Timeless and serene

Today, the temple of Kedarnath might be in the news, thanks to a movie. But movies come and go in the blink of an eye; what endures is this temple, which has survived and seen so much. If the stones of the Kedarnath temple could talk, we would know so much about the ancient world!

The buildings of today do not survive even 2-3 years of summer and monsoon; that’s the kind of engineering and architecture we have and that too after having so much technology and machines at our disposal. Yet, not a single machine or architect is able to replicate the marvel that Kedarnath is.

The temple, apart from surviving a deadly deluge in 2013, it was under snow for 400 years, completely submerged, sometime around 1300-1900 AD. The constant glacial movements too have not been able to dent this engineering feat. Yet, it stands tall today, with not even a stone going awry or the edifice threatening to crumble. Scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, say the several yellow lines on the temple walls point to glacial activity in the region.

Scientists studied the architecture and concluded that the those who designed the temple not only kept in mind the terrain but also the formation of snow and glaciers, and ensured that the structure was strong enough not only to withstand natural disasters and the passage of time.

We keep on harping about our rich culture and heritage, why can’t we build the way we did in the earlier ages?