Madhyamaheshwar Temple

Name : Madhyamaheshwar Temple

Location : Situated in Rudraprayag, the Madmaheshwar Temple is one of the Five Kedar Temples.

Deity : Lord Shiva is enshrined in Madhyamaheshwar Temple.

Legend : There is a legendary connection of this place to the birth of Lord Shiva, According to mythical source the stomach of Lord Shiva emerged from here. So devotees throng the temple premise during Shiva Ratri and other festivals related to Lord Shiva.

Description : Natural calamities and foreign invasions have contributed in the slow destruction of temples, but by conjoint effort of the inhabitants and Government these temples were slowly recovered and reconstructed. One such is the Madmaheshwar Temple.

The unique North Indian architecture is noticeable in the construction of this temple focusing on the legendary issues and stories of Kings and warriors. The glorious temple is surrounded by natural vegetation of unparalleled scenic elegance. This sanctified place reflects the spirit of religiosity in India, speaking much of its endless panoramic pilgrim spots and heritage points.

If you want to implore the spiritual vista of India and indulge in sacramental acts, no other place would be more suitable. For a pilgrim as well as a common man, Madmaheshwar Temple is an apt place.

Xochicalco

Name : Xochicalco. The name "Xochicalco" means "in the house of Flowers" in the Nahuatl language.
Location : In the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The site is located 38 km southwest of Cuernavaca, about 76 miles by road from Mexico City.

The site is open to visitors all week, from 10am to 5pm, although access to the observatory is only allowed after noon. The apogee of Xochicalco came after the fall of Teotihuacan and it has been speculated that Xochicalco played a part in the fall of the Teotihuacano empire.

The architecture and iconography shows affinities with Teotihuacan, the Maya area, and the Matlatzinca culture of the Toluca Valley. Today some residents of the villages closest to the ruins of Xochicalco such as Cuentepec and Tetlama in eastern Morelos speak Nahuatl.

The main ceremonial center is atop an artificially leveled hill, with remains of residential structures, mostly unexcavated, on long terraces covering the slopes.

The site was occupied by 200 BC, with the most notable architecture built between about 700 and 1000 AD. At its peak, the city may have had a population of up to 20,000 people.

Of special interest are sculptured reliefs on the sides of some buildings. The Temple of the Feathered Serpent has fine stylized depictions of that deity in a style which includes apparent influences of Teotihuacan and Maya art. It has been speculated that Xochicalco may have had a community of artists from other parts of Mesoamerica.

Other monuments at the site include several other step-pyramid temples, palaces, three ballcourts, sweat-baths, an unusual row of circular altars, and a cave with steps carved down into it. The site also has some free-standing sculptured stelae; others were removed from their original location and are now on display in the INAH museum in Mexico City and at the site museum.

Xochicalco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a tourist destination.

Another Unexcavated new Temple :

A Prehispanic roadway that leads to a temple built atop Coatzin Hill, in Xochicalco is being explored by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The study of the nearly 240 meters-long ceremonial road broadens the research area of the site located in the Mexican state of Morelos.



Labors began clearing the way in July 2010, thanks to the 1 million MXP inversion provided by the Temporary Employment Program (PET) developed by INAH and the Social Development Secretariat (SEDESOL). The ancient paved roadway that leads to the top of La Bodega or Coatzin Hill, to the east of the monumental Prehispanic city of Xochicalco was cleaned from weed. An unexcavated temple is found there, with features similar to those of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid.

Other contribution to the study of this peripheral area, as said by the archaeologist, is that “we have more elements to affirm the hypotheses of Quetzalcoatl being the most important deity of the site; some specialists affirm it was Tlaloc and other that it was Quetzalcoatl”.

The temple yet to be excavated was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl is the highest and it is located at 1,325 meters above the sea level; it had a panoramic view of the site and was a protective space as well, having walls and moats that guarded it, he detailed.

Other element of the non-excavated construction that supports the hypothesis of Xochicalco being dedicated to Quetzalcoatl is the east-west orientation of the roadway and the temple atop.

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=41110

Cholula

Name : Cholula

Location : Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

Deity : Quetzalcoatl

It is the world's largest monument and largest Pre-Columbian pyramid by volume.

