Little Known Facts About India

1. Panchavadyam, a variety of temple music of Kerala, produced by a combination of 5 different instruments, has gained so much popularity in the West that the performers are frequently invited to perform abroad. Some Westerners come to India specifically to learn it.
2. All sun temples were constructed in such a way that the first rays of the rising sun fell on the idols. Temples to the Sun God were built between the 4th and the 13th century.
3. Several south Indian temples have singing stone pillars. The central part of such pillars is chiseled into 7 to 16 bars which produce distinct notes similar to that of a xylophone, if tapped with a wooden mallet. What is significant is that the different bars are part of the same pillar.
4. Women aged between 10 and 50 years are not allowed to enter the temple of Ayyappa at Sabarimala, in Kerala, although the temple doors are open to everyone else, irrespective of caste and creed. Those who intend visiting, observe austerities for 41 days.
5. Mathura, about 130 Kms from Delhi, has the distinction of having produced the first carved images of Buddha about 2000 years ago. Till then Buddha was never represented in human form. Symbols such as a horse to indicate his renunciation of princely life; a tree for his enlightenment; a wheel for his first sermon and a stupa for his nirvana, were used instead to represent him.
6. At the Karnidevi Temple in Rajasthan, rats are worshiped as the deity’s descendants. So much so that they are not even referred to as rats. They are called Kabas instead, the Marwari word for children. Although rats are numerous in the temple, sighting a white rat is considered very auspicious. Devotees return to the temple again and again, until they actually get to see one. The extent of the people’s devotion is evident at prayer time. After the morning and evening arthis, the rats rush to the plate filled with prasad. Only after the rats have eaten some of it, is the prasad offered to the devotees, who partake of it without any revulsion.
7. Do you know that every year astronomers from all over India meet at the Jaipur Observatory and prepare the yearly Panchang (Indian almanac) with the help of various stone instruments built more than 250 years ago by Sawai Raja Jai Singh.
8. Pictures of gods and goddesses and scenes from the Puranas, which adorn the walls of millions of Hindu homes and work places, are imitations of paintings done by Ravi Verma, Raja of Kerala, more than 100 years ago. So popular are these pictures that the Hindus visualize their god very much the way Ravi Verma depicted  them in his paintings.
9. Devotees flock to the temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati with offerings of gold, silver, cash and jewels, making the hill shrine one of the richest temples in the world. The hundi ( a cloth container for offerings), which is emptied four to five times a day, bears deposits such golden lotus flowers, gold biscuits, wads of currency notes, solid gold laddus and innumerable coins of all denominations. Sieves are used to sort out the coins, which are weighed, being too numerous to count. Once a huge quantity of smuggled gold was deposited into the hundi. While the customs officials wanted to confiscate it, the temple authorities considered it a donation. Finally, the matter was settled with the Lord paying a token fine of Rs 100 and keeping the booty.