A well-known proverb says: "The fish is looking, where is deeper, and the man - where is better". For some strange reason, escaping from a superficial glance, the people of India believe that the best is bound to come, but not now, not this, but in the next life. And then not by itself, but only if you live this life with dignity and right.

Sights of India: Rishikesh

It is a sacred city, which every devoteeHinduism should visit at least once in a lifetime, if, of course, he wants to escape from the wheel of death and birth and plunge into the water of the sacred Ganges. On its streets there are always thousands of pilgrims, tens of times more than local residents. It is incomprehensible how all these people are placed here, where they live and what they eat. In this city you can go the road, which, as everyone deeply believes, can make a person better. Lakshman Jula - Lakshmana Bridge, this is the only one of the main shrines of Rishikesh. About a hundred years ago, this bridge was built by the British. But that's not the point, but that it was here that Rama Lakshmana's brother crossed the sacred river Ganges and meditated for a long time. It was in this place that he pacified his anger, therefore, the Ganges is stormy above the bridge, and below it he smoothly carries his waters to the valley and further into the ocean. Everyone who comes to Rishikesh must necessarily pass through this bridge and pacify his anger. All day pilgrims walk along the narrow streets of the city, here all of India, all tens of peoples inhabiting it. By their clothes and ornaments, one can study the ethnography of this country. English is considered official language here, but ordinary people understand it rarely. In the crowd of pilgrims there is a lot of garden - holy people, ascetics. They are respectfully called a woman, which means "respected". You can meet Hanuman - the legendary leader of the monkey army. To receive his blessing is considered a very good sign. Having met him, you need to take both hands by the lobes of your ears and sit down for a while, depicting the monkey, he will be very pleased and give his blessing. Rishikesh is also famous for its ashrams. Large ashrams about 30, and small and do not count. Ashram is a spiritual school where there is necessarily a teacher and his followers who live with him and listen to the teaching. When meeting with the ashram teacher, you need to touch his foot. Ask the ashram: "What do I live for?". He will reply: "Life is given to achieve bliss, to comprehend the divine mysterious essence. All earthly perishable. It's a shell, one's visibility. " Also, the city of Rishikesh is considered the capital of yoga. It's easy to find a yoga guru here. And to start the day with a yoga lesson is the most right thing that can come to your mind. Yoga in Sanskrit means "unity, unity." This is the meeting of Lord Shiva with the goddess Shakti, male and female energy. The right side of the body is male, and the left part is female. So the yogis of India explain why our right eye is not like the left one, and the left leg is not like the right one. And when the female and male energies meet, they rush to the cosmic primary source of energy. And all the feelings become fuller and brighter after this meeting.

Sights of India: temples

Taj Mahal is a visiting card of India,known throughout the world. With its ideal proportions and snow-white marble sophistication, its fanciful inlay, it is considered an unsurpassed ideal of beauty. The temple was built as a testament to love. Shah Jahal built it in the name of his wife Mumtaz-Mahal, who died, giving birth to their fourteenth child. When she was dying, she took from him the word that he would build for her the most beautiful mausoleum in the world. And although Shah Jahal had about five thousand concubines, he loved only his wife and was ready to fulfill her last will. His masters carved from precious stones flowers and other forms, gently carving the finest patterns of jade, lapis lazuli, amber, jasper and amethyst and then encrusted them with white marble. The historical temples of Raja Raji the Great But there are even more ancient attractions of India, hidden in its tropical jungle. Here, one of the most grandiose exploits in the field of construction in the history of mankind has created a thousand bizarre and mysterious temples. In the very south of India, at the heart of traditional culture and religion, more than a thousand years ago, the greatest king of India, Raja Raja the Great, undertook the realization of a grandiose construction in the history of mankind, which continues to this day. He and his followers spent more stone than the construction of the pyramid of Cheops, and his artists created the greatest works of architecture in history. This temple is so spacious that two hundred Taj Mahalov can comfortably rest in its walls. And all this for the strength and symbols of faith. The very first of the constructed temples of Raja Raji is in Tanjore. Its construction ended about a thousand years ago. At that time it was considered the greatest temple in India and tens of times higher in height than all previous buildings. But its attraction is not only in size, but also in that it is completely built of granite - the most durable stone on Earth. The person of Raja Raja the Great She is sealed throughout the temple. Inside it, under the dome of a giant tower, towers a giant phallus, a linga, 3.5 meters high and 1.5 meters in diameter. Linga is the symbol of the most powerful and beloved god of the Indians - the god Shiva. Linga personifies the power and fertility of King Raja. And this linga is the biggest in India. The dome of the tower is 65 m high and consists of two massive granite blocks, each weighing 40 tons. It's hard to imagine how you could raise a stone to a height of 40 tons in 1010 AD! And only the present Prince Tanjore revealed the secret of how the stones were raised to such a height. They were lifted along the slope at an angle of 6 degrees, which led to the summit, and the length of the cleavage was more than two kilometers. Such slopes are called in India by ramps. All buildings and temples are built face to the east to where the sun rises. And all the remains of the ramps are built from west to east, which confirms this theory. Another attraction of India, namely the army of Raja Raji, are elephants. After all, it was wars with the nearest neighbors that the king got money for the construction of the temple. But elephants made their contribution not only in battles. It was they who pushed the granite blocks along perfectly round beams along the ramp. They also moved the beams forward for the next push. It remains a mystery how the hardest stone on the Earth was carved and mined. A little later, the Muslim regiment put an end to the Raji Raji dynasty. The Muslims destroyed all evidence of Hinduism. The priests buried and immured in the secret rooms golden deities inlaid with diamonds, for which the Muslims hunted. Deities have lain in the sand for more than 700 years, until they were discovered in 1905. And this was the greatest archaeological find of the century. But after the invasion of Muslims, India rose to even more majestic heights.

