Wednesday, August 3, 2016

108 Shiva Temple

#ashokasays Did you know 296:

There is no dearth of innovative ways our guys have been building amazing structures all over the country. Many structures which you get to see, be it new or the old, you bump into some amazing architecture.
108 Shiva Temple in Ambika Kalna in West Bengal is what we can see today. The town is located on the west bank of Bhagirathi river.

With its splendorous terracotta temples, Ambika Kalna is rightly called as the “Temple Town”. There are quite a few temples in the town but Nava Kailash or the 108 Shiva Temple is one of the most interesting ones.

It was built by Maharaja Teja Chandra Bahadhur in 1809 to celebrate the transfer and ownership of the royal estate of Bishnupur. An architectural marvel, the temple structure is a combination of two concentric circles, each of which has small temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. These represent beads in a rosary and its walls depict episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharata and even hunting scenes. The outer circle has 74 temples and the inner one has 34  temples, decided mythologically with auspicious considerations. Each of these 108 temples has a Shiva linga. The lingas in the inner circle are all white (symbolizing good deeds), while half of those in the outer circle are black (symbolizing sins). The planning of the temple is so ingenious that all the shivlingas can be seen from the centre of the temple complex.
It is always preached that a human with his faith can connect to the Almighty through his sincere prayers and meditation. To attain solace, one needs to come over all worldly interests and wholly and solely dedicate his life towards the attainment of God. The architecture of the temple is also done in such a way that the structure symbolizes and advocates this spiritual thought. The outer circle and the black colour idols portrays the world we live in while the inner circle and the white colour idols symbolizes the world with pure thoughts, and the purity can be attained by offering prayers to Lord Shiva.
INCREDIBLE BHARATHA





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