Badami Cave Temples

The Badami cave temples are a complex of temples located at Badami, a town in the Bagalkot District in the north part of Karnataka, India. They are considered an example of Indian rock-cut architecture, especially Badami Chalukya Architecture. Badami, the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of Karnataka in the 6th to 8th centuries, lies at the mouth of a ravine with rocky hills on either side and a town tank in which water from the ravine flows. The town is known for its ancient cave temples carved out of the sandstone hills above.

The Badami cave temples are composed of four caves, all carved out of the soft Badami sandstone on a hill cliff in the late 6th to 7th centuries. The planning of four caves is simple. The entrance is a verandah (mukha mandapa) with stone columns and brackets, a distinctive feature of these caves, leading to a columned mandapa – main hall (also maha mandapa) and then to the small square shrine (sanctum sanctorum, garbhaghrha) cut deep into the cave. The temple caves represent different religious sects. Among them, two (cave 2 and 3) are dedicated to god Vishnu, one to god Shiva (cave 1) and the fourth (cave 4) is a Jain temple. The first three are devoted to the Vedic faith and the fourth cave is the only Jain temple at Badami.

The cave temples date back to 600 and 700 CE. Their architecture is a blend of North Indian Nagara Style and South Indian Dravidian style. As described above each cave has a sanctum sanctorum, a mandapa, a verandah and pillars. The cave temples also bear exquisite carvings, sculptures and beautiful murals.

Important part of historical heritage at Badami cave temples are inscriptions in old Kannada script. There is also the fifth cave temple in Badami – Buddhist temple in natural cave which can be entered only on all fours.

Via: Evil Sunday

The Mystery of the Newport Tower

No one knows for sure when, why or even who built the 28-foot tower in the heart of Newport Rhode Island. But there are plenty of legends surrounding the structure.

Its eight pillars and fieldstone cylinder have been claimed to be the work of far-roaming Vikings, Chinese explorers, Portuguese noblemen, or Scottish Knights Templar. The Tower, long-veiled with Masonic roots has also been suggested to be part of a 17th-century windmill put up by Colonial Governor Benedict Arnold, great-grandfather of the infamous Revolutionary War traitor of the same name.

The Newport Tower has been the subject of discussion and controversy since the Colonists first arrived in the new world and discovered the structure. Early explorers noted that the tower existed during their initial explorations of North America. Documented research shows that the tower is believed to be made before the 16th Century AD. Recent finds have suggested that the Tower was constructed on a site that is part of a worldwide network documenting the land claims and travels of civilizations dating as far back as the 50th century BC.

The Newport Tower has been verified to have been constructed a minimum of 500 years. Some of the mathematics associated with the Tower have been found to point to three distinct places. Inspiration Peak, in Western Minnesota, an island named La Haute-Cote-Nord in the Saint Lawrence Seaway and Cat Island in the Bahamas.

Inspiration Peak was identified not only by the Newport Tower but also by the 5,100 year old monolith Stonehenge located in England. To date, the island named La Haute-Cote-Nord, located in the Saint Lawrence Seaway, seems to be the Northern vertex of the Newport Triangle.

Cat Island in the Bahamas is just a few miles from San Salvador Island where Columbus is supposed to have landed on his first voyage to the Americas. Despite being the first land Columbus came to San Salvador was barren and offered no protected harbor. Cat Island, on the other hand, has a protective harbor and has been identified in many glyphs around the world as the Southeastern cornerstone of a land claim that would later become the United States.

Newport Tower may have been built by early inhabitants of North America for two reasons. The first was to point the way to Inspiration Peak, a place of special spiritual and geographical importance. The second was to substantiate the builders land claim to North America, using the unique geographical location of Inspiration Peak.

The people responsible for building the Tower may have known of North America, as well as the rest of the world, for over 5,000 years. It seems that North America held some special significance. Geoglyphs found around the world show people were mapping what would later become the United States as far back as the building of the Mayan Pyramids. A glyph dating back 7,000 years located in Western Africa pointed the exact location where the Newport Tower would eventually be built 6,500 years later.

Via: The Newport Tower
Source: Secrets of the Ancient Celts by Arthur Faram (Yet to be published.)
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Sokushinbutsu Self-Mummified Monks

Sokushinbutsu were Buddhist priests who took their own lives in such a way that they became mummies and were revered for their spirit and dedication.

Popular in northern Japan, especially around the Yamagato Prefecture, the practice of becoming Sokushinbutsu is believed to a tantric ritual from Tang China, brought to the Land of the Rising Sun by the founder of Shingon Buddhism.

In the second part of the Sokushinbutsu process, the monk ate only the bark and roots of pine trees, and consumed a poisonous tee, made from the sap of the urushi tree. Commonly used to laquer bowls, the sap contained Urushiol, which caused him frequent vomiting and the loss of bodily fluids. This stage took another 1,000 days.

Regarded as the ultimate test of self-denial, the procedure of becoming Sokushinbutsu had the Buddhist monks go through several years of self-induced torture. During the first stage of the process, a priest would take on a diet of seeds and nuts, while taking part in rigorous physical exercises that stripped them of all their body fat. This stage lasted for 1,000 days.

Finally, the self-mummifying monk locked himself in a small stone tomb that barely allowed him to assume a permanent lotus position. The tomb was sealed and a small air tube remained the monk’s only connection to the outside world. He was given a bell, and each day he would ring it so that the people knew he was still alive. When the bell stopped ringing the air tube was removed and the tomb completely sealed.

While foreigners might think Sokushinbutsu monks had to be mad to go through such a long and painful process just to eventually kill themselves, they were actually raised to the status of Buddha and revered in Shingon temples across northern Japan. To them, this reward was more than enough.

Until it was outlawed, in the late 18th century, it is believed hundreds of monks attempted to become Sokushinbutsu, but many of them failed. Only between 16 and 24 Sokushinbutsu mummies have been discovered in Japan. Although this practice has been illegal for sometime now, a new Sokushinbutsu was discovered in July 2010, right in Tokyo.

Via: OddityCentral

Mandala Sand Painting

Via DudeCraft

A mandala is a geometric design with special spiritual connotations in various Buddhist and Hindu traditions. The creation of sand paintings in the form of mandalas is a high art among Tibetan Buddhists. In the above time-lapse video, you can watch monks compose one over six days at Emory University:

Sand mandalas have been in practice for thousands of years, according to Tsepak Rigzin, assistant program director for Drepung Loseling and an adjunct Tibetan language instructor at Emory. Monks use a grated metal rod and a traditional metal funnel called a chak-pur to carefully place millions of grains of colored sand on a table.[…]

There are hundreds of colorful mandala designs to choose from, Rigzin said, but they all share a basic format of geometric shapes and spiritual symbols.

“Normally the monks who do this, they have to go through a lot of training programs and they have to be authenticated by their masters,” Rigzin said. “They have to memorize the oral texts and learn the ritual.”

Following their traditions, the monks wiped away the sand painting within an hour of its completion.