This is an eighteenth-century copper plate inscribed in Tamil. It is a record dating back to 1760 CE that states the traders of villages, including Kottaru Aloorupettai, Sivakasi Virudhugupetti, and Sivathondu Maanadupettai, gave their monthly expenses for cotton, tobacco, and kaalchattai (trousers), as well as for the puja (worship ritual) of Maheshvara in the month… Read more »
Odisha’s Pattachitra paintings are rooted in the culture of the seaside town of Puri and, more specifically, in its legendary Jagannath temple
Titles from the Sarmaya library that will draw you further into the heart of Tamil Nadu’s culture through music, architecture, photography and art
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Thanjavur welcomed large communities of Telugu and Marathi speakers as a consequence of Nayaka and Maratha conquests in Cholamandalam. The result was a slow mingling and simmering of cultural influences, resulting in the unique artistic heritage of this temple town
The architecture, iconography and divine design of Hindu temple architecture through the lens of its royal patrons
Bodh Gaya is an important Buddhist site, known primarily as the place where Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment. The Buddhist complex at Bodh Gaya has a history of worship that goes back 2300 years. The oldest monumental remains here date back to the Mauryan period, during the reign of Asoka. The first Director-General of the Archaeological… Read more »
This picture shows the temple of Bansberia, also known as the Hangseswari temple, in the Hugli district of West Bengal. In 1792, Raja Nrisinhadeb Rai Mahasai of Bansberia came to Varanasi for retirement. Here, he approved a significant amount of money to raise a temple dedicated to Goddess Hamsesvari, an avatar of Goddess Kali, in Bansberia. He… Read more »
One of the most striking ways in which temples in India announce their provenance is with the spires that loom over the rest of the structure—this is where a North-South divide makes itself felt
The many reasons—from the highly spiritual to the purely pragmatic—behind the rise of the Indian temple town
The earliest temple was a humble place that served as a conduit between hope and whatever higher power held human fates in its hand. As faith in this unseen hand grew, so did the edifice that gathered the hopeful. Today, temples are among the richest repositories of our nation’s artistic, social and cultural legacies. Join… Read more »
Discover the true meaning of faith in a Tamil Nadu temple with an empty sanctum
A brief history of how Hindu temples took root and flourished in India