Famous Hindu Temples and Structures around the world.

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Sri Murugan Temple, Batu Caves, Penang, Malaysia

Batu cave is one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia.Batu Caves was promoted as a place of worship by K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader. He was inspired by the 'vel'-shaped entrance of the main cave and was inspired to dedicate a temple to Lord Muruga within the caves.
In 1891, Pillai, who also founded the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Subramania Swamy in what is today known as the Temple Cave. Since 1892, the Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai (which falls in late January/early February) has been celebrated there. Wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in 1920 and have since been replaced by 272 concrete steps. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its 100 m vaulted ceiling.

Link to the website : Thai Pusam at Batu Caves, Malaysia

 

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Arulmigu Sri Raja Kaliamman Temple, Johor Baru, Malaysia (Glass Temple)

Arulmigu Sri RajaKaliamman Temple is one of the oldest temples located in the State of Johor, Malaysia. It has been in existence since 1922 on a piece of land bequeath to the Indians in Johore Bahru by the generosity of the Sultan of Johore. The temple's growth was restricted and limited to the size of a small hut in the early years but over the years it has turn out to be one of the biggest temples in Johor Bahru.

Glass work will be the most special thing to say about the temple. The artwork looks creative and neat on each part of the temple. Each pattern and design is mostly my own and the Myanmar artisan brothers have put it together beautifully.

More than 300,000 beads of Rudraksha are pasted onto the walls in the Shiva sanctum in the Temple.

 

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Akshardham Temple, Delhi

 

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Akshardham Mandir

 

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entrance.
Angkor Wat, renowned Hindu temple complex at Ângkôr, the region that served from 802 until 1295 as the capital of the Khmer Empire of Cambodia, now a destination for Buddhist pilgrims. Built for King Suryavarman II in the 12th century, Angkor Wat is the most famous temple in Cambodia and is probably the largest religious monument ever constructed.

the complex.
The complex, built of both sandstone and laterite (a dense, porous, iron-bearing soil that can be quarried like stone), forms a rectangle of about 850 m by 1000 m (2800 by 3800 ft). It was constructed to serve both as a sepulchre for Suryavarman II, whose regime had adopted some aspects of Hinduism, and as a celebration of his status as an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

as seen across a pond , (now dry with grass growing)
As a sepulchre the temple was built facing west (the direction taken by the dead in going to their next life, in Hindu belief), rather than facing east, which was traditional for Hindu temples. Taking more than 30 years to build, the layout of the complex was conceived as an architectural allegory of the Hindu cosmology (world concept). At the center of the complex stands a temple with five lotus-shaped towers, a larger central tower, and four smaller surrounding towers.

These represent the five peaks of Mount Meru—according to Hindu belief, the mountain where the gods reside and from which all creation comes. The central tower enclosure is surrounded by three square, terraced enclosures that rise toward the central towers.

The series of terraces symbolizes the mountain ranges that in Hindu cosmology surround the habitable world. The entire complex is surrounded by a moat over 5 km in length, representing the primordial ocean, over which extends an elaborate 475-m causeway, leading to the main of four gateways into the temple complex.

The causeway was decorated on each side with carvings depicting the divine serpents, known as nagas.

Angkor Wat is famous for having the longest running bas-relief in the world. Beautifully crafted, many of the carvings were once painted and gilded. They decorate the 2-m high, galleried walls having roofed walkways that run along the inside of the protective moat, just outside of the temple complex itself.

 

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The reliefs depict historical episodes in the life of King Suryavarman II; scenes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; the exploits of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu with celestial nymphs known as apsarases; and scenes from the daily life of the Khmer people at the time the complex was built.

Some of Angkor Wat's bas-reliefs suffered damage at the height of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia� -� Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Angkor Wat temple is the largest Hindu temple in the world.

 

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Garden in Akshardham Mandir / अक्षरधाम मंदिर का बाग़

 

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Ancient Shiva Hindu Temple reopened in Cambodia
04 Temmuz, 2011 | 11:40

Hindus welcome re-opening of Cambodia's ancient Shiva Hindu temple after 50 years renovation.

Hindus have applauded re-opening of renowned 11th-Century Baphoun Shiva temple in Angkor Thom complex of Cambodia after decades of reconstruction work.

Hindu Temple : World's largest puzzle

Described as world's largest puzzle, renovation work which began in 1960s but was interrupted by Cambodia's civil war, involved dismantling monument's about 300,000 sandstone blocks and putting those back together. This great three-tiered intricately carved ancient temple, one of the largest monument of Cambodia, was said to be on the brink of collapse when reconstruction was undertaken and later on reassembling records got destroyed. The re-opening on July three was attended by Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in Siem Reap province, about 143 miles northwest of capital Phnom Penh. France funded this $14 million undertaking, in which no mortar fills the cracks and thus each stone has its own place in the monument and no two blocks are said to be same in dimensions.

Welcoming this historical reopening, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that more needed to be done to safeguard the Angkor temple complex and its surroundings and deteriorating bas-reliefs; save it from vandalism and looting; put some controls on unchecked tourism; check the demand for water table which could undermine the stability of sandy soils under the temples.

Rajan Zed organizes renovation working .

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Cambodia and other world governments to provide more funding for the upkeep of the temple complex and spend more than half the ticket revenue on the temples. Zed commended France and China for bankrolling the restoration of historic Hindu temples.

Baphoun, said to be the state temple of Udayadityavarman II, reportedly contains Shiva linga; scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata; depiction of Krishna, Shiva, Hanuman, Sita, Vishnu, Rama, Agni, Ravana, Indrajit, Nila-Sugriva, Asoka trees, Lakshmana, Garuda, Pushpaka, Arjuna, etc.

Angkor Archaeological Park contains magnificent remains of over 1000 temples going back to ninth century, spread over about 400 square kilometers, and receives about three million visitors annually.

Ancient Shiva Hindu Temple reopened in Cambodia

 

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Pashupatinath Temple, Nepal (Lord Shiva)

 

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Prambanan located at Jl. Raya Yogya-Solo Km.16 Prambanan, Yogyakarta,Indonesia.

Prambanan, named after the village, is the biggest temple complex in Java. There are 224 temples in the complex; three towering temples on the central terrace dominate the complex. Those are Brahma Temple in the North, Visnu Temple in the South and the biggest among the three which lies between Brahma and Visnu is Siwa(Shiva) Temple which soars up to 47 meters high.

 

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Ranakpur, a Jain Temple.

 

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Ambaji Temple , Gujarat .

Dwarka Jagat Mindir , Gujarat .

Nageshwar Jyotirlinga Temple - Dwarka , Gujarat .

 

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Modhera-Sun Temple , Gujarat .

 

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Shiva – Vishnu Temple of Melbourne , Melbourne

 

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Vrindavan, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India

A Night View of Vrindavan , UP , India .

 

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Meenakshi Amman Temple

 

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Meenakshi Amman temple :

Aerial view :

 

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Who are the kings ?

Im taking a wild guess that the second one is Shivaji.

 

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Sri Rameswaram Ramanathaswamy temple :

Frontal view :

The famous Aayirangal mandapam (thousand pillared hallway)