#tumblr/Hindu Temple Art

[sexypinkon]

Sexypink - From the Facebook page of Niala DB

On this Indian Arrival Day (May 30th 2023),  I present you with original artwork- temple murals - from the Indentured ancestors which have been preserved on the walls of the Moose Bhagat Hindu Temple, George Village Tableland. This religious and once tribally-important building was constructed by Pundit Mahandat Moose Bhagat Dass in 1904 and is preserved by his descendants, although it seems the pundit line is no more. This temple is written as being the second oldest in the Caribbean ( I do not have the facts to confirm this).  

I don't share DNA with this possible ancestor-in law, but I thought the journey worthwhile. I feel I see a Bhagat clan resemblance in the faded photo of Moose but, that might just be wishful thinking. It was a joy to behold the art of the ancient Indentured from India. I wonder how old were the artists?  

May they all continue to sleep in peace, giants they once were.

[h0bg0blin-meat]

Hindu men if they were secure enough in their masculinity:

[viagginterstellari]

Khajuraho, 2013

[ek-ranjhaan]

Modiji ek hi toh dil♡ hai, kitni baar jeetenge T_T

[whencyclopedia]

Kali

Kali is the Hindu goddess of death, time, and doomsday. She is often associated with sexuality and violence but is also considered a strong mother figure and symbol of motherly love. Kali embodies shakti – feminine energy, creativity and fertility – and is an incarnation of Parvati, wife of the great Hindu god Shiva.

Kali is most often represented in art as a fearful fighting figure with a necklace of heads, skirt of arms, lolling tongue, and brandishing a knife dripping with blood.

Name & Worship

Kali's name derives from the Sanskrit meaning 'she who is black' or 'she who is death', but she is also known as Chaturbhuja Kali, Chinnamastā, or Kaushika. As an embodiment of time Kali devours all things, she is irresistibly attractive to mortals and gods, and can also represent (particularly in later traditions) the benevolence of a mother goddess.

The goddess (devi) is particularly worshipped in eastern and southern India and specifically in Assam, Kerala, Kashmir, Bengal – where she is now worshipped in the yearly festival of Kali Puja held on the night of a new moon – and in the Kalighat Temple in the city of Calcutta.

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[airyucat]

Hello again, tumblr. It’s a fitting that that my first post back comes from a place of deep pain. I used tumblr a lot in grad school, some of the most painful years of adulthood. It’s not that I don’t trust my loved ones, but it’s that I still have intrusive thoughts that I let become thoughts. But this animation also comes from a place of deep gratitude. I wanted to add more outlines to the video, but if you’re in it, how dare you not give up on me >:c How dare you always support me, no matter what I’m going through. Absolutely rude (am I supposed to specify sarcasm here). If you’re in the video, I love you inexplainable amounts. And if you’re not, or you’re wondering if you are, I probably love you too. But I have a constant feeling of a valley bigger Valles Marineris cut through my being. Loved one prove to me they love me over and over again, and my stupid scientist brain collects stupid evidence and puts together a stupid hypothesis and runs simulation upon simulation on why this is wrong actually, why those people don’t care about me, why they’re lying to me actually. I have far away friends on other states and countries, so we try and plan online events, that get cancelled or where 2 people show up and can only stay for 15 minutes. If you truly cared about me, why don’t you call, or message, or reach out, of your own volition. Why do I have to wait until I’m cracking and deseperate and seek you out in pain for us to connect? I left an online group I loved - I let one person ruin it for me - and there went a big piece of my life. And people who said they still cared about me, why should a hi every now and then be enough? We used to move mountains with tremendous conversations, but now I just get a Merry Christmas in response to me saying it. I have friends here, in norcal, that live 2 hours away by driving, and 3 hours away by public transit. It’s exhausting, I often need to spend the night if it’s a late event, and I’m so far away that there are events I miss by not knowing about them. I’ve known them forever, but like, not as long as the full time I’ve known them. I met some before moving to Michigan for grad school, others when visited norcal but lived in michigan and then socal. So I was MIA physically from their lives from 2012-2018

Trauma led me to move back to norcal at the end of 2018. I got a job in SF, and my now spouse, Tai, and I moved to a cheap area still far from friends. It was supposed to be temporary, but I’m bad with money, and weddings can be expensive, and it’s hard to save up when a pandemic hits. But, in late 2018, everything felt broken, awful, horrible. Honestly that time and the year before felt like “what if our whole polycule that hadn’t even formed yet fucked up every thing every where all at once.”

