If only... by Shefali Vaidya

 

If only I could see all the ancient temples in India the way they were originally constructed, in their full glory.

 

 

If only I could erase the hammer marks of the Islamic marauders and replace the amputated arms, the broken noses and hacked breasts of all the Murtis that they destroyed.

 

 

 

 

If only I could see our temples minus the modern day encroachments and misguided attempts to ‘redevelop’ - the RCC roofs, the ugly steel railings, the naked bulbs and cobwebbed wires hanging everywhere, random nails and tube lights stuck on centuries old stone.

 

 

If only I could see our ancient temples once again, as the Centers of our cultural and social life, rather than as places you go for a hurried Darshan.

 

 

If only I could see our ancient temples minus the ugly graffiti, the random scrawls of ‘Raj loves Neha’ scratched across thousand year old stone pillars!

 

 

If only I could see worship at all our ancient temples as they were meant to be worshipped, minus the noise, minus the filth, minus the loud cacophony of loudspeakers, minus the random rules that are displayed everywhere in ugly boards.

 

 

If only all our ancient temples were still intact and in worship, and our Murtis in their garbhgrihas, clad in full alankaras, accepting shodashopchara poojas.

 

 

If only I could see the Vigrahas where they were meant to be, in the garbhgriha of a living temple being worshipped by devotees, rather than stuck behind a glass pane in a cold museum chamber as soulless exhibits, to be gawked at by clueless tourists!

 

 

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