The Local Shiva Temple

A couple of evenings ago, we went to the local Shiva temple. This is just a typical temple in rural South India. It's not an archaeological treasure, has no great history associated with it, and is still primarily a place of worship. Think of your garden-variety Protestant church out in the Midwest, not an European cathedral.

The entrance to the temple is called a gopuram. This is what people think of when they think of South Indian temples:


A detail from the gopuram. Actually this is from inside the temple, but the gopuram consists of carvings like this:


A carving on a pillar inside the temple:

The great hall of the temple was mostly empty (it was a weekday after all, and we went just as it was getting dark). There was one person there singing a hymn at the top of this voice. The sound you hear is his natural voice, with no microphones. It's just that the acoustics of the hall are so awesome: