Mount Tai Shan

Name : Mount Tai

Location : It is located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong Province, China.

Description : This is a mountain of historical and cultural significance. The tallest peak is Jade Emperor Peak, which is commonly reported as 1545 metres (5069 ft) tall.

Mount Tai is one of the "Five Sacred Mountains". It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. The temples on its slopes have been a destination for pilgrims for 3,000 years.

History : Traces of human presence at Mount Tai date back to the Paleolithic period. Human settlement of the area can be proven from the neolithic period onwards. During this time, two cultures had emerged near the mountain, the Dawenkou to the north and Longshan to the south.

Religious worship of Mount Tai has a tradition of 3,000 years, it has been practiced from the time of the Shang to that of the Qing Dynasty. Over time, this worship evolved into an official imperial rite and Mount Tai became one of the principal places where the emperor would pay homage to Heaven (on the summit) and Earth (at the foot of the mountain) in the Fengshan Sacrifices. In 219 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, held a ceremony on the summit and proclaimed the unity of his empire in a famous inscription.

Mount Tai has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. In 2003, it attracted around 6 million visitors.

Natural wonders : Mount Tai is a tilted fault-block mountain with height increasing from the north to the south. It is the oldest example of a paleo-metamorphic formation from the Cambrian Period in eastern China. Known as the Taishan Complex, this formation contains magnetized, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock as well as intrusions of other origins during the Archean Era.



Besides the Jade Emperor Peak, other distinctive rock formations are the Heaven Candle Peak, the Fan Cliff, and the Rear Rock Basin.

Temples : There are 22 temples, 97 ruins, 819 stone tablets, and 1,018 cliff-side and stone inscriptions located on Mount Tai. These include the Azure Cloud Temple dedicated to the daughter of the God of Mount Tai, the goddess Laomu and the Divine Rock Temple which features the Thousand-Buddhas Hall with painted Arhat statues, Dai Miao Temple & Dongyue Temple.



Website : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tai

Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane

Name : The Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane also known as the Hephaisteion or Theseion,

Location : It located at the north-west side of the Agora of Athens, on top of the Agoraios Kolonos hill

Legend : Hephaestus was the patron-god of metal working. Athena Ergane was the patron-goddess of pottery and crafts in general. There were numerous potter shops and metal working factories in the vicinity of the temple, justifying the dedication of the temple to these two deities.

Description : This is the best preserved ancient Greek temple. It is a Doric order peripteral temple. From the 7th century until 1834, it served as the Greek Orthodox church of St. George Akamates.

Construction : After the battle of Plataea, the Greeks swore never to rebuild their sanctuaries, destroyed by the Persians during their invasion of Greece, but to leave them in ruins, as a perpetual reminder of barbarian ferocity. The Athenians directed their funds towards rebuilding their economy and strengthening their influence in the Delian League. When Pericles came to power, he envisioned a grand plan for transforming Athens into the centre of Greek power and culture. The temple of Hephaestus in the Agora was meant to embody the richest evidence of Athenian tradition, conservatively in the Doric order and the full complement of carved metopes that had long been Athens’ pride on its conspicuous Treasury at Delphi.

Construction started in 449 BC, but the temple was not completed until 415 BC, presumably because emphasis shifted towards the monumental construction on the Acropolis, with funds and workers being redirected towards the Parthenon. The temple was officially inaugurated in 416-415 BC

The architect was one of the ones who helped on the Parthenon, Ictinus. The material used is Pentelic marble with the exception of the lowest step of the crepidoma which is from limestone and the decorative sculptures for which the more expensive Parian marble was chosen.

The building has a pronaos, a main room housing the cult images of the deities, namely a cella, and an opisthodomos. The alignment of the antae of the pronaos with the third flank columns of the peristyle is a unique feature of temple building at the middle of the 5th century BCE.

In the 3rd century BCE trees and shrubs (pomegranates, myrtle and laurel) were planted around the temple, creating a small garden.

In the 7th century CE, the temple was turned into a Christian church, dedicated to Saint George, and under this capacity it was used as a burial place for non-Orthodox Europeans.

Website : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Hephaestus

Phnom Chngouk Temple

Name : Phnom Chngouk Temple

Location : Tropeang Pring, Cambodia

Description : Just eight kilometres east of quiet Kampot town lies Phnom Chngouk, one of Kampot's oldest known cave temples.

The winding dirt road to the temple snakes past scenic views of the Cambodian countryside, lush with rice paddies, small farms and dramatic limestone formations, covered in dense vegetation.

There is brick temple within the cave that dates back to 7th century during the Funan period. It has over the course of millions of year, grown into an almost prefect linga.

Phnom Chngouk itself is a hulking limestone karst, which contains many hidden chambers, rocky outcrops and stalactites, formed by calcium carbonate deposits in water. The largest cave contains an ancient red brick Hindu temple resting under a massive rock formation resembling an eagle.

Now the temple is tended to by the elderly Loak Ta Neak Sohl, or "Grandfather White Dragon". He came to this area 12 years ago to devote himself to the Buddhist dharma and meditate. At that time not many people knew about this temple; there were no steps up to the cavern, only forest and rocks. With his encouragement, the villagers pooled their money to build stone steps up to the temple.

The slight, wiry patriarch explained that many electronic devices such as cell phones and watches cease to work in the cave, and that even airplanes and helicopters never fly over the site, as it interferes with their controls.

Next to the main chamber is a passageway that leads to the interior of the cave. The path is slippery and dark, and littered with large boulders, a stalactite resembling the head of a cow, and a cool, subterranean pond filled with tiny black fish.

