A Wisdom Archive on The Golden Temple

Whenever the Golden Temple is mentioned, we tend automatically to think of the beautiful Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, which is known worldwide by that name. However, there is another Golden Temple down South - the great Nataraja temple at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu.
 
This temple figures prominently in Tamil Shaivite literature and is considered to be one of the most holy spots dedicated to Lord Shiva, next in importance to Mount Kailash itself.

 
(See also: Nataraja, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul )

Read more here: » Nataraja: Dance of Shiva in The Golden Temple - Nataraja  

Most of the major temples were rebuilt under the leadership of Pericles during the Golden Age of Athens (460–430 BC). Phidias, a great Athenian sculptor, and Ictinus and Callicrates, two famous architects, were responsible for the reconstruction. During the 5th century BC, the acropolis gained its final shape. After winning at Eurymedon in 468 BC, Cimon and Themistocles ordered the reconstruction of southern and northern walls, and Pericles entrusted the building of the Parthenon to Ictinus and Phidias. In 437 BC Mnesicles started b ...

Read more here: » Acropolis Athens: Encyclopedia II - Acropolis Athens - The Periclean building program

Unlike some Greek gods, such as Zeus and Poseidon, Hera's name is not analyzable as a Greek or Indo-European word. She therefore seems to be a survival of a pre-Greek "great goddess" figure - perhaps one of the powerful female divinities of the Minoan pantheon, or of some unidentified pre-Greek ("Pelasgian") people. Hera's importance in the early archaic period is attested by the large building projects undertaken in her honor. The temples of Hera in the two main centers of her cult, at Samos and in the Argolid, were the very earliest monumental ...

Read more here: » Hera: Encyclopedia II - Hera - Etymology and Pre-History

Mathers, Moina: Moina (or Mina) Mathers was born Mina Bergson on February 28, 1865, and died July 25, 1928. She was the wife of MacGregor Mathers, one of the founding members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and probably contributed the bulk of the Order''s study material and methods by channeling via the Ouija Board. After the death of her husband in 1918, she continued to be active in the order, establishing a temple called Alpha et Omega.
 
Also See: Mina Bergson, Mina Mathers, Moina Mathers

 
(See also: Mathers, Moina, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca )

The Gupta dynasty ruled India (what was India then, the north of the Vindhyas), between fourth and sixth centuries of the common era. Though not as vast as Mauryan empire, Gupta rule has left a deep and wide cultural impact not only in the subcontinent but on the adjacent Asian countries as well. The practice of dedicating temples to different deities came into vogue followed by fine artistic temple architecture and sculpture. Books on medicine, veterinary science, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics were written. The famous Aryabhata an ...

Read more here: » History of Hinduism: Encyclopedia II - History of Hinduism - Hinduism during the Golden Age in Bharat

Hera was especially worshipped, as "Argive Hera" (Hera Argeia), at her sanctuary that stood between the former Mycenaean city-states of Argos and Mycenae, where the festivals in her honor called Heraia were celebrated. "The three cities I love best," the ox-eyed Queen of Heaven declares (Iliad, book iv) "are Argos, Sparta and Mycenae of the broad streets." Her other main center of cult was at Samos. There were also temples to Hera in Olympia, Corinth, Tiryns, Perachora and the sacred island of Delos. In Magna Graecia, the temple long called the Temple of Poseidon among the group at Paestum was identified in the 1950s as a ...

Read more here: » Hera: Encyclopedia II - Hera - Cult