Learning never exhausts the mind. – Leonardo da Vinci The Dynamic Equilibrium Beyond sculpted walls, ceilings & buttresses, chief images of different forms of the Main Deity are placed in the niches created into walls. These images, which are auxiliary images of the Main Deity, are almost always ‘in the round’. The entire volume of …
Sculpture is the Art of the Intelligence – Pablo Picasso. First Principles The Sculptures at Angkor were apparently created when styles such as Gothic or renaissance were yet to be realised. Principles of detailing the size & parts of human forms, oval faces, almond-shaped eyes, folds of garments and such other aspects were postulated in …
Faith is an act of rational choice which determines unto us that certain things were true. And in the confident expectation that they shall prove to be true. David Inge had told this fact to us many years ago. If you believe, it is going to be true. In fact if you believe just anything, …
Faith – Over to The Lord with a cup of Suspended Coffee Read More »
In order to be able to lead a more complete life, there will always be place for such an ethereal feeling as love. Who would know that better than the Creator Himself? One finds solace in Cathedrals, Mosques and Temples; the Abodes of The Lord. There, nothing is ever asked for in return. For He …
The poet has expressed in rather melancholic words ‘Time is a thief of precious life, never to be recovered’. The adage -that the ‘time is a thief’ is true every time. But it leaves its imprints on everything and it gives experience to humans as a return gift. At Angkor, however, these imprints are omnipresent ; some …
It has been ordained that the best form for a temple is square. Then rectangular or even circular or oblong, in that order of sacredness. For square is the perfect shape and most loved by the Gods. At Angkor, the same principles have been followed. We go there and are slowly taken to the centre …
The setting is quantitatively and qualitatively similar. A grand musician say, an Ustad Zakir Hussain with Pandit Rakesh Chourasia giving rendition of their virtuosity in say a Royal Albert Hall or the Sydney Opera House. You enter from the dazzling world of the outside. Inside is all dark but for a very faint blue light heaping …
Angkor Wat is a structural Temple. And so are the other temples at Angkor. But the Ellora’s (India) Shri Kailashnath Temple is a Rock Temple. Trust we all, when we are told that the Chief architect of this particular Temple could not believe after its completion when he is as per the Legend believed to have …
Four entities make the Temple complete, namely – the Building of the Temple, The Presiding Deity, the Devotee and his devotion. Whilst the physical entities create the right environment for the Devotee, it is the devotion which completes the soul of any temple. Temples are crafted to a well laid down design norms. The main …
Through the statement “I am the door,” Jesus points the exclusive nature of salvation by saying that He is “the door,” by which we may enter and be saved. The Lord is the only means we have of receiving eternal life; Moksha – release. There is no other way.