the pagoda was built a long while back (about 2500 years ago) and back then, architects loved to lay 'holy' structures with all the gold and jewels they could get their hands on. (*a cynical view of this was that it was the kings' insurance plan - very few would attack and plunder a temple for fear of collecting more bad karma, and of course, disturbing some irritable gods) and anyway, gold and precious stones was in great supply back then, so why not have the 'real' thing to jazz up the decor.
with shortages of all kinds right now and increasing inflation, i would expect such grandiose ideas to have been limited to history. i am wrong.
some years back, i visited pondicherry - a very scenic town in south india where road signs are still written in french (yep, you read right - french) and roadside vendors hawk apples as 'pommes'. c'est beau!
some miles off pondicherry, there is a 'model-mini-world-project' that aims to find the key to lasting peace, overcoming colour-based discrimination (move over luther and mandela), and maybe even mending the ozone layer. it is like an improvised village built in circles around a banyan tree. scenic, peaceful, nice.
a jarring intrusion was a huge, dome-like structure, covered halfway with gold. yep, good gold bought with donations by people the world over. it was still awaiting more money and gold when i visited, and was cordoned off (probably for fear that the visitors would claw away bits from it). the purpose of this gigantic, expensive structure - it was a meditation hall.
pardon my ignorance - but cant meditation be done in a bricks-and-mortar dome? or are the pantheon of deities going to be upset if they are called to bestow grace in a hall less than pleasing to their high tastes?
i don't know who designed the dome. but if she/he/they are pursuers of 'nirvana' - they are paying too high a price - (strictly in my opinion only) of the wrong kind!
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