The Shankaracharya Sanctuary

Srinagar is - the summer capital of Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the centre of the Kashmir valley on the banks of the Jhelum River. Geographically, it is located 33°59'14″N to 34°12'37″N and 74°41'06″E to 74°57'27″E. Srinagar is the most urbanized city in the state. With 98.60% urban population (Census 2011) it is also the most urbanized district of J&K. It is one of the major tourist destinations in India with more than one million tourists visit the city every year and the number of tourists has been on the rise. Srinagar urban agglomeration has a total population of 12.73 lakhs with total city population of around 11.92 lakhs and is spread over an area of 294 sq. km (Census

29. Which Muslim ruler oversaw the construction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem?

Once inside the prayer hall, the imam explained to me that in a mosque there

Sholinghur Sri Yoga Narasimha swami temple and Sri Yoga Anjaneyar temple, located in Sholinghur, a town which is about 30 km from Arakkonam of Vellore District. Sri yoga Anjaneyar temple located over small hill containing 480 steps from ground. Lord Anjaneyar with Sathurpujam (sathur=four, pujam=arms) Sri Sangu and Sri Chakaram 2 hands and Jabba Malai and Jaba Shankaram in other two respectively facing Sri yoga Narasimha swami and Yoga Amurthavalli Thayar present over hill (periya malai= big hill) with 1305 steps from ground. Sholinghur shetram one among 108 divya desams also one of most famous temple of our Lord Anjaneya.

The remains of the fort have been recognized by the Archaeological Survey of India as a national monument.

At its peak, the "Black Pagoda" - as Europeans sailors used to call it - played a significant role in Indian history, inspiring many myths and legends thereafter. Today, the 700-year-old relic is nationally regarded as one of the seven wonders of India, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is currently maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.

The mountain is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran” (Hobbs, “Mount Sinai”). Mount Sinai is 7,497 feet tall, and is located next to Mount Catherine. The oldest known Christian monastery in the world lies at the bottom of the mountain, the name of it is “Saint Catherine’s Monastery”. The peak of the mountain is home to a mosque, which is a place where Muslims gather to worship. It is also home to a greek orthodox chapel, built in 1934, but not open to the public. There is not yet a jewish structure located on the mountain. There are two trails that lead up to the top of this mountain. The first trail is the easier and smoother way and it is named Siket El Basha. The second trail is the rougher, but shorter way and it is named Siket Sayidna Musa. Either trail takes around 2.5 hours to reach the top. They actually have camels that visitors can pay to ride if they become tired on their way to the

Villa Tugendhat, was a big part of the modern movement and still is a huge monument to the world today,

Satguru Veylanswami (2012) clarifies further that Hindu temples, such as the Shri Ganesha Temple, serve as a sacred relic, where ‘the inner and outer worlds [of the Hindu faith] commune together’; hence, enabling Australian Hindus to ‘experience Divinity’. Avula Parthasarathy (2001) confirms this, explaining that the Hindu temple emulates an ‘evolving’ personal path, to achieve the psychological notion of satchitanada, or ‘Self-realisation’ (Pandit, 2005). As self-realisation is parallel with god-realisation, practicing polytheistic beliefs within a temple rectifies the transcendence of the satchitanada into the immanent world (Pandit, 2005). In contrast to its spiritual significance, there is a cultural and communal relevance of sacred temples, as the gurus within, “provide food and organise religious festivals” (Kaur, 2015), as well as conduct “simple daily rituals” (Sivan, 2015). This significance aligns with Nigel Foote’s claim (2011), that Australian Hindus utilise temples ‘to keep up with [their] religion” or succeed the Hindu culture to their children, so that they are thoroughly educated about traditional polytheistic beliefs. This conforms to the perception that contemporary Hindu temples are referred to as ‘cultural centres’ (Kumar, 2013), as opposed to a solely sacred ground of religious and spiritual worship, as introduced by Parthasarathy (2001). Consequently, contemporary Hindu temples currently focus on both the ‘social, cultural and moral dimensions’ (Jupp,

The Great Stupa of Sanchi is located in Sanchi, which lies in central India. The Great Stupa follows the same basic structure blueprinted for all stupas. What makes this one so unique is that it stands fifty feet high and has two different levels that are designed to be circumambulated. There are four gates that the Buddhists enter

The etherial ambiance of the Vermont Gurudwara is really welcoming. The white tomb is a distinct part of the signature architecture that sets all gurudwaras apart from the other buildings around it. The temple represents the interests of the Sikh community. People visit the gurudwara to pray to the holy book of the sikhs called Gurugranth Sahib. Located at, 1966 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, the sikh temple of Vermont not only caters to the religious needs of the Sikh people but also serves as a counseling hub where people seek advice on legal issues like immigration and visa issues. The prayers offered at the gurudwara make the sikhs feel united as a community and helps them feel connected to their Waheguru (The Almighty). Followed by the prayer is the Langar, a term that is used to describe the community service to serve free food by the sikhs. No matter which religion a person belongs to, he can savor the food served at the Gurudwara for no charge.

Behind the main temple was another small courtyard was two smaller buildings for worship to the left and the right of the courtyard. Another large building was to the back which looked fairly newly built. It seemed to be a place of serving food that contained no meat but some sort of meat substitute that was not artificially made from what the servers were telling me. Then to the right of that building was a small warehouse that looked to house desks and whiteboards for the weekly Vietnamese classes that are being held there. Outside of the warehouse was a basketball goal for the students that would come for Sunday school, and a small parking lot for more visitors.

The travel website, Taj Mahal, illustrates the origins of this monument. It was constructed to serve as a memorial and tomb for Mumtaz Mahal, the deceased wife of the emperor Shah Jahan (Taj Mahal, 2008). Before her death, while birthing Shah Jahan’s fourteenth child, she requested Jahan build a monument to honor her as stated by the Taj Mahal website (Taj Mahal, 2008). In 1631, construction began, and was finally completed twenty-two years later (Taj Mahal, 2008). Twenty-two thousand workers labored in constructing the monument bringing materials by elephant from many parts of Asia

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.

Jajmau is also known as Siddhapuri as it has the temples of Siddhnath and Siddha Devi. It is being mentioned several times in puranas and kands. This place is believed to be the fort of king ‘Yayati’ who was a famous Hindu king.