संवाद # 77: Make Temples Great Again | Pankaj Saxena on past & future of role of temples in society

Pankaj Saxena is Co-Founder, Bṛhat and Director, Cultural Research, Bṛhat. He is an author who writes on Hindu temples, Indian art, literature, history and culture. He is also deeply interested in cultural anthropology, evolutionary biology and ecology. He has visited more than 600 ancient Hindu temples on his temple trails.

0:00 The immense wealth of Tirupati temple
1:40 Temples were the centres of faith in ancient India
3:03 Evolution: Yajna to temples
9:03 Vedic roots of temples
11:33 Why the society felt the need for temples
15:09 Reasons for ban on entry of some communities in temples
21:33 Difference in Hindu worship tradition between North & South India
27:25 पुराण प्रधान Vs आगम प्रधान
31:22 It’s time to build great temples based on agamas
36:23 Reasons for erotic iconography in some temples
43:20 Pankaj’s 5 favourite temples in India
49:14 Temples as centres of dharma
51:00 Temples as drivers of urbanisation
53:59 Temples as centres of art
56:17 Temples as institutions of welfare
1:01:37 Temples as centres of justice
1:03:40 What should the temples of modern India look like
1:10:54 What role the temples should play in 21st century India