One of the things I find most fascinating about mankind is how different cultures across the world have come to recognize and celebrate spirituality. India is often the place many people go to in order to explore aspects of this, and as much as it might be a cliche, it does seem to be the case that India is somehow more attune or open to the unfathomable.
Visiting temples and shrines here makes me feel like I’m caught up in a conversation among poets. I stand there and nod at random intervals hoping that nobody will realise that I’m faking it, and that I’m no poet, I don’t read poetry, and that it just isn’t really my thing. I do spirituality like I do golf. I know there’s a method and that practice will bring improvement, but on the rare occasions I find myself on a golf course I just slug the crap out of the little white ball in the hope that it will land somewhere relatively near the green.
Standing at the foot of one of the ornately decorated temple towers, called gopurams, I look up at the structure that dates back some 1,200 years and marvel at the fact that this was built to glorify the Gods. It is, in effect, a spectacular monument to mankind’s relationship with that which we cannot control or fully understand, to a drive that has inspired us to build radically different monuments all over the world and throughout all of time.
I can’t tell you much about the temples and shrines pictured here. Instead I’m sharing these photographs with you more for the opportunity to once again look upon them and wonder how it is that they came to be. How something that inspires such beauty can at the same time unleash such unholy horror.
Somewhere away from the politics and power struggles of the various religions of the world, there is a faith and connection in the hearts of many that is so moving and powerful that it has led the creation of some truly awe inspiring buildings, shrines, and art works.
If God is a creative power, then maybe when we’re not blinded by our differences, mankind’s truest reflection of God is in our ability to create.
Wrote the following comment on May 18, 2008 at 8:30 am
I love those Hindu sculptures, especially the colourful ones like that in the last picture. Amazing.
Wrote the following comment on May 18, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Great post. I do think creativity is one of the biggest traits God gave us to separate humans from other creatures. I’ve seem monkey painting and and they’re not even close.
Wrote the following comment on May 19, 2008 at 3:53 am
That second picture is really something. So, are all those towers for different gods or what? And how come that temple isn’t painted like the one in the final picture?
Hey, I also noticed the post is dated back in April, are you backdating the posts?
Wrote the following comment on May 19, 2008 at 4:06 am
Simon, this piece is brilliant, in both language and color. Beautiful photography – I love the woman standing at the shrine, all the dull colors except those of her garmnent. No matter how barren or poor, you still manage to capture dignity and beauty in your photos and storytelling. Now, that’s creative!
Wrote the following comment on May 19, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Ditto the comment above!
Wrote the following comment on May 20, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Doug, the temple at the top, Arunachaleswara, is dedicated to Siva. Siva is one of the main Hindu gods, representing counsciousness. This temple is one of the more important Siva temple in Tamil Nadu, and located in Tiruvannamalai. (All cities beginning with ‘tiru’ are Siva places).
The second photo is of the entrance tower (the one at the back on the top picture), if I’m not mistaken. This temple is quite old, and the paint has been washed away. Some of it was completely derelict till a great renovation took place, starting 20 odd years ago.
All temples were painted at some point, and some have been repainted during their restauration, like the one at the bottom (I think that’s in Pudducherry, a Ganesh temple).
The Tiruvannamalai temple was preserved as is.
The middle photos are modern temple, modelled out of ciment rather than carved out of stones.
Susan, there is no poverty in that picture. That’s the way India looks, because they give less importance to tidiness than we do. If they spent a fraction of the time they pray on cleaning up, it’d be the cleanest place ever! Priorities….
Wrote the following comment on May 22, 2008 at 12:21 am
Thanks for the answer there Joelle. Not sure I would want to be the guy who paints a temple. Hell, I hated painting our deck!
Wrote the following comment on May 22, 2008 at 2:39 pm
You can be there would be a rather large team… A few to paint, a few to watch, one to give orders. Actually Doug, I have an errata… it emerged in a conversation that there might be no evidence suggesting temples were painted. That might be a recent development. I’ll try to find out next year!
Wrote the following comment on May 23, 2008 at 9:52 am
Yes Doug, the posts are being ‘retro-posted’ in the order in which I took the photographs and made my rough unpublished draft posts. It just helps keep the timeline in order for when I look back on these in the future, that’s all.