Temples - Part II

 Temples- The heart of local economies

Continued from Part I

“How?”, the guide started to address this ‘how’ point by point.

Employment to the local communities

During the construction of the temples, a very large number of people from the local communities and from near by places were employed.

The employment was on various fronts:

1.     The construction work, carpentry, iron smithy, cooking. Dancers and other entertainers were also employed during the construction of temples.

C “Wait, wait…dancers?” interrupted one of the listeners. “Yes, if you look around you can see sculptures and idols of dancing women. Dancers were employed as models, posing for sculptors.”

“Oh!!! Modelling was a profession in those days as well?”

“Ok, but why entertainers?” some one interrupted again. “Rest all are understandable, but why entertainers?” “They were entrusted with the responsibility of entertaining the physically exhausted and stressed workers of temple projects. Also, the kings wanted the whole team to share the visions of the project of temple construction, with similar dedication and devotion as theirs. Therefore, entertainment was mostly narration on the presiding deity’s stories, in the form of musicals, ballets and other forms of entertainments as well.”

After the construction, the temples emerged as hub of local economic activities as well. Small settlements came up around temples and the locality was abuzz with various activities.

• 1.     Priests and their families settled down near temples (of course, for performing the daily religious rituals)
• 2.     Cooks were employed to prepare the daily offerings to the Lord. The temple kitchens also double up to serve the needy
• 3.     The tailors who stitched the Lord’s fineries
• 4.     Washermen were employed to wash the deity’s clothes
• 5.     Sweepers maintained the cleanliness of temples
• 6.     Flower stalls sold ‘Puja’ items
• 7.     All the floral offerings to the Lord came from the temple gardens and gardeners were employed for the gardens’ upkeep
• 8.     Administrative officers were employed for the temple administration
• 9.     Cowherds took care of the cows that belonged to the temple

 So on and so forth….

Slowly the group started realizing the importance of temples in local economy, as the forgotten facts started unravelling from the sands of time…

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