So, 2019 was the year Tai and I took time to ourselves fix serious issues in our relationship, which meant we were distant from everyone, no matter the distance. We got cats at the start of the year though, two of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The end of 2019 was when we we finally reconnected back with our poly partners, and started reaching out to friends. And then, well, happy happy 2020 pandemic. Mid-2021 was spent reconnecting for me, but disconnecting for Tai, for similar reasons. “If you truly cared about me, why didn’t you reach out until you found out how bad things were.” I like to think we’re both decent at masking though. As a kid, before my dad starting ripping up all my art, he ripped up the ones where I drew sad faces. Because you’re not supposed to be sad, ever. Early 2022 I lost my one of my best friend’s dad. He felt like my dad. How sad was I allowed to be? I still don’t know, and next month it’ll have been a year since.

Did you know that a wedding at Disneyland and another wedding at a Hindu temple are really, really hard to plan? That’s what almost half of 2022 was. The weddings themselves, in May, on our anniversary, and the honeymoon, wow. Breath-taking. Especially for all the adlibbing we ended up doing (no rehearsal needed). 12 years since I met Tai. 11 years since I asked them out. 8 years since I proposed. Took us long enough.

My favorite pictures are the ones with or of loved ones, particularly our polycule and wedding party. I generally never get nostalgic, but I cry thinking about all the people that supported us. A lot of them are outlines in the video. My chest physically hurts knowing I will not be able to express how damn much I love them. People from all those three groups above? Didn’t matter how long the drive was, or the plane costs and delays, or the wallet-draining hotels, buying Indian and Disney-bounding clothes, spending a day in weather that was too hot for them... they did it. For Tai. For me. They did it. Side note - I’ll never forget that my (white) girlfriend taught me how to tie a sari. If you ever feel like an outsider to your cultural roots, remember me. And after the wedding... it was back. June, July, August, September, October, worse worse worse feelings of being excluded, people not wanting to be around me, doesn’t matter how false those feelings were. You can know something logically and not know it. Tai withdrawing from everyone. Accidental emotional neglect - if someone’s masking well enough, you don’t know. You can’t know. You can’t. And it matched my self narrative anyways: I’m disgusting and people don’t want me around. It solves everything; no one can kick you down if you’ve already done it. Emotions compounded by feeling unskilled in art, drained by my job’s commute and miniscule amounts of time off, Kaiser giving me scraps of therapy once every 8 weeks... My mental health pludged. October. Went to Europe with my girlfriend. Met some internet friends IRL. Covid finally got its claws into me, but my symptoms were just a sore throat, and I thought, maybe I was climbing up mentally. Maybe I got this! Halloween. My fave holiday. Sat around the apartment and did nothing. November. My birthday. It hit. It always hits hard. I can mitigate it with a party, and I did two weeks later, but having friends in their 20′s makes me wish I didn’t spend half of those years rotting away getting a PhD. I guess I can slap a Dr. in front of my last name now. 32 is the age one of my fave webcomic writers ended her long-running comic, and had plans but not really, and I think about her a lot, now that I’m that age. What am I going to do? I’ve got 10 months left to this age.

We went to a convention that emotionally hit Tai bad, and now they really really really won’t reach out to our friends. And I started trying to see friends more and talk to them more and... burnt myself out a little I think, because if you feel excluded and think people don’t want you there and aren’t used to interactions without a spouse or partner, seeing friends more isn’t a magic cure. It’s helping I think... I hope. I had to also come to terms with the fact that I’m probably never going to move to Hawaii, or have kids, or buy a house of be a Cool Internet Artist™, and might never be able to retire. Everything felt like it was crumbling. And then I drew this ...last week? It feels like a million years ago, but the new year did just happen. Here I am now. I’m going to keep trying I guess. I don’t know why, really, but here I go. I’ll try and be on here more, and just, share more. Take things out of my head and plop them down, and hope that the void yells back every now and then. Love, Airyu (Agni)

[moonlit-archeress]

✨Radhe Krishna mural at Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan, India by @kardami.kapila.das ✨

[markgee85]

Temple variations

The updated PhotoRoom app has a filter that adds clouds over the entire image (or to the background behind the subject layer.) I wanted to play with this using a found photo of a polychrome Hindu temple towering overhead. The past few posts are samples of the results.

