The highest Hindu temple with the most majestic vimāna, this temple needs no introduction. The crowning glory of Chola dynasty, Dravida architecture and Hindu temple, this is a temple unmissable.
3. Neelkantheshvara Mahadeva Temple, Sunak
A temple and village seldom known outside the district of Mahesana, this temple is a perfect example of śekharī sub-idiom of Nāgara architecture. An amazing panca ratha plan & a fully articulated śikhara it is a gem.
4. Mallikarjuna Temple, Pattadakal
Badami Chalukyas made some of the most iconic of temples in their capital, in almost all major idioms, Nāgara as well as Draviḍa. This Draviḍa temple with a circular śikhara is a perfect example.
5. Kailash Temple, Ellora
Perhaps the greatest wonder in rock-cut temples anywhere in the world, this stupendous achievement of Hindu skill, divine grace and Hindu society resulted in this two-storeyed wonder with thousands of sculptures, all rock-cut.
6. Baijnath, Kangra
The light of Sanātana dharma reached every corner of Bhāratavarṣa taking its darṣana of life and art everywhere. This temple, remote in the mountains of Kangra, with the backdrop of Dhauladhara range is a perfect example of Nāgara, latina idiom.
7. Hoysaleshvara Temple, Halibedu
The greatest of all Hoysala temples ever built, this dvikūta contains perhaps the largest gallery of Hindu gods in any temple anywhere on earth. The series of friezes on jagatī and then the gods panel is the most wonderful achievement.
8. Mahadeva Temple, Itagi
This temple created by a mere general of the Chalukyan king is the most wonderful monumental and wonderful achievement of Karnāta Draviḍa tradition created by the Chalukyas. The sheer scale is unimaginable in other Chalukyan temples.
9. Madanatheshvara Temple, Madhur
This three-storied temple is the rarest and most wonderful temple created in the coastal Kerala style architecture, with sloping roofs, gajapṛṣṭha garbha-gṛha and a perfect ambience, located on the banks of Madhuvahini River.
10.Parashurameshvara Temple, Bhubaneswar
One of oldest temples in Kalinga school of architecture with a complete mandapam, this centre of Lakuliṣa sect has a latina śikhara, replete with sculptures of Kārtikeya, Gaṇeśa, Saptamatṛkās and various other from Hindu cosmology.
11. Tambdi Surla, Goa
Located on an island created by the Mandovi river, just after it originates from the Western Ghats, this Kadamba temple, the only ancient temple left standing in Goa, is a pleasure to visit, with rising mist and roaring sound of water.
12. आप सभी को महाशिवरात्रि की बहुत बहुत शुभकामनायें| इश्वर कृपा करे कि आप सभी आज अपनी साधना को और परिष्कृत करें|
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1. One year ago, today, we were discussing the first baby steps of @brhat_in , I and @Anviksiki Ji. We had just come out of Rashtram and only had a hazy idea of what we were going to do.
2. And yet, look within one year, here we are, with a team of 12 people, having done so many different things in just one year that it feels like many years.
3. For the first time in life, I felt the power of a team. Before that teams that I was in, was in just to serve the emperor, but Brhat could be so different because it was headed by someone like @Anviksiki.
1. The Great Himalayas and the two great civilizations: India and China.
Modern Indians don’t realize what a formidable border the Himalayas are for India. For most of our history Himalayas have divided Asia in two different but very dominant cultural spheres: Indic and Sinic.
2. This does not mean that Tibet was a part of China but the impassability of the Himalayas extended to the formidable cold
plateau of Tibet and this massive combine of the mountains and the cold plateau separated two great civilizations: India and China.
3. The Himalayas run in a continuous line from Afghanistan and the Pamirs to modern India’s boundary with Myanmar in the South. While in the north and the mountain ranges are the highest, in the east there are gorges so deep that sun shines in the valley for only one hour a day
2. In 1878, hostilities broke out between Britain and Germany on one hand and Russia on another in the Balkans. Fearing the Russian behemoth, Western Europe united to defeat Russia and prevented it from occupying the former Turkish colonies in the Balkans.
3. As the European theatre raged on, Central Asia also became a flashing point between Russia and Britain.
Till now, after the uneasy treaties of the First Afghan War, Afghanistan’s Emir had remained in the camp of Britain.
1. The Pamirs and the Fate of Xinxiang and Ladakh: A Pivotal Region in British-Russian Rivalry in Central Asia
In the pre-colonial days, the rulers who ruled the cities of Central Asia scarcely cared about borders but only about major towns.
2. Borders became meaningless in mountainous regions like the Pamir Mountains which lay between Russian controlled cities of Central and British influenced areas of Afghanistan and India.
3. Then in 1873 Russia suddenly climbed down in its claims on Afghanistan and recognized that Afghanistan’s domains ran well into the Pamir Mountains. They were actually creating this smoke screen for their moves on Khiva.
1. The Great Game in Far East and Central Asia: Russia vs Britain
The Chinese Interlude
The Great Game was being played in so many theaters that it baffled even those who were playing them.
2. While Tsar’s armies were marching forward in Siberia, Britain was also not sitting idle in Far East, or Eastern Asia.
3. Russia annexed huge tracts of lands which formerly belonged to the Manchu Emperor of China, and Britain was acquiring more and more concessions from the ailing Manchu Empire and getting greater foothold in China.
1. The Quest to Secure Afghanistan and India's Borders
The First Afghan War
The second great player of the Great Game from British side was British officer Arthur Conolly. It is Conolly who gave the term Great Game to the world.
2. He travelled under disguise to various Central Asian khanates and in the process mapped various cities ruled by Muslim despots which had previously been completely unknown to the wider world.
3. In Central Asian towns of Khiva, Bokhara and Khokand, the three most important garrison towns of Central Asia, British and Russian spies were trying to outdo each other.