Personal Narrative: My Visit To Rock Valley College

One of the most striking was my grandfather’s temple in the small town of Mahoba where my father grew up. I spent a great deal of my childhood here, thus the pastel pink walls, intricate flower designs, and open layout immediately sparked flashbacks. I remembered the lenghas, traditional dresses, I would pick out to wear even though they were much more formal than the usual attire. I remembered waiting until no one was looking to sneak over to where everyone removed their shoes to try on my mom’s high heeled sandals. I remembered seeing my Dada, grandfather, leading the poojas, religious services, and feeling proud seeing how respected and genuine he was.

The temples are all so symbolic, which helps us understand their cosmology and religious ideologies (Freeman & Jacques 47). It has also been recorded that the temple contained a statue of Vishnu, but at some point, temples were converted to Theravada Buddhist worship. Suryavarman however, chose Hindu sources as the subject matter- Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, were specifically carved on the two panels. Meanwhile, the Heavens and Hells were carved on the W and E parts of the S gallery (Freeman & Jacques 54). Other temples such as Chao Say Tevoda was built during Suryavarman as well, but recently, Chinese began to restore it. In some ways, this symbolically represents the profound effect Suryavarman and his creation of temples had on the religion and ideology in the Eastern world, and the future between Cambodia and China. As a result of Suryavarman’s dedication to create reflections of gods and religion, it is inferred that religion and society were intimately linked throughout the Angkorian period.

: The structures that make up the Temple of Heaven are meant to signify the relationship between heaven and earth, more importantly the connection between the emperors and God. The through in It was believed that offerings made by the emperor to the Gods, would bring a flourishing harvests, as he was believed to be the closest being to god. The structure itself was built so majestically to represent it descending into heaven. The main ceremonies that were held within the hall were all on the basis of worshipping heaven and so it was believed by doing so, it would be seen as favorable to the gods, enough to be blessed with an abundance supply of harvests such as grain. The ceremonial interior of the hall was built in such a way as to emphasize

One common feature of all places of worship is “verticality” (Greenbaum, S., 2009). One can notice that the temple is very tall for a one-storey building, and the windows are narrow and tall as well. The purpose of this is to add to the aesthetic appeal and allows the building to be distinguished from the ones surrounding it (Greenbaum, S., 2009). All aspects of a building are taken into account when constructing it. All new development, renovations and so on are for the purpose to enhance the welcoming feeling, and not take away from the character or significance of the setting (Heritage Victoria 2010). On the outside, the building is made of stone symbolizing strength, power and religion (Gray, J., 2015). It also does not get damaged easily, so this makes it useful to places of worship because it prevents damage to the building (which is extensively used), adds an artistic feature and provides

The temple is commonly known as “Temple of the Golden Pavilion” because of the pavilion’s striking top floors. Kinkaku-ji is made up of three floors. All of them structured differently. The building is called the Golden Pavilion because the two top stories are covered in golf leaf. The gold is not the only imposing detail. In front of the temple there is an impressive large pond that reflects Kinkaku-ji. Due to the

Decorative elements through out the towers and galleries present their own characteristics and fulfill specific needs within the temple. The towers are formed into the shape of the ever-popular lotus buds, and the galleries are used to expand the many passageways of the temple. Also, the axial galleries within the temple are used to connect several enclosures. Characteristic decorative components of Angkor Wat include narrative and historical bas-reliefs, pediments, and devatas. The bas-reliefs located in the gallery of Angkor Wat holds a special signification for Angkor Wat. The gallery displays heaven and the underworld in which garudas and lions are holding the celestial palaces. These gerudas indicate that the palaces were floating in heaven, comparing Angkor Wat to the palaces of the Gods. This display furthers the idea that Angkor Wat acts as a liason between the world of Heaven and Earth. Because the palace physically remains on earth but spiritually resides within heaven, the palace acts as communal place for believers to gather.