[shaibtheherbanlegend777]

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Temple

[aarsun]

Radhe Krishna 3D wall art at, India by @aarsun

[moonpaints]

Brihadishvara Temple, also called Rajarajesvaram or Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the largest South Indian temples and an exemplary example of a fully realized Tamil architecture. It is called as Dhakshina Meru of south. Built by Raja Raja Chola I between 1003 and 1010 AD, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Great Living Chola Temples”, along with the Chola dynasty era Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and Airavatesvara temple that are about 70 kilometres (43 mi) and 40 kilometres (25 mi) to its northeast respectively.

The original monuments of this 11th century temple were built around a moat. It included gopura, the main temple, its massive tower, inscriptions, frescoes and sculptures predominantly related to Shaivism, but also of Vaishnvaism and Shaktism traditions of Hinduism. The temple was damaged in its history and some artwork is now missing. Additional mandapam and monuments were added in centuries that followed. The temple now stands amidst fortified walls that were added after the 16th century.

Built out of granite, the vimana tower above the sanctum is one of the tallest in South India. The temple has a massive colonnaded prakara (corridor) and one of the largest Shiva lingas in India. It is also famed for the quality of its sculpture, as well as being the location that commissioned the brass Nataraja – Shiva as the lord of dance, in 11th century. The complex includes shrines for Nandi, Parvati, Kartikeya, Ganesha, Sabhapati, Dakshinamurti, Chandeshvara, Varahi and others.

[bharatpics]

The Magnificent Sachiya Mata temple

[gkb-fans-club-hosanagara]

[viagginterstellari]

Portal - Sanchi, 2013

[ramayantika]

Found this one on insta (dharmicvoice). What I really like about this page that they are open minded and open to discussion and debate regarding various rituals and philosophies in hindu dharma as compared to some very traditional right winger pages that only say we are the right ones and this is how everyone must be and all that.

The first slide is what we hindus did. Now I am not seeing we are really good and we didn't do anything wrong to people belonging to other religions. Every community has its own list of darkness. Yet, we gave space to every religion that wanted to finish us off. The Christians when they arrived here saw various murtis and declared them to be the Devil and demonic. The Islamic invaders destroyed our temples and sculptures. Yet, here in India we have given right to churches and mosques to function independently.

Our songs talk about Ishwar Allah tero naam. Can't we expect a bit more love? Can't we expect all of us to live peacefully as humans and contribute to our motherland.

We all irrespective of religion are the children of India. Whatever the media feeds you by telling how Hindus are the most vile creatures or how India is intolerant is bullshit. This is the land where the first mosque was built and it also protected the family of a prophet (I am sorry I forgot his name)

Yet, even after all this. When we want just some of our temples, we are declared to be islamophobic. Some book written by someone is enough to turn you into a killer and kill your friends and colleagues.

I am sure the same Allah is going to cry over this. Those hate mongering radicals who believe in jihad and are waiting to wage a war against Hind because it will lead to Qayamat are deluded. I believe that such people instead of being praised to be 'brave' must be punished severely.

And maybe you will want to disagree. The day Hindu dharma dies is the day this land of Bharat dies, the same land for which rulers like Shivaji, Maharana Pratap died, the same land where music, dance and culture has thrived even after so many centuries. Bharat is a blend of its ancient lifestyle and modernity. You cannot separate the history and age-old practices (PS. Do away with the practices that can no longer be followed now and are wrong on so many levels.) from this land.

I will perhaps still be called islamophobic after posting this and being silly for being fearful if hindu dharma dies.

I have a friend from Bangladesh who is a Muslim. He and his sister talk about Krishna and Allah. He celebrates Janmashtami privately or else he might get killed.

