3/3
And now for the lovely stuff.
The following contains photos - which I'd collected for personal (non-dabbling, naturally) purposes - of the shreShTa-swarga-rANI [who is the] swarga-[rAja-]vallabhA for the Daoists. <- Those are some of her official titles/names, though I've translated it - very badly in all probability - into your own father tongue and stolen your Bhagavan Indra's related stuff to do so (though there's a reason I pounced on him for that). She is one of the (IIRC 2 major sets of) triple Divine Mother Goddesses of Daoism, among their many other Gods and Goddesses. In one small dvipa alone, she has over a dasha-shata (iow sahasra) Kovils dedicated to her where She is the presiding God of the Mandiram, though other Daoist Gods are often in the same Temple along with her. She is frequently acknowledged by even aliens as one of the - if not the - most worshipped Ambaa-s in the world, "far more popular than Guan-Yin", etc.
![[Image: DaoistAmmanMoorties_KovilGopuras.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/indiaforum/Stuff/DaoistAmmanMoorties_KovilGopuras.jpg)
undarI:
There are youtube videos of her temples in E and SE Asia. One that I saw recently showed a closeup of the Daoist Ambaa in her sannidhi, flanked by other Daoist Gods. In paintings she is at times coloured black, standing alongside her Consort, but is embodied in vigrahas of different materials, including gold coloured metal to black materia. (E Asian Gods - like the Gods of many heathen populations - also come in different colours: green, yellow, red, white, black etc.)
Her festivals are incredibly famous. While her major festival always falls during one specific period of the year, what's not known beforehand apparently is the *day* of when a certain famous Mahotsavam commences where one of her vigraha-s is carried from one major Kovil of hers to others on the long route. Turns out only the Amman herself decides - during the preceding Lantern Festival - when this particular day will be, and the Daoist poojaris therefore perform the necessary rituals to discover her Divine Will on this question. Then the day of the Mahotsavam is finally set, and the Mahayatra takes place: where a massive crowd of Daoist devotees accompanies her from one sacred Kovil site to another. During the numerous days that that quite long Mahotsavam lasts, the Daoists perform other Ritual Practices besides the Mahayatra: like sacred Daoist dancing, music, martial arts. You can see some of it in the photos below (check out the awesomely energetic performance on percussions).
![[Image: CelebratingDaoistAmmanFestival.jpg]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/indiaforum/Stuff/CelebratingDaoistAmmanFestival.jpg)
Also note one of the photos in the first image is of a (home?) pooja moorti. I think the other golden item next to her golden mukha is possibly a Long's mukha.
Included among the images is also a photo of a heathen in Japan carrying around a small utsava moorti of the well-loved Daoist Amman. (However, during famous yatras, she is usually carried around by Daoists in a special palanquin, along with very particular Daoist Gods and beings on all sides, all arranged in a particular order.)
Also present in the collage is a photo from a 1997 news article of one particular vigraham of the Amman: the vigraham "currently touring the [Dvipa] on loan from a temple in [the Non-dvipa] is carried by devotees to a site set up in the square across from [the dvipa] city's government headquarters. Thousands of devotees are expected to visit the site to catch a glimpse of the famous statue." So even though the inhabitants of the dvipa have countless vigrahas of this same Amman in their own ancient Temples, they are - again, rather like Hindoos - thrilled to have darshanam of the divine vigrahas of their Gods from famous Daoist Kovils elsewhere. In this case they didn't go on a Yatra to the teertha, but the Amman came to see them: sort of an utsavam too, but with possibly a moolamoorty itself instead (?)
Other photos above are of details of the "gopuras" of some Daoist Kovils in E and SE Asia.
Not included in the collage is a photo I also came across of several Chinese administrative men in suits together holding their Ambaa in vigraham form in their hands. (One can similarly see suited Japanese men prostrating to the Shinto Kamis in front of Shinto temples too. Progress has a different meaning in heathen E Asia: it doesn't mean de-heathenising.)
Anyway, that's just one of the many Daoist Gods.
Further beautiful images that come to mind at this moment are of the gopura of the Vaayvagni 'Chakram' Temple (translate that into Mandarin to get the original Temple name) of little Nezha. The temple is obviously named after one of his sacred ayudhas ('the Ring which nearly fits the Universe...' <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> ). There's a statue of Him standing atop the magnificent gopuram, IIRC bearing the Vayvagni 'Chakra' in his hand. It's quite thrilling to see - doubly so because this lovely Daoist Temple exists on one of the very sites directly associated with his manifestation on earth.
Can draw some easy conclusions now:
1. Hindus can not melodramatically (and falsely) claim to be the "last pagans". Not only because "pagans" was the word that Hellenes who were ethnically Roman used for themselves (and which was not used by Greek Hellens, for instance). But also because Hindus simply are not the "last heathens" and Hindus' religion is not the "last heathenism" around.
