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GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
@GemsOfINDOLOGY
Apr 23, 2023 • 8 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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The Saivite savant Manickavasagar of the 9th century used money meant for buying horses to construct this temple at Avudaiyarkoil, known as Thiruperunthurai, in Pudukottai district.
#Archaeology
thehindu.com/news/national/…

1/8 Image
Queen with all her robes and Jewels sculpted in Aathmanathaswamy temple, Aavudayar Kovil 'Avudaiyarkoil', Tamilnadu.
9th century ce

What is the name of this Queen? 👑

#Archaeology
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm…

2/8 ImageImage
Possibly, the King and the Queen in Aathmanathaswamy temple. Look at the hairdress. Is this ritualistic depiction?
#Archaeology
travel.bhushavali.com/2012/02/avudai…

3/8 Image
What is this Animal ?
You must cover this temple
@TheGopalan #Archaeology
travel.bhushavali.com/2012/02/avudai…

4/8 Image
Stone lizards carved on the roof of the temple
tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoD…
#Archaeology

5/8 Image
Hanging chains carved in stone on the ceiling of the temple
#Archaeology

6/8 Image
Some more devotees carved on the pillars of the temple
#Archaeology
tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoD…

7/8 ImageImageImageImage
There are snake sculptures surrounding a pond in the temple.
Can anyone count the number of snakes ?
destimap.com/index.php?act=…

8/8 Image

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More from @GemsOfINDOLOGY

GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Dec 16
1/9
 Ever hear of the Santhal Hul? Two years BEFORE the 1857 "Sepoy Mutiny" that history books love to call India's "first war of independence," the Santhal tribes rose up in 1855 against British exploitation. This was pure grassroots fury – bows and arrows vs. an empire. Let's dive in. 🏹Image
2/9
 Background: The British "invited" Santhals to clear forests in the Rajmahal Hills (Damin-i-Koh, now Jharkhand/Bihar/WB) for farming and revenue. Sounded good – until zamindars, moneylenders (mahajans), and corrupt officials turned it into a nightmare. Debt traps, land grabs, exorbitant interest, forced labor. Santhals called outsiders "dikus" – exploiters.Image
3/9
 The spark: Brothers Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu (plus Chand, Bhairav, and sisters Phulo & Jhano) claimed divine visions from Thakur Bonga (their god) commanding them to rebel and establish Santhal rule. On June 30, 1855, at Bhognadih village, 10,000+ Santhals gathered, took oaths, and declared war on the dikus.Image
Read 9 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Dec 15
#GemsOfASI #1

ASI was founded in 1861, not to protect India’s past—but to manage it.

The Archaeological Survey of India was created by the British Empire, staffed by military engineers, and embedded inside colonial administration. The name "Survey" itself says it all.

This matters.Image
2/
 ASI’s first Director General, Alexander Cunningham, was a Royal Engineers officer.

His training was not in living cultures.
It was in surveying, mapping, classification, and control.

Archaeology was an imperial tool. Image
3/
 The mandate was clear:
• Identify ruins
• Catalogue monuments
• Standardise interpretation
• Detach sites from communities

A living civilisation is unpredictable.
Ruins are manageable. Image
Read 11 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Dec 12
🧵🏰 What kind of fort gets called "minor" at 2,700 feet with multi-tiered defences visible for miles?

The kind that didn't fit colonial narratives. Rayadurgam Fort, Anantapur — massive, sophisticated, erased.

We're still using their textbooks. The stones outlasted empires. The lie outlasted the stones.

#GemsofASI MNI#20

1/15Ancient stone fort perched atop a rocky hill, winding battlements and stairways bathed in warm golden sunset light.
🛕 Built by 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐤𝐚 (1520s–30s), this was a Vijayanagara frontier fort controlling movement between AP & Karnataka. Colonial historians later downgraded it as "minor". Minor? A 2,700-ft citadel controlling two regions. But the empire narrative couldn't accommodate decentralised power. So it became "minor".

2/15Bearded, armored ruler with sword and staff overseeing laborers building a massive stone fort wall from scaffolding and blocks beneath a dusty sky
⛰️ At ~𝟐,𝟕𝟐𝟕 𝐟𝐭, Rayadurgam was built for surveillance: long-range visibility, multi-tiered access paths, natural cliffs turned to defence. But British-era archaeology catalogued it under 'regional ruins'. Right — altitude high, curiosity low. Classic imperial scholarship.

3/15Steep rocky hill with ruined stone fortifications and terraced walls, scattered vegetation and a rectangular ruin at the base under a cloudy sky
Read 15 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Dec 9
1/ They taught us the British ended Sati. Saved us from our barbarism. 🕊️

Then why did Sati cases spike from 1 in 8 years to 5000 per year under British rule?

Why did cases DROP under Mughal emperors?

Let's talk about the history they never taught you. 🧵 Image
2/ From 1900 BCE to 1900 CE—2,500 years—historians found fewer than 500 verified Sati incidents.

That's one every 8 years. Rare. Tragic. But rare.

Between 1813-1829, just 16 years under British rule, they documented THOUSANDS.

What changed? Image
3/ In 1813, British administrators LEGALIZED Sati.

They created two categories:
"Legal" Sati (voluntary)
"Illegal" Sati (forced)

By defining legal Sati, they gave official sanction. Approval.

Court of Directors later admitted Indians saw this as a RECOMMENDATION. 💰 Image
Read 12 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Dec 6
1️⃣ The Taj Mahal was built using measurements from 3300 BCE.

Same unit. Same system. 5000 years apart.

Your history textbooks never mentioned this. Why? 🧵 Half clay Harappan brick slab engraved with "1.763 cm" beside the white marble Taj Mahal facade, split composition highlighting same measurement unit across 5,000 years
@narendramodi @PMOIndia @mygovindia @sanjeevsanyal @IndicMeenakshi 2️⃣ The Harappan civilization used the angula—a finger-width of exactly 1.763 cm.

That same unit designed the Taj Mahal in 1648 CE.

5000 years. Zero breaks. Uninterrupted architectural DNA. 🏛️ Hand pressing a weathered clay brick beside a translucent ruler marking 1.766 cm, highlighting a finger-width measurement used in ancient construction
3️⃣ Harappan bricks: 28×14×7 cm. Perfect 4:2:1 ratio.

Or in their terms: 16×8×4 angulas.

This wasn't art. It was engineering. Strength through geometry across every city—Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal. Rectangular fired clay brick with worn edges on a clear display stand, showcasing an ancient Harappan 4:2:1 proportion (approx. 28×14×7 cm).
Isometric drawing of brick wall sections with staggered Harappan-style 4:2:1 ratio bricks, dimensions marked and a single brick shown separately.
Read 11 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Dec 5
🧵 The Bhagavata Purana tells a wild story about Ajamila—a Brahmin who spent 88 years sinning, then accidentally hacked moksha at his deathbed.

Yes, accidentally.

Let me explain. 🪷 Image
1/ Ajamila started pure. Born into a respectable Brahmin family, mastered the Vedas, lived virtuously with his devoted wife.

Textbook dharma. Perfect resume.

Then one day in the forest, he saw something that broke him. 👀 Image
2/ A beautiful, intoxicated courtesan Intimate with a low-caste man. Right there.

Ajamila's carefully constructed virtue collapsed in minutes.

Lust won. Dharma lost. 💔 Image
Read 9 tweets

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