The most inspirational tragedy story I have heard

Often we come acroos inspirational stories which motivate us to do great things in life, and stories which are a pure tragedy and leave the listeners and readers feeling sad. But seldom do we come across stories which have both embedded in them.

The construction of the Brihadeeswar temple in Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu, during the Raja Raja Chola era is by far the most inspirational tragedy story I have ever head.

The temple is an architectural marvel, unrivalled even today and is a world heritage site. The beautifu & grand, structurally aesthetic masterpiece features thousands of tonnes of granite used for the construction. Granite structures are usually very challenging to construct, especially with the level of detail one finds in this temple.

This marvel was built using resources gathered from various parts of India, in a time when technology didn't exist like it does today. Despite this, a single look at the temple's top stone on the Gopuram leaves the Gazer awe-struck. Such is the beauty of this temple.

The most inspirational part of this project, which was recorded to have been built by the entire city, is the contribution of an old lady named Azhagi (meaning the beautiful one).

A hible devotee of Lord Shiva, who is the main God of this temple, she wanted to contribute to this magnificent project in some way. But jre age was a limiting factor in what she could contribute.

One day, she got the idea of serving buttermilk to the construction workers, hoping it would be a small service to the Lord himself. She took on the responsibility of ensuring everyone at the construction site was well hydrated, throughout the duration of the project, which has been recorded to have lasted for 5 years.

As a token of appreciation of her efforts and responsible execution of her duties, the central pillar of the temple has her name carved on it, and a water well in the temple's vicinity is named after her.

Unfortunately however, despite the grandeur and aesthetics, the consecration process, where the Linga stone statue is given energy and God is manifested, failed. The energy consecration process is said to have not found a completion, which is why even today there is a common belief that visiting the temple brings misfortune one's life.

A few years later, his son Rajendra Chola built a replica, although a slightly scaled down version, and the result was the temple called Gangai Konda Cholapuram, which is believed to be a powerful consecration of Lord Shiva.

The two examples also describe where humanity stands today. Half of us, structurally and integrally weak but have perfect exterior appearances and aesthetics. The rest of us, internally strong but fail to find expression for our creativity and passion. Only if we created a society which helped us al excel in both.