2. Also, Hindus need not keep bragging as if we're the only heathen religion that celebrates the festivals of the Gods colourfully - with music, dancing etc. Again, clearly not true.
And now for the lovely stuff.
The following contains photos - which I'd collected for personal (non-dabbling, naturally) purposes - of the shreShTa-swarga-rANI [who is the] swarga-[rAja-]vallabhA for the Daoists. <- Those are some of her official titles/names, though I've translated it - very badly in all probability - into your own father tongue and stolen your Bhagavan Indra's related stuff to do so (though there's a reason I pounced on him for that). She is one of the (IIRC 2 major sets of) triple Divine Mother Goddesses of Daoism, among their many other Gods and Goddesses. In one small dvipa alone, she has over a dasha-shata (iow sahasra) Kovils dedicated to her where She is the presiding God of the Mandiram, though other Daoist Gods are often in the same Temple along with her. She is frequently acknowledged by even aliens as one of the - if not the - most worshipped Ambaa-s in the world, "far more popular than Guan-Yin", etc.
undarI:There are youtube videos of her temples in E and SE Asia. One that I saw recently showed a closeup of the Daoist Ambaa in her sannidhi, flanked by other Daoist Gods. In paintings she is at times coloured black, standing alongside her Consort, but is embodied in vigrahas of different materials, including gold coloured metal to black materia. (E Asian Gods - like the Gods of many heathen populations - also come in different colours: green, yellow, red, white, black etc.)
Her festivals are incredibly famous. While her major festival always falls during one specific period of the year, what's not known beforehand apparently is the *day* of when a certain famous Mahotsavam commences where one of her vigraha-s is carried from one major Kovil of hers to others on the long route. Turns out only the Amman herself decides - during the preceding Lantern Festival - when this particular day will be, and the Daoist poojaris therefore perform the necessary rituals to discover her Divine Will on this question. Then the day of the Mahotsavam is finally set, and the Mahayatra takes place: where a massive crowd of Daoist devotees accompanies her from one sacred Kovil site to another. During the numerous days that that quite long Mahotsavam lasts, the Daoists perform other Ritual Practices besides the Mahayatra: like sacred Daoist dancing, music, martial arts. You can see some of it in the photos below (check out the awesomely energetic performance on percussions).
Also note one of the photos in the first image is of a (home?) pooja moorti. I think the other golden item next to her golden mukha is possibly a Long's mukha.
Included among the images is also a photo of a heathen in Japan carrying around a small utsava moorti of the well-loved Daoist Amman. (However, during famous yatras, she is usually carried around by Daoists in a special palanquin, along with very particular Daoist Gods and beings on all sides, all arranged in a particular order.)
Also present in the collage is a photo from a 1997 news article of one particular vigraham of the Amman: the vigraham "currently touring the [Dvipa] on loan from a temple in [the Non-dvipa] is carried by devotees to a site set up in the square across from [the dvipa] city's government headquarters. Thousands of devotees are expected to visit the site to catch a glimpse of the famous statue." So even though the inhabitants of the dvipa have countless vigrahas of this same Amman in their own ancient Temples, they are - again, rather like Hindoos - thrilled to have darshanam of the divine vigrahas of their Gods from famous Daoist Kovils elsewhere. In this case they didn't go on a Yatra to the teertha, but the Amman came to see them: sort of an utsavam too, but with possibly a moolamoorty itself instead (?)
Other photos above are of details of the "gopuras" of some Daoist Kovils in E and SE Asia.
Not included in the collage is a photo I also came across of several Chinese administrative men in suits together holding their Ambaa in vigraham form in their hands. (One can similarly see suited Japanese men prostrating to the Shinto Kamis in front of Shinto temples too. Progress has a different meaning in heathen E Asia: it doesn't mean de-heathenising.)
Anyway, that's just one of the many Daoist Gods.
Further beautiful images that come to mind at this moment are of the gopura of the Vaayvagni 'Chakram' Temple (translate that into Mandarin to get the original Temple name) of little Nezha. The temple is obviously named after one of his sacred ayudhas ('the Ring which nearly fits the Universe...' <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> ). There's a statue of Him standing atop the magnificent gopuram, IIRC bearing the Vayvagni 'Chakra' in his hand. It's quite thrilling to see - doubly so because this lovely Daoist Temple exists on one of the very sites directly associated with his manifestation on earth.Can draw some easy conclusions now:
1. Hindus can not melodramatically (and falsely) claim to be the "last pagans". Not only because "pagans" was the word that Hellenes who were ethnically Roman used for themselves (and which was not used by Greek Hellens, for instance). But also because Hindus simply are not the "last heathens" and Hindus' religion is not the "last heathenism" around.
2. Also, Hindus need not keep bragging as if we're the only heathen religion that celebrates the festivals of the Gods colourfully - with music, dancing etc. Again, clearly not true.