir
ATIVIR means Very Brave and is the name given to Lord Mahavir the 24 th
Saint(TIRTHANKAR) Contains rare translations of the Dialogue of the Mahavir
with his disciples called GHANDHARVAVAD

Vardhaman-वधमर्ान
IThis book is about Jainism- written by a non-

THE TRILOGY(3) on DEVRAJA The God

kIngs of Khemer

Book I DEVRAJ- The God Kings of Indo China-

Cambodia.
This is the first Book of a Trilogy that traces the growth of Hinduism in South East
Asia.

294
BOOK I I DEVRAJA- The Great Civilizations of South
East Asia -HINDU Era
How Hinduism reached Cambodia and how the Hindu Kings called Devraj Built
these magnificent structures

Devraja BOOK II I Devraja and Raj Dharma God King

and Kingly Religion The HINDU Era of Great
Civilizations of Khemer
Book 2 of a Trilogy that traces the advent of Hinduism on South East Asian and
Indo-Chinese

Vayu- Man's taming of the winds

Man's conquest of nature spans a million years. How was wind tamed by him. Here
is the full story... more

295
VIMANA Ancient Conquests of Wind
Ancient flying machines of Gods and Men(?) Were they true. Did they really exist.
7000 years ago?

LIGHT HOUSES In words and pictures

BOOK Architecture of the Lighthouse of Alexandria-

BOOK
Indo Swedish Author's Collective, 2020

The lighthouse was built on an island off the coast of Alexandria called Pharos. Its
name, legend

296
Cosmology of lotus
Indo Nordic Author's Collective, 2020

The Lotus is the king of the flower world but few know it as a part of creation.
Find out the Cosmology.

Celestial Mysteries of the Borobudur Temple

Borobudur remains a mystery even today. The largest Buddhist Stupa in the world
has many unanswered...

Win with this new DIET

Hindu tempel of India , Cambodia and Indonesia

Hindu Temples dot India, Cambodia and Indonesia

297
DISRUPTION-Book

Book Architecture Creativity

Creativity and Architecture are linked and go hand in hand. This Book is a
culmination of 16 publications that have been put together as a book

Project HR Management
Indo Swedish Author's Collective

PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/'Dr UDAY DOKRAS The

project sphere has not been valued appropriately

298
Human Resource Engineering in Theme Parks.
by Dr. Uday Dokras and Mansse Bhandari

As theme parks evolve into facilitating for greater thrill seeking audience,the role
of human res... more

Health Human Resource Management

Management of Health care workers in hospitals and the human resource practices
to be followed in hospitals.

WIN DIET Lose fat-Diet and Exercise Book ONLY

BODY SHAPING GUIDE YOU NEED
The Act on Co-determination at Work – an Efficacy study
299
Thesis of the Author for the degree of Doctor of Law

Stockholm University, SWEDEN 1990

Author’s earlier book

SCIENTIFIC BOROBUDUR

U.DOKRAS-S. DOKRAS
Empire of the Winds
300
THE MYSTERIOUS SRIVIJAYA
EMPIRE

Dr UDAY DOKRAS
Architect SRISHTI DOKRAS

COSMOLOGY
301
 Dr Uday Dokras
Architect Srishti Dokras

302
‘At the end of this day a dissolution of the universe occurs, when all
the three worlds, earth, and the regions of space, are consumed
with fire Vishnu Purana (320-255 CE).
Then lotus-born god Brahma having slept for a night lasting
billions of years, rises to create anew then the three worlds form
again from one ocean and ‘These profound and lovely images are,
I like to imagine, a kind of premonition of modern astrological
ideas,’
Carl Sagan in his book Cosmos (1980).

THE PHYSICS OF SHIVA

Dr Uday Dokras

303