As a fellow indian citizen, I want to see the country grow. I want my children to live in India where if they chant Jai shri Ram they won't be called hindu terrorists. I want an India where while we celebrate our festivals, there is no communal violence from the other side.

We never get a utopian world do we. Perhaps a bit of hate will still exist. But let's have this hate reduced to 0.1%.

I am sure there are no Islamic radicals here on tumblr but i can't post all this on Instagram so. I write it here. Even if india gets an Islamic head at the centre and Sharia comes in, india will never grow under that savage rule. Her arts, culture, history will be looked down and spat upon.

I come from a cultural background. I sometimes get nightmares that what if such a dark phase arrives like it did in Afghanistan and the dance, the music, the literature the painting, everything ceases to be and heartbroken at what my country turned out to be, I move to another land and on my deathbed I fondly remember what India had been before some hate filled pathetic people decided to kill of like those invaders.

I do have a dramatic mind. Pardon the previous paragraph.

In the end, I would like to say again, a God will never ask people to kill another human. Open up and love one another.

Jai shri ram.

[whencyclopedia]

Chidambaram

Chidambaram (Cidambaram) is an important Chola temple site in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Most of the temples at Chidambaram were built in the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The site is dominated by the huge gateway tower of the Nataraja temple but Chidambaram also boasts the first Devi or Amman shrine, the first Surya shrine with the distinctive stone chariot wheels which would adorn many subsequent temples, and the first large Siva Ganga tank. In this respect Chidambaram is something of a transitional site, linking elements of the old and new styles of Indian temple architecture.

The name Chidambaram, one of several from antiquity, derives from the Tamil Cirrambalam, meaning 'little hall'. The site was chosen because according to mythology it was the precise spot where the Hindu god Shiva had once danced in a grove of tillai trees. The dance was, in fact, a competition between Shiva and Parvati and naturally the great Shiva won. The story became a popular subject in Hindu art over the centuries.

The site is enclosed within four perimeter walls and covers a rectangular area of 55 acres. Within the compound are shrines, halls, temples, ornamental gateways, and a large ritual bathing pool, known as a Siva Ganga tank, which is surrounded by cloisters. Inscriptions claim the site was built by various Pandya kings and local rulers but none are contemporary with the dates the buildings were actually first constructed. The walls and east gopura (gateway) may be ascribed with greater certainty, and were probably built by Kulottunga III, who reigned from 1178 to 1218 CE.

The Nataraja temple was constructed between c. 1175 and c. 1200 CE. The actual temple shrine is relatively modest as by now in Indian architecture the gopuras had become the most important structures, at least in terms of aesthetics. The twin sacred chamber was, however, adorned with copper sheets covered in gold by successive Chola kings. The shrine is preceded by a dance hall and large entrance porch with columns (mandapa).

The massive granite and brick east gopura dominates the site but there are three other gopuras on the north, south and west sides (the earliest). The corbelled roofs diminish as the structures rise and are finally topped with the usual barrel-vaulted roof (sala), the eastern gopura also having a row of 13 decorative finials. The east gopura has a proper interior floor at each of its nine levels and there is an interior staircase which climbs to the very top of the building. All four gopuras have false windows on their facades, typical for this kind of structure, and pairs of pilaster columns set at regular intervals. The second floor of each gopura also has a passageway which worshippers ritually walked around. The entrance archways all have coffered ceilings decorated with relief panels.

Of particular note at Chidambaram are the thousands of sculptures adorning its buildings. In particular there are many statues of women in a wide variety of dance postures. Many statues are accompanied by quotations from Hindu literature which provide an invaluable reference for scholars. There are also figures of the four dvarapalas (guardian demons), the dikpalas (cardinal directions), many figures of Shiva performing heroic deeds, various other deities such as Vishnu, Devi, Sarasvati, and, unusually in southern architecture, river goddesses.

Finally, Chidambaram is also famous for its 17th century CE Nayaka ceiling paintings which decorate the Shivakamasundari shrine of the Nataraja Temple. More than 40 panels depict scenes from the life of the saint Manikkavachakar, a devotee of Shiva.

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