Temples Of India - Some Forgotten, Some Ignored

MRAIYAR - better known for his expert views on the economy - recently chose to write about our forgotten heritage. He was writing particularly about the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya and Nalanda - the great ancient Buddhist university.

- By Krishan Kalra

For multiple reasons - including Muslim invaders and Hindu-Buddhist clashes - both these great places of learning - that once took India to the forefront of global learning - were forgotten and later sank to ground and from memory.

Ironically, these were rediscovered not by Indians but by the British colonial archeologists. A couple of years ago the government did try to revive the ancient university and even appointed the very distinguished Amartya Sen (Nobel laureate 1998, Bharat Ratna 1999) as chancellor but allegations of nepotism and corruption scuttled the ambitious project.

Anyway, the subject of my story is to point out how many of our ancient Hindu temples are being virtually ignored - or at least receiving much less attention than what is needed to tell the world about their great architecture that has stood the test of time; unbelievable construction that was done long before any machinery was discovered and how these grandiose structures still stand after centuries. Successive governments have promoted only a few places of worship, mostly in North India.

Varanasi, Prayagraj, Ayodhya

During the last few years the 'Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya Corridor' has received great attention - and rightly so - leading to massive footfalls, both domestic and foreign, consequent development of the area and boost to the economy of the region. However, a very large number of gorgeous temples all over the country get huge crowds solely due to word-of-mouth publicity, mostly through the Indian community all over the world.

India’s Neglected Heritage