The temple-pyramid complex was built over many dozens of generations, from the 2nd century BC to the early 16th century, and was dedicated to the deity Quetzalcoatl. It has a base of 450 by 450 m (1476x1476 ft) and a height of 66 m (217 ft). According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is in fact the largest pyramid as well as the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, with a total volume estimated at 4.45 million m, almost one third larger than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The Aztecs believed that Xelhua built the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

Today the pyramid at first appears to be a natural hill surmounted by a church. This is the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies), also known as the Santuario de la Virgen de los Remedios (Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Remedies), which was built by the Spanish in colonial times (1594) on the site of a pre-Hispanic temple. The church is a major Catholic pilgrimage destination, and the site is also used for the celebration of indigenous rites. Many ancient sites in Latin America are found under modern Catholic holy sites, due to the practice of the Catholic Church repurposing local religious sites.

Because of the historic and religious significance of the church, which is a designated colonial monument, the pyramid as a whole has not been excavated and restored, as have the smaller but better-known pyramids at Teotihuacan. Inside the pyramid are some five miles (8 km) of tunnels excavated by archaeologists.

Lingaparvata

Name : Lingaparvata

Location : Laos

Legend :
It is considered the Natural Linga of the World.

Long before King Divanika erected his stele in 456CE proclaiming Kuruksetra to be a holy place (tirtha) tribal people had gathered in the shadows of Lingaparvata looking in awe upon its lofty pinnacle reaching into the sky. But before Lingaparvata ever became known as Linga Mountain in praise of Lord Shiva this natural outcropping reaching 4645 feet into the sky was held in the minds of all indigenous people of the area as a great earth spirit where fire rituals and human sacrifices were a common practice.

Likewise in ancient India the greatest stories of mountains and gods were repeated orally for countless millennia until finally they were put in verse and the Book of Manu, Upanishads, Puranas, Rig Veda, Mahabharata, Ramayana and many more were all recorded for posterity. Today when we read these stories they seem like impossible accounts of how the gods of long ago traveled freely between earth's mountain tops and the heavens. And in a wholly desacralized cosmos where societies and nations have become predominantly secularized in their approach to existence, these ancient stories of gods and mountains are looked upon as fanciful myths without having any relationship to events taking place in the 21st century.

The gods of olden times have passed down to our civilizations of today their myths and legends by which to base our moral judgments and heroic deeds upon. If council and an audience with the gods were to be had it most likely would have taken place on a mountain top. These mountain abodes of the gods are well known and today they still hold special significance for cultures all around the world. In India and Tibet there are two mountains that are so revered for their acting as the home to Lord Shiva that sacred ceremonies are still conducted in their presence. One of the most sacred mountains in the world is Mt Kailash in Tibet and in southern India it is the sacred hill of Arunachela. Arunachela is regarded as a manifestation of Shiva himself and Mt Kailash is Shiva's actual abode.

In Laos, Lingaparvata became a focal point for austerities to Shiva in the fifth century under the vocable of Bhadresvara, the god of the Chams at My Hon-Son on the Champa (Vietnam) coast. The city of Kuruksetra and then later called Sreshthapura was the holiest ancient city for kings to make pilgrimage (tirtha yatra). In fact a 250 mile royal road runs from Angkor Wat directly to Vat Phu indicating there was a direct link to Vat Phu from the new Ankorean center.

From a distance Lingaparvata appears as a linga or even a small temple set on the summit where rituals to the gods would be performed. There is a Chinese document from the Sui dynasty (589-616CE) that mentions a temple on the summit of a mountain named Ling-kia-po-p'o, which is guarded by a thousand soldiers and consecrated to a spirit named Po-to-li. It was Georges Coedes, the famous French epigraphists, who transliterated Ling-po-p'o into Lingaparvata.

This was Shiva's pillar of fire that endlessly went into the heavens and endlessly passed down through the earth. Here was the penultimate axis of the world and once the Brahmins from India saw this outcropping they could do none other than name this mountain Lingaparvata. This one linga would be impossible to move, and would provide the devotee with a substantive feeling of awe simply by recognizing the latent power of this mountain made it possible to communicate with the gods. It was on this mountain that the priests had developed the Cakravartin cosmology that in 400 years would establish the consecration of the Khmer Empire where Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma would be the gods that would establish divine kingship for another 500 years.

