Living Civilization

1000^th Birthday of a temple was celebrated recently. Thanjavur's Bragadeeswara temple was opened and dedicated to its worshippers 1000 years ago.It is a living testimony to the architectural achievements of Raja Raja Chola I or Arulmolivarman.His reign was between 985 A.D. till1014 A.D.The apex of the pagoda(gopuram) consists of a monolith granite which weighs 50 tons. Its hight is 66ft. The temple was made with 130000 tons of granite.  The most amazing aspect of the Indian civilisation is that we still have continuity in our traditions. The priests who are decedents of the first priests who had started the “Puja” or prayers still continue the “Puja” as it was done then. Prime land was given to the priests by the kings who had built this temple.So we are a living civilisation which had never died out. All civilisations of the world came, prospered and died out but we were always alive, ever young and ever vibrant. And we will continue living, growing, praying and last forever. We are very special kind of people who can live through the ravages of time for we have enduring values. The priests were allotted land(farmer/landlord) and they continued tilling the soil and continued praying all through the last 10 centuries. When the tradition is so rich, it is lasting and it becomes timeless. Today we face challenges of industrialisation and modernisation. We will adopt and live through this too.