Tag Archives: temple

Old Temples in Kayavarohan

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Walking through Kayavarohan, one can find many old temples with Shiva lingam. A lingam, sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism.

The famous Kayavarohan lingam (housed at the famous Shiva Temple) represents the “formless” but a unique, exceptional iconic form of Shiva bearing the image of a meditating yogi, who holds parchments in one hand and citron (Matulinga) in the other. The image on the right has a smaller replica of the form at the location where the original lingam was first housed. The image on the middle bottom shows a lingam that is partly below the ground and is as tall as a human.

Old Temples in Kayavarohan

Kayavarohan Shiva Temple

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Kayavarohan, Gujarat, India harbors the Brahmeshwar Jyotirshivlang temple, claimed to have been founded by Maharshi Vishwamitra. It has been held that the incarnation of Shiva in Lakulish has merged with the linga. Here are images of the popularly visited temple lighted up for Diwali.

Flowers at the Temple
Color at Maheshwar Temple Kayavarohan
Colors at Maheshwar Temple
Lakulish Shiv Temple Kayavarohan

Flowers – Yellow Plumeria

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A plumeria’s deep-green, long, leathery leaves grow in dense clumps at the tips of its branches. From early summer through fall, clusters of five-petaled flowers bloom amid the leaves. Large and aromatic, flowers can be white, cream, yellow, pink, lilac, or red. In Asia, plumeria flowers adorn Buddhist and Hindu temples. Captured these in Cerritos, California.

Yellow Plumeria

Staircase to the Temple

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The stone for the BAPS Temple in Atlanta, Georgia was shipped piece by piece from India, where craftsmen had sculptured it into more than 500 designs including rosettes, leaves, feathers and lacy geometric patterns. The thousands of sections, ranging from five ounces to five tons, each with its own bar code, have been assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle based on instructions for religious buildings written into scripture thousands of years old.

Staircase to the Temple

Row of Elephants at the Temple

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The water feature at BAPS Temple in Atlanta, Georgia is decorated with a row of elephant sculptures.

In India the elephant is a symbol for power, dignity, intelligence and peace. Elephants in Hinduism and the Indian Culture are a symbol of intellectual strength, and sturdy earthy mental strength. Elephants, in general, symbolize the qualities of wisdom, strength, courage, longevity, patience, honor, and stature.

Row of Elephants at the Temple

BAPS Temple Atlanta Panorama

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Open to one and all, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Atlanta, Georgia) was inaugurated in August of 2007 after only 17 months of construction time utilizing 1.3 million volunteer hours. The Mandir is comprised of three types of stone (Turkish Limestone, Italian marble, and Indian pink sandstone). More than 34,000 individual pieces were carved by hand in India, shipped to the USA and assembled like a giant 3-D puzzle.

BAPS Temple Atlanta Panorama

Temples in India – Sunrise Glow

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Located in Vadodara district of Gujarat, Kayavarohan Shiv temple is one of the sixty-eight ‘teerthas’ (Pilgrimage) of Lord Shiva in Lakulisha avatar. Lakulish is considered to be the 28th birth of Shiva. The temple is also called Kasi of Gujarat. The temple is built in Indian tradition with walls and pillars depicting intricate carvings of nature. The walls display various forms and asanas of Yoga.

Sunrise Glow at the Temple

Temples in India – Glowing in Ambaji

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Ambaji is an important temple town in Gujarat with millions of devotees visiting the temple every year. This is the principal shrine of a goddess who has been worshiped since the pre-Vedic period. She is often referred to as Arasuri Amba.

Made of white marble with gold cones, the rays of the setting sun accentuate the golden hue on the temple spires.

A Golden Temple in Gujarat

A Street to Ambaji Temple

Temples in India – Colorful Twin Temples

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A Hindu temple is a symbolic house, seat and body of divinity. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, using symbolism to express the ideas and beliefs of Hinduism.

While there are numerous large, famous temples in India, I am presenting some images of small temples in Gujarat. Here is a twin temple in Bharuch.

Twin Temples With Color

Slide to Digital – Religious Buildings

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Buddhist temples are, together with Shinto shrines, considered to be among the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan.

The architecture and features of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples have melted together over the centuries. There are several construction styles, most of which show (Buddhist) influences from the Asian mainland.

Images circa 1985.

Slide to Digital – Golden Pavilion Kyoto

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Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple in northern Kyoto, Japan whose top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf. Formally known as Rokuonji, the temple was the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and according to his will became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Image circa 1985.

Golden Pavilion Kyoto