I am very fond of guides though. A good guide can disentangle centuries of history for you with such skill that it feels like you're watching it all unfold in front of your eyes. My idea of a good guide is someone who's a good story teller, I can always google facts at home.
Today, on the day of B, we'll visit an 11th century Shiva temple called Brihadisvara. It was built by Raja Raja Chola near Thanjavore in Tamil Nadu, India. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I spent a day in August of 2017 in this beautiful example of Tamil architecture.
Come along and soak in the sun.
But before you enter, get some flowers and fruit to offer to the deities.
Made of granite, yet the carvings are so fine, a blade of grass goes through.
Far Eastern architectural influences were pointed out by the guide
Temple priests --looks like a serious discussion
If there was a speech bubble here,
what would it say?
I'd LOVE to find out what you'd write in that speech bubble.
If there was a speech bubble here,
what would it say?
I'd LOVE to find out what you'd write in that speech bubble.
Conversations, prayers, selfies: 11th century architecture catches up with life in modern India.
The sun sets and like the chattering birds, the tourists make their way back home.
The Big Temple bathes in crimson rays and waits for more to visit it the next day, next year, next century perhaps--who knows.
When was the last time you sat in a building (temple, church, museum, mosque, gurudwara)
and felt one with it -- like you were always meant to be there at that moment,
like the stones and the tiles had been waiting for you to step on them, touch them,
be one with them and feel alive, feel the connect that transcends life and lifeless?
*****
Catch up with C here tomorrow, C U then:)
