[LottiFurmann]

Thanx everybody, I found the book.
Swarup and TS......, Yes, it is the same book.
Published in 1976, It is a forerunner of all these later days Masonic mystery books.

The masonic tradition is supposed to hold secrets about one tradition and one temple............
Imagine the volume of secrets, a land like ours, with so many coexisting(??) traditions and innumerable temples, can hold!!!!!!!!!!

This book seems like a small peep through a keyhole into a larger panorama.
It rather claims that there were various guilds of architects and sculptors, and each had a secret set of codes (with examples to convince us). They used it to record the actual history in the architectural motifs.

The monarchs (and the politicians, if the practice still exists) in their pompous and precarious epigraphs, can claim what they want about the way they ruled. But a man equipped with this secret language and a discerning eye can be supplied with a wealth of knowledge which is otherwise obliterated and not available.

(Since i have a scanned copy of the book, i need to use textbridge or some such programme to convert the images to text. I can post snippets of it then)

[Beerinkol]

Thanks for the info virarajendra ......

[Paul Bunyan]

A series of yalis, horses or elephants sculpted on the walls of a temple, uniformly facing one way contain a rare yali, horse or elephant facing the otherway. Is it a mistake, or an attempt to break the monotony of a pattern......OR a deliberate attempt to convey something?

Does a 'Sangubootham' sculpted anywhere indicate a subterranian vault or a passage nearby?

There are these odd pillars in a series of pillars with unique themes. Are they the result of the later repair works, or deliberate markers?

In other words, when the Sthapathis built the temples, have they left coded messages in the temples for a future Sthapathi to interpret and know? If so, the facts may be contrary to what the stone inscriptions say.

These are the aspersions cast by a book which i had read some time back, written by one Mr.Pillai...... It was in the Max Mueller Bhavan Library, Chennai......
Sorry for my poor memory........i do not remember the name of the book or Mr.Pillai's full name.

(One of my personal observations in my recent trip to Belur, Halebid and Somnathpur.........A series of horses sculpted around the Somnathpur temple depict them as docile trotting horses to start with, then it turns into a hunting scene with monkeys, again some docile horses, then long warlike scenes with the horses trampling on soldiers interspersed with peacefully trotting horses. The numbers in each section vary. Is this an attempt to convey the warring years and peace-times during the hundred odd years it took to build the temple????)

(This post is also an attempt to trace Mr.Pillai's book. It talks about various temples in our country, specifically about the Thanjavur temple and Gangaikondacholapuram temple. Mr.Pillai claimed that these temples were originally Buddhist viharas. Mr.Pillai, if i remember correctly, was also employed with the Archaeological Survey of India...............An attempt was made to trace it at MMB.....but the library is closed and the entire collection of books is donated to a Missionary and they when contacted do not seem to have the book.)

SO, ANY LEAD TO TRACE THIS BOOK IS WELCOME

[NeroASERCH]

wow .... amazing topic !!!!!!!
naaga ...



well after reading DA VINCI CODE ...
very few indians think about codes in indian architecture ..

well the chidambara ragasiyam .i dunt know what ragasiayam it s ..wish some one will tell me ..

and what else ..


most of indian architechture is built in praise of god ....but u never know ..

so was Da Vinci's Last supper...
but it took years for a Dan Brown to be born and think about these things ...

u never know ..there could be something behind everything in Indian Architecture .... not jsut the praise for God ...!!

like Lord Chesterfield said : Humans are not random creatures ..what ever they do ..they do with a reason ...


continue this topic people ..

[doctorzlo]

what about the temples with pillars that make musical notes ..

and even some temples ..why do they have some very odd number of pillars ..
(what does the number imply ?)

leaving the religious monuments ...whats about forts and havelis ..


What about the churches and mosques india ....

There should be something isnt it ?

[PhillipHer]

continue this topic people

[Fegasderty]

Thanx Swarup for the lead. I had some more results through other search-engines. But all of them lead me to dead-ends.

There are more than one Pillais who have written about Indian architecture.

Just returned from a trip to Thiruvalankadu temple near Arakkonam.

Though a simple temple with not much adornment, the pillars are worth noting. They have a sort of ribbon-like horizontal piece on top connecting two points on the pillar. I noted that some odd pillars in between, lack them.

A friend who came along suggested, that they could have been broken while they carved...and the sthapathis could have finished the pieces without them.....as it doesnt make any sense to dump the whole pillar just because a small detail was missing.

Very valid argument.......but it failed to explain a couple of pillars which had the structure in unfinished condition.........especially one pillar (the first one on the west side extension in the outer prahara) which had one side fully finished and the other side half finished.

Any Hubber with any knowledge about such a secret code (if it exists) stand-up please!!!

[softy54534]

Indian architecture - When was the beginning of architecture in India?

[Fegasderty]

Well the chidambara ragasiyam ..is a well known thing i think ..but i dunt know it ..


I think this is a very interesting topic and i hope people will continue ..

