The architect-artists

 As  January 22 approaches, there is everywhere, on each channel, in each newspaper a lot of talk about the proper 'mandir'. Yet again, its preparedness et al might be a big chatter point. I would not like to discuss it because I have not seen the actual photos, absolutely non-partisan, from the place.

The f(r)ightful debates over the issue, however, make me think about the ancient mandirs, the traditional Indian temples. As the Prime Minister is visiting and praying at the South Indian temples, there are many visuals of these wondrous temples. As ever, these architectures,  which are engineering marvels, genuinely inspire awe.

These sky scraping gopuram, how were they built? There were no cranes then! The material, moreover, was not bricks and mortar/ cement. It was stone. How were the pieces interlocked? What was the cementing material? How were the metals molten on such a grand scale?

If the architecture of these temples is awe-inspiring, the art decorating each pillar,  literally each piece of every corner is beautiful beyond belief. What intricate designs, which at times narrate events from the mythology, are carved every inch, each centimeter! Who were these anonymous architect-artists indeed? 

India is full of such marvels. The Kolhapur based "Ambabai" temple, for example, is so intricately structured that during the Vasantostav, the sunrays first touch the feet of the idol till they gradually reach the face of the deity.

To think of yet another example, how was the Kedarnath temple built? At such a height? With the huge snowfall for almost six moths per annum? Both Papa and Aai prayed there. When Aai completed her Chardham Yatra, I drew the Kerdarnath Temple on the greeting card I made for her. Yet again I marvelled at its achitecture!So grand and gorgeous it is that no wonder the Bheem Shila appeared, rather arrived, out of nowhere to protect it during the 2013 catastrophe!

Indeed, who were those great architect-artists, or artists-engineers who thought of and constructed those poems in stone? Who sculpted Ajanta-Elora caves? How beautiful are all such art-works, most often made of monolithic stones! 

Such is the majesty of these achievements, strewn all over India, that our heads bow down in sheer reverence. For all these unnamed architects, engineers, artists, masons without any fame, here is this bow full of reverence!  No amount of respect and admiration would ever be enough to salute the time-defying much esteemed monuments they created!

Pratima@ "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life," said Pablo Picasso.