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Sri Kandaswamy Kovil
During the 1800s large groups of Tamil Hindus moved from Sri Lanka to Malaysia to help construct railway lines. Many ended up settled in the area that is now known as Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur because it was so close to where the lines were being built. Life was much improved from what it had been in Sri Lanka, but many of them missed having a formal temple to worship in. Up until 1890 they had been worshiping informally in homes and at small, makeshift shrines. On December 24, 1890, though, the leaders of the Saivite Ceylon Hindu Community decided they wanted something more permanent and the plan for Sri Kandaswamy Kovil was…
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Temple of Heaven: The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests
If you ever go to Beijing, one of the places you’ll want to visit is the Temple of Heaven. It’s a 15-minute drive south of the Forbidden City and close to several other areas of interest. We did a circuit where we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and then the Temple of Heaven in one day and felt like we were able to enjoy ourselves at each one without feeling rushed. The Temple of Heaven began construction in 1406 and was completed in 1420, just 4 years before the Yongle Emperor died. The complex is made up of two sections, the inner section and the outer section, covering 660 acres. The outer…
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Maha Vihara Buddhist Temple
When we lived in Kuala Lumpur, I really enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and taking in the sites. We lived by Little India, which was filled with all sorts of Hindu shops and temples, and also by a little Buddhist section of town, so there were always really interesting things to see. One day I decided to just wander and see where my feet took me and I ended up at this cute little Buddhist temple from 1895 that I’d never known was there before. The main gate is known as the Sanchi Main Gate, after the village of Sanchi in India, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.…
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Candi Mendut
Candi Mendut is a 9th century Buddhist temple located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is one of three temples along a straight line that are of religious importance to the Javanese people, but the exact relationship between the three has been lost. All that is known now is that Candi Mendut, Borobudur and Pawon were all used for a combined religious ritual. Candi Mendut, more commonly known as Mendut, was built in the early 9th century, sometime before or around 824 AD. Dutch archaeologist JG de Casparis believes the temple mentioned in a Karangtengah inscription dated 824 AD is Mendut temple and has presented enough evidence to back up his claim that the archaeological community…
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She Myet Hna
She Myet Hna is one of the 2,200 Buddhist temples, stupas, payas and pagodas that still remain of the 10,000+ that were built in Bagan, Myanmar. While most have are in ruins or disrepair, this one has been preserved and restored. We actually found this temple by accident. One of the modes of transportation in Bagan is the bicycle. We rented our bikes from our hotel, Thante Nyaung U, and rode off in search of some of the temples. As you can see, our hotel wasn’t too far from Old Bagan. Old Bagan is the section inside the blue lines on the left side of the picture. It took us…