[LottiFurmann]

well the musical notes on pillars and steps ....could be the expression of a talented artisan ..who wanted to learn the music ( at that time ..it was taught only to the brahmins .. ) and resorted to it ..

but it also goes that the musical notes are SA RE GA MA PA .. in a particular raag ..so it can't really be ....


I SAY AGAIN

HUMANS ARE NOT RANDOM CREATURES
WHAT EVER THEY DO
THEY DO WITH A CAUSE

so people lets ponder over it ...

[S.T.D.]

hmm ....what happened ...no one here ?????????????

[HedgeYourBets]

If you would have noted a pillar in Halebid, during your visit .... there used to be a pillar which has an inner pillar, with an outer structure (just like a net wrapped over a pillar ... where there would be some forms of idealogies which are carved in that ....

Out of which one place is left empty to show that this is not the end of all the depictions, Future may give more !

This is to show that the sculptors imagination is not the end ! future may give more, n he has left a space for the other person to fill it ....

There are lot many things like this in Belur n Halebid .... the very history of the places are really mystical !

Rgds
Vasanth

[softy54534]

Naaga sir !

I ve heard that The Thanjavur Periya kovil architecture is considered to be one of the BEST arch ! I ve heard that a lot of facts n secrets lie under the temple's architecture.... Some like

1) the shadow of the top kalasam will not fall anywhere on the ground

2) The statue of Vaaraahi is growing, n when it touches the top it means pRaLayam (end of workd) would occur

Are all these true ? what other facts are behind this temple ?

[Raj_Copi_Jin]

bingle: Here is a website with more information.

http://www.thanjavur.com/bragathe.htm

[MannoFr]

That was an awesome site .... Thanks Raj

But what am i lookin at is the secret architectural aspects in the temple ... Here the site gives info about the temple... But there are many other secret infos about the temple talking about each n every unique factor in the temple !

Probably there may not be a site that talks .. but ppl who have lived in Thanjavur with their forefathers n GGG grand fathers from the same city ... may be knowing certain facts which is still a secret ... out of which some have come out ! not everything ....

Chola period was called the GOLDEN ERA ... so all the wealth could not have vanished just like that ! infact he had two children, Kundavai Naachiyaar n Rajendra Cholan !

Tis also believed that Raja Rajan was a very unique King ! Being an intelligent one, he shld have taken steps to safeguard the treasure ! There shld be some treasure still inside the temple, coz this was the safest place one could ever think of !

He had a lot of underground tunnels ..... There s a tunnel way from the RockFort temple in Tiruchirapalli(Woraiyur - The then capital of Cholas before Thanjavur) to the outskirts of the city n a lot of tunnels from Thanjavur Bragatheeswarar temple too ! One must really spend time to study each n every unique aspect of the temple .....

Raj? have u been to the temple ?

[Lt_Apple]

I guess Kundhavai was named after her athai (Raja Rajan's sister) n RajaRajan is believed to have one son n three daughters !

[PhillipHer]

Raj? have u been to the temple ?

bingle: I was born and brought up in Thanjavur district. I have visited peria kovil many times. My grandfather used to tell me that the land he owned was given to his forefathers by Rajaraja cholan!
There is nothing to verify that. A monarch giving away land for the warriors who fought for him was a common practice. I got a book on the inscriptions in that temple. There is nothing about the secrets of the temple in that book,unless it is in some code to be deciphered.

[Slonopotam845]

There is nothing about the secrets of the temple in that book,unless it is in some code to be deciphered.

Precisely...........that is what this book by Mr.Suresh B. Pillai all about. (Introduction to the study of Temple Art - 1976).

[radikal]

Did you all read the article about the 2nd century AD Murugan temple being uncoverd by the ASI after the tsunami at Mahabalipiram and how it was washed out twice(tsunamis?) and rebuilt.
If that were the case, and Like masons if all the sthapathis knew the codes, then they must have rebuilt it...leaving the codes/clues intact or modified to suit the changed times.I am very sure that this must have been the case as most temples had subterranean passages/ secret chambers. In fact I visited a temple some time ago where they said that a parallel temple was built below the ground and that it still is there.
We have always been a nation that was a conglomeration of kingdoms and hence each area subject to invasion.....the temples too were subject to being raided, as they were sources of wealth. when kings in the north embraced buddhism and jainism and as these relegions started spreading heavily...there must have been a series of conflicts all leading to these stories that X temple was originally for Y religion.A book on temple architecture....the original or precursor to modern vaasthu as well as the rules and regulations regarding sculpting idols is boung to lead us somewhere......are there any students of architecture in this forum ?. Did you read the article on the similarity of scripts between mohenjodaro and easter islands(?)....Our ancestors did travel...and if there are codes here so too must there be something in Angkor Wat etc....

[S.T.D.]

Thanks Mohanraman sir ! That was a valuble piece of info !

can u please give some more info on the temple that u ve visited, the one that has a parallel one built below the ground ! That seems interesting !

Did you read the article on the similarity of scripts between mohenjodaro and easter islands(?). Interesting ... can u share this piece of info with us ?