The journey through the cave and out to the rice fields below and behind the mountain is easily negotiated by the young boys who hop effortlessly through the obstacles with only a flashlight. But it is not an easy trip for first-time visitors.

Tourists don't often explore this cavern, as they are too scared. Only visitors under 80 or 90 kilogrammes are advised to go here as some of the passageways are too tight for larger visitors.

Website : http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009061826534/Life-Style/Kampot-s-cave-temples-make-for-a-magical-trip.html

Wat Kirisan

Name : Wat Kirisan

Location : located in Kampong Trach, 29 kilometres from Kep, Cambodia

Description : Wat Kirisan is a modern temple built at the base of a large karst formation with numerous caves and passages on the inside. The main pagoda is located outside the karst, and from there you can take an underground passage to go to the shrines and caves on the inside. There is also a large reclining Buddha inside the karst formation too. The cave network is explorable with a proper light source, but a guide is recommended for serious exploration..

Armed with a flashlight, the guide leads visitors down the temple steps and under the mountain into a channel carved out by a now-defunct river.

"During the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge used the soil in this cave for the rice paddies nearby because it was full of minerals," he said. "Later, Vietnamese soldiers hid in the caves, but the Khmer Rouge found them and killed them. Some Vietnamese officials returned to collect the bones, but many of their bones still remain in hidden recesses."

Around the perimeter of the rock walls are grottoes, carved by ancient streams, which contain multiple Buddhist and animist shrines. Some of the grottoes lead to vast underground caverns with lunar-like landscapes and echo with the eerie sound of water softly dripping into the underground pools. People come here to pray to the forest spirit for health, wealth and better life.

Website : http://www.geckogo.com/Attraction/Cambodia/Kampong-Trach/Wat-Kirisan/

Kottaimalai Sri Venugopala Swamy Temple

Name : Kottai Malai (Padavedu)

Location : Padavedu is centrally located among Vellore, Thiruvannamalai and Arani in the Vellore – Polur route. While going from Vellore, there is a junction called Santhavasal at 32 km from Vellore town and from this junction you have to turn right and travel further for about 6 kms to reach Padavedu.

Description : The temple for Lord Venu Gopala Swamy is located on the top of Raja Kambeera Mountain popularly known as Kottaimalai. The temple opens only on Saturdays from 9AM to 4PM.

The only route available to this temple is a ghat road running through thick and beautiful forest. A breath taking journey to this temple can be performed sitting on a huge Tractor specially built to take the pilgrims and the materials to the temple. However the tractor takes us only to the foot of the hill. Rest of the journey is to be covered by walk for about an hour. En route we have to pass through few wooden bridges constructed around the hill. It is an engineering marvel.



All our pains vanish once we reach the sanctum where beautiful flute playing Lord VenuGopala Swamy is in a standing posture along with his consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama. The idols of this temple are known for their artistic beauty.

All the dwajasthambams seen so far are of either wood or metal and not made of stone. Here is a beautifully carved out stone dwajasthambam with the lightning arrestor at the top.


There are two water streams (sunai) on either side of the temple and water from one of them (right side photo) is very clean and is being used for drinking and abhisheham.

A temple not to be missed since this has something for all types/ ages of people - as a spiritual place and as a pleasure spot - so near Chennai.

Festivals : During a Purattasi Saturday, sun rays falls on the foot of the deity and raises to head during the early morning hours. Some say that this happens on the third Saturday and some say that no one knows on which Saturday of the month, this will happen. There will be 100s of people staying overnight to witness the event and the place wears a festive look with good lightings. Lot of Annandhanams by many people take place on the mountain top and along the way. The temple will be open for the entire overnight and the Abhishehams will be completed before 5:30 AM itself on that day.

Website : http://shanthiraju.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/kottamalai/

Uyyakondan Malai

Name : Uyyakondan Malai (Uchi Nathar Temple)

Location : TiruKarkudi. Located at 5 Kms west of Trichy atop a small hill, now known as Uyyakondan Malai.

Deity : Lord Shiva known as Uchi Nathar, Ujjeevaneswarar and Thayaar (Female deity) known as Anjanakshi, Balambikai, Neelnedunkanni

Legend : Mrikandu Maharishi did penance on Lord Shiva for getting children. Lord Siva asked him whether he needed 100 useless children who may live for 100 years or one intelligent, righteous son who would live only for a short period of 16 years of age. Mrikandu preferred to have one righteous son who may have a short life span of 16 years. The child thus born was named Markandeya who also came to know about this dealine and then he took shelter in Lord Shiva. Markandeya, who was an ardent Siva devotee from his childhood, visited many temples of Lord Shiva and prayed to him for longer life. It is in this sivasthalam at Karkudi, Lord Shiva pleased with Markandeya's true devotion and worship, appeared in front of him when he visited this temple and gave him a boon that Markandeya will be a Chiranjeevi and will live forever thereby nullifying the deadline of 16 years of life.

Description : This Sivasthalam is situated on the top of a rock hill of 30 feet height. 64 steps cut in the rock takes one to the top of the hill. The temple has 5 prakarams with high compund walls on the 4 sides. Stone inscriptions found in the temple give details of patronage and renovation work undertaken by the Pallava King Nadivarma Pallavan and hence Karkudi is also referred as Nandivarama Mangalam.

It is interesting to note that Lord Shiva's shrine is atop the hill and that of His Son Lord Muruga's shrine is situated at the bottom of the hill. Usually the temples for Lord Muruga will be found on the top of a hill and here, in this Sivasthalam, the shrine for His Father is atop the hill.

Website : http://www.shivatemples.com/sofc/sc004.html