Midnight's Knights?

Ref ali87 #113

[And the historical fact that SriRam`s preemminence in the Hindu Pantheon is fairly recent. Earlier dieties used to be Shiva and Vishnu(you must have read about the tussle for prominence between Shivasim and Vaishnavnism) Perhaps that could possibly explain why there are no major temples of SriRam.]

Ram is an avatar (incarnation on earth) of Vishnu. Of the 9 avatars so far, only Ram and Krishna are worshipped. Thus there is no conflict between the earlier worship of Vishnu and the later pre-eminence of Ram or Krishna.

[Perhaps a reading into the trends of popularity of various gods over the last couple of thousand years will give you better Idea why there are no major temples.

Also a reading into the capabilities of the ancient people and the materials availabel to them will give an answer as to why there are no temples for SriRam dating back to ancient times.

It is considered by historians that the initial spread of civilisation centered around the rivers of Punjab and later on in the marshy (what was then) flood plains of ganga and yumuna. Here the major (some say only) building material was brick(which doesnot last long). Stone not being available in these areas as well as (then) large timber (since marshy areas dont give rise to large trees) Brick was the primary material for construction(which explains why large building cant be found dating more than 1000 years since brick disintegrates faster than stone.) ]

You are SOOOO RIGHT! It is the lack of suitable building materials that caused Hindu temples to disappear. It took the genius of the Delhi Sultans to realize that they should use more permanent material and thus the Jumma Masjid, the various tombs of the Delhi sultans, the Red Fort, etc., are built of sandstone. See, clear proof of Muslim superiority over the benighted Hindus!

[True muslim Invaders did destory temples and also rember that they were given to exaggaration (since idol worship is considered very abhorrent in Islam royal historians tended to lace up the stories of destructions of Idols to show their patrons in better light to a primarily musilm audience)]

Actually, the Delhi sultans were considerate of the feelings of Hindus. If at all any temples were hit and destroyed by cannon fire, they gave large grants to re-build the temples. Professors at JNU can show you even a firman from Aurangzeb granting money to a temple in Benares. It is just that the benighted Hindus kept building with bricks even in the face of those large sandstone buildings in Shahjahanabad.

Of course, the fact that the few remaining temples are made of marble puts paid to your theory of brick construction.

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Lord of the Gulab Jamans

Once upon a time two brothers, maida and khoya >/i> (cream of wheat and evaporated milk) planned to rule the world. They joined hands and baked a product after sweetening it with sugar - called Gulab Jaman. With new found fame, they bestowed upon themselves titles of Ghalib Zaman and Ghalib Zanan. Ghalib Zaman`s only son married Ghalib Zanan`s only daughter and their child Farangi Kush became sole inheritor of Gulab Jaman empire.

Farangi Kush`s empire crumbled after rest of the world understood the secret ingredient of Gulab Jaman, known as Jehad and developed better technology to protect Gulab Jamans from ants, preserved them for longer period and packaged them.

Farangi Kush had no choice but to compete. But nobody would buy his stale Gulab Jamans surrounded by flies and ants. Finally he came up with a scheme to compete. He changed the brand name from Farangi Kush Gulab Jamans to Ghalib Zaman Gulab Jamans, indoctrinated ants and flies with Jihad, allowed them to swarm around his Gulab Jamans as long as it is done peacefully as in dar-al-aman and trained them to attack competitions` Gulab Jamans with fury, rage and zeal considering those Gulab Jamans as dar-ul-Harb.

(This concludes first episode of Ghalib and Iqbals` Lords of the Gulab Jamans). Next episode, ``Protocols of the Elders of Gulab Jamans`` will be releasing soon.