Thursday, August 16, 2007

Cross in Hindu Temple Architecture

It will be hard to believe that the significance of the symbol of cross was there before the sad crucification of Jesus, who became Christ, when he awakened to his divine form.

To the ancients, the 4 cardinal directions, were very important, from religious point of view as well as astronomy point of view, which also played in their religious rites. This was specially true for the Solar worshippers of the ancient world. The evidence of Solar worship is found in all corners of the world, including India, Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, England, and Americas.

See, what Mrs. Zelia Nuttal (1857 -1933) Archaeologist and ethnologist has said, on the temples across India.

"No country in the world can compare with India for the exposition of the pyramidal cross. the body of the great temple of Bidh Madhu (formerly the boast of the ancient city of Benares...demolished in the 7th century) was constructed in the figure of a colossal cross, with a lofty dome at the center, above which rose a massive structure of a pyramidal form. At the four extremities of the cross there were four other pyramids...A similar building existed at Mathura. By pyramidal towers placed crosswise, the Hindu also displayed the all-pervading sign of the cross. At the famous temple of Chidambaram, on the Coromandel coast, there were seven lofty walls, one within the other, round a central quadrangle, and as many pyramidal gateways in the midst of each side which forms the limbs of a vast cross."



Now when I was reading this, I recalled seeing the above picture with the aerial view of the Angor Wat Temple, and could not help myself remembering the "cross" I had seen in the picture.