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doing some reading into tamil history and I'm reminded of the last time I visited the madurai meenakshi temple with my parents in 2016. it was quite a moving and eye-opening experience. most hindu koyils in singapore look like this. it's always contextualized by the city https://t.co/6lJWWiVGqo
the meenakshi temple on the other hand, is something else. it's *massive*. it almost feels like a city by itself. it *is* the context. when you're in it, you feel small. you can feel the energy of the worshippers and devotees around you. it's somehow both high-⚡️ + very grounding https://t.co/yomMCoUTXe
and it's not just the meenakshi temple, either. here's a koyil in srirangam. notice how the main gopuram is *the* schelling point of the area. you can't miss it! everything else is in relation to it it's unmistakable that it's what srirangam is *about* https://t.co/MyLhbBUi4H
In contrast, in singapore, where I'm from, the schelling points are gopurams of glass and steel. that tower is *literally* called CAPITAL TOWER. if I wrote this into my dystopian sci-fi hindu cyberpunk novel, my editor would smack me for being too literal with the imagery https://t.co/bZmiQiMODj
side note: one of my favorite photographs of all time is this picture (by Nuno Assis) of Hotel Grand Lisboa, viewed from the streets of Macau, China. here are a couple of other views via Google image search architecture is one of the most powerful ways we express ourselves https://t.co/a4y56Py40a
incidentally, did you know that the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia was originally constructed by King Suryavarman II of the Khmer empire, as a temple dedicated to lord Vishnu? (i'm going to be spending a bunch of time exploring how hinduism made its way through southeast asia) https://t.co/vsGH5uU7DF
being a maritime region along a major shipping trade route of the world, southeast asia has a long history of comfortably being a sort of cultural chimaera. I probably continue to underestimate how much this broader context has shaped me &my way of being https://t.co/BTqfrNPJTy
Pala-era bronze statue of Vishnu riding his mount Garuda. Garuda is a big deal in Indonesia – it's their national emblem and airline, which is interesting to juxtapose against the fact that it's a majority Muslim nation (87.2%) https://t.co/z4GQCddyC1 https://t.co/nVOnzI332q