Additionally, it also has what looks like a three story building with the top story that has some sort of a balcony around it. Another thing is that in the interior of the temple contains is the “main worship statue in the Golden Statue is Shakyamuni and there is also a Shaka triad on the left, and a Yakushi triad on the right side” (“Horyuji”). It is one of the many temples created for the prince also it was dedicated to Yakushi Nyori, the Buddha of healing and in honor of the prince’s father. Furthermore, the Golden hall arranges the kondo and pagoda side-by-side in the courtyard.

Inside this central tower, hidden paintings have been discovered that depict things from Khmer musical ensembles to scenes of people riding horses from temple to temple. There have been about 200 paintings discovered that are extremely helpful in describing how the temple was built.

One easily identified feature in the Sikh temple was the way alter was set up with special lights and decoration. I have seen this sort of set up in many Indian movies, and also in Hindu temples. The Hindu temples have pretty much the same style for the temple alter but the only difference is instead of Sikh holy book we have statues of Gods instead. The second identifiable feature was the Kara Parshad given at the end of the service. This is very important part to visitors visiting the Sikh temple as very one waited patiently for their turn to get the kara parshad and in Hindu temple the parshad is also offered at the end of prayers as well. The other identifiable feature was the pictures of

The ornate doors and pillars make me know that this is a different kind of building. It is a place of worship. It may be small, but the doors invite me in to see what other intricacies are housed inside.

Around the inside of the building were candles, incense, and different statues of what I'm sure were a multitude of separate Hindu deities. Of course, being relatively new to the Hindu gods and goddesses, I wasn't able to identify too many, but I did recognize the remover of obstacles, Ganesh—for what I figure is one rather obvious reason. I could only assume other popular divine figures including lord Vishnu and the mother goddess Devi resided with these other statues.

The white Hindu temple stood quietly against the chaos that surrounded it in Agra, India. The marble that made up the building was stunningly clean compared to the streets that were filled with holes and dirt. The car horns and movement of people coming from their jobs that Friday created chaos around the building. The temple was made up of a square base with 4 domes at the top, similar to those of the Taj Mahal, except much smaller. Sculptures of Indian deities and revered images were chiseled all over the exterior of the temple. There were oxes and cows at the bottom of the temple. Farther up the building were the hundreds of Hindu Gods that existed were depicted. Each had at least 4 or 6 arms and were each standing in powerful stances

So much bakthia and commitment has been into the construction of the Temple Arunachala over the centuries. This is similar in dimensionto the history of the developmentof many temples in Tamil Nadu(land) and very much evidence in cultural heritage.

Mamallapuram, also called Mahabalipuram, (Mamalla meaning "great warrior") is a famous town in India that's well-known for its monuments and temple created by the Pallava dynasty during the 7th and 8th century. The five Rathas and the Shore Temple I will be writing about in this essay covers the history and materials that were used to build them. They are also labeled as rock-cut temples that were hallowed out of mountains carved out of hard stone and are more connected to sculptures rather than conventional buildings constructed with blocks of polished stone. They are carved in the “quasi-monolithic temple form.” The Pancha Rathas are aligned in the direction of north to south and share a standard plinth. The five Rathas except the Arjuna Ratha are a collection of five small stone temples accompanied by a life-size statue of a bull, an elephant, and a lion. Four of the Rathas are carved out of a large, single piece of rock. Since each Ratha wasn't finished, they were not able to be used as a worship space. All of the Ratha (monolithic) temples are three stories high with a base floor plan shaped like a square. The shallow recesses of the interior walls of the Rathas have carved images of gods and demi-gods. The first temple I will be talking about is the Draupadi Ratha.

Meaning in sacred architecture or architecture representing the history of religious beliefs can be interpreted on three levels. First, at a deeper level within the composition of the form and the expression of the interpretation at the unconscious level of the mind through [various emotionally evoking themes.GIVE CLEAR EXAMPLE] Second, at a symbolic level. Representation of religious aspects can be expressed either pictorially or symbolically. Certain architectural settings, as it will be discussed through a case study, symbolize a spiritual journey weaving local images, textures and spaces into a narrative. Lastly, architecture can be considered a “built myth” that acts as a stage that accommodates the enactment of the rituals through spatial and architectural elements of the path and place. The various means of forming and entering the architectural spaces, or orientation and the sequence of spaces will be discussed.