If Mt Kailash in Tibet is considered the home of Shiva and Arunachela is considered an actual manifestation of Shiva then I would offer that Lingaparvata could be thought of as the temple of Shiva whereby divine communication with all the gods would take place. My justification for making such a statement and associating Lingaparvata with a temple gateway to meet the gods is by recognizing that the Khmer Empire got its spiritual guidance from the environs of Kuruksetra. The combination of Vat Phu, Lingaparvata, the sacred spring and King Jayavarman IIs inscription at Vat Oubmong indicate an auspicious focal point that merits calling Lingaparvata a temple gate way to the gods. It was in 802CE that King Jayavarman II consecrated the Khmer Empire and he became the "Cakravatin" and established the union between god and king and the beginning of the "Devaraja" cult worship.

Such auspicious and sanctified acts I believe originated at Lingaparvata (Shiva's holy temple to speak to the gods). Coincidentally on the same night of Shivaratri when Shiva married Parvati is also the same night Shiva swallowed the poison brought forth from the churning of the milky ocean and thus saved the world. Shiva stabilized the earth on this night as a result of his communicating with the gods who asked him to save the world. Consequently we can also think of the holy mountain of Lingaparvata as the symbolic representation of Shiva saving the world from oblivion. The world axis (Skamba) held the universe in place and Lingaparvata acted like Mt Mandara; the mythical mountain used to churn the heavens and save the earth so it would not fall into the nether world.

More information about Trekking adventures to LingaParvata is found on the website below :
http://www.earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/lingaparvata.html

Prasat Preah Vihear

Name : Prasat Preah Vihear

Location : It is a Khmer temple situated atop a 525-meter cliff in Dângrêk ranges, Cambodia, just across the border from Thailand.

Affording a view for many kilometres across a plain, it has the most spectacular setting of all the temples built during the six-century-long Khmer Empire. As a key edifice of the Empire's spiritual life, it was supported and modified by successive kings and so bears elements of several architectural styles.

Special : Preah Vihear is unusual among Khmer temples in being constructed along a long north-south axis, rather than having the conventional rectangular plan with orientation toward the East.

The temple gives its name to Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, in which it is located. The Sacred Site of the Temple of Preah Vihear was built in the 9th -12th centuries by successive Khmer kings.

Construction of the first temple on the site began in the early 9th century; it was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in his manifestations as the mountain gods Sikharesvara and Bhadresvara. The earliest surviving parts of the temple, however, date from the Koh Ker period in the early 10th century, when the empire's capital was at the city of that name. Today, elements of the Bantey Srei style of the late 10th century can be seen, but most of the temple was constructed during the reigns of the kings Suryavarman I (1002–1050) and Suryvarman II (1113–1150). An inscription found at the temple provides a detailed account of Suryavarman II studying sacred rituals, celebrating religious festivals and making gifts, including white parasols, golden bowls and elephants, to his spiritual advisor, the aged Brahman Divakarapandita.

The Brahman himself took an interest in the temple, according to the inscription, gifting it with a golden statue of a dancing Shiva. The construction of Preah Vihear went on continuously from the 9th to the 12th century. The first construction of Preah Vihear is credited Yasovarman I, who reigned from 889 to 910, but ''a son of Jayavarman II (who reigned from 802 to 850) may have founded Preah Vihear even earlier when he took a fragment of rock from the Lingaparvata Mountain of Wat Phu in Laos to the site of Preah Vihear '' (ROVEDA, 2000:10). (Wat Phu = Vat Phou).

No inscriptions inform about the year of construction. The first stone-construction was probably done in the last part of the 9th century, but the north-south orientated layout of the temple could well have been in use in older structures made by lighter materials.

Religion: Saivite (Bhadresvara version) Preah Vihear was a Hindu temple dedicated Shiva in his aspect of Shikharesvara (Lord of the Summit) and a Bhadresvara linga was installed in the main shrine. Prasat Banteay Srey, Prasat Sek Ta Tuy, Prasat Trapang Khyang from the 10th century were all dedicated to the linga Tribhuvanamahesvara, which is the name of the god of Lingapura

Prasat Premea Chuung Prei

Name : Prasat Premea Chuung Prei

Location : Baray district in Kompong Thom, Cambodia

Prasat Thnot Chun consists of a brick prasat and a large upturned lintel in the Pre Rup style and can be found in the Baray district in Kompong Thom, some 10kms southeast from Santuk, off Route 6. Some 20kms before Kompong Cham on National Route 7 and another 20kms north lies Vat Tuk in the village of Tuk Chha. There are two temples; one at the foot of the hill consisting of three structures and a laterite wall; at the top of the hill are a brick tower, broken gopuras, damaged lions statues and an enclosure.

Pictures courtesy : http://www.btinternet.com/%7Eandy.brouwer/other.htm