The city is a great winner

The central part of southern India is now greaterreminds the countryside, with the earth burned by the sun and large heaps of granite boulders. But sometime in this place was a great and prosperous city. Its inhabitants turned their thoughts to the golden age of Raja Raji and created an unearthly city, such that Raja Raja himself could not imagine. Several centuries later, after the Raji temples were absorbed in the jungle, a mysterious and holy city appeared, the city of Vijayanagar, the winner city. It was founded in 1350, built in just 30 years and was larger than any European city with a population 50 times larger than the population of medieval London or Paris. Its founders have set themselves the task of continuing the tradition of art and architecture. Carved granite frescoes decorating the yard, introduce the way of life of the rich and famous people. Traditions Vijayanagara, left over from the king, is hunting, dancers and wrestling. There were a lot of artificial pools in this city, and every day all the inhabitants arranged ritual bathing. The city abounded with playing boards. Dozens of different games are cut out on the rocks everywhere, and therefore it is not surprising that chess was invented in India. In the chaturanga game the kings of Vijayanagara played to perfect their fighting skills. The elephant is the prototype of the rook, the strongest figure that could walk in all directions and even jump over weaker figures. This force was a reflection of the indomitable power of elephants, which was present in the war, and in construction and economy. Again, the Muslim invaders destroyed this city. It was the battle of Allah against the hundreds of gods of India to establish superiority, to break faith. The city was almost completely destroyed and is now considered a ghost town in which no one has settled. But the south again rose, building even more magnificent and majestic temples, the pearl of which is considered to be Madurai, the most elegant of all Indian temples. But despite this, out of a hundred people that come to India, only ten go south to admire these delightful temples. The central temple is the abode of the gods, and it was believed that it was incorrect to build it otherwise, as humble. But often with a gilded roof crowning the temple. The temples now began to expand more and more, for it was already impossible to increase them in height. This expansion led to the creation of a gate decorated with ornament and called gopuras. The wings of Madurai are especially graceful and full of sculptures. On one gate there are more than a thousand separate figures. Nowadays, the authorities of the temple regularly tint them in bright original colors. To describe what you saw, there is not enough words.

The indisputable and magnificent Srirangam

The most majestic temple is, without a doubt,Srirangam. It is so large that it can safely accommodate the Kremlin, the US Senate building, the English Parliament, and there will still be room for the Palace of Versailles and St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. And in this temple, they still worship bronze relics, sing hymns that are more than a thousand years old, and keep in touch with the culture that dates back to the time of Raja Raji. But for most people in the world and for many living in India, it's all a lost and forgotten world. But why are these temples, which are the legacy of Raja Raja, ignored by Western society? Part of the answer lies in what happened here in February 1838, the code for lost locks was discovered by British officer Capt. William Berg. He was told about miracles worth seeing in a place called Khajuraho, abandoned for centuries and hidden under thick trees. The worst began when he approached so close that he could see what was depicted on the walls of the temple. The walls of the temple are decorated with scenes depicting group sex, excited men and thirsting for their women. It was not at all what the respectable Christian expected to see on the walls of the prayer house. However, in Hinduism, everything looks very different. One of the many goals of Hinduism is the desire for love, and the Hindus do not see anything shameful in depicting the love scenes on the walls of their temples. But these temples shocked the western guest, who once again became convinced of his moral superiority. The nature of Hinduism became too extreme for the Victorians. It is because of the Victorian sense of decorum that the temples and art of southern India were ignored by tourists and scientists. The world, which was not inferior to Greece in its culture, and the ancient Egyptians - in architecture, again disappeared into the jungle, turning into a lost world.

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