Archaeology is a science to study old objects in order to determine history. Most archaeology has been dealing with human skeletons and fossil imprints on rocks to estimate the evolutionary path of life in the planet. A country's history occasionally goes to legends and oral stories, but on some occasions do get verified by archaeological findings. Slow migrations of people do leave behind pots, utensils and burials that can help track a path. Most of the remains get buried under ground in time and a good archaeologist determines where to dig in order to find the most information. Discovering old buildings in the forests is more of an exploration than archaeology. While nomads and hunters move without developing settlements, the settled communities abandon settlements when attacked. Climate change and gradual scarcity of water through river dry-up have also been suspected to be the factors in abandonment. The old Mohen-jo-daro in India (now in Pakistan) was apparently abandoned because of climate change as is lately told about the Mayans cities in Mexico. Natural water supply is a mercy of nature! Difficulty with archaeology and with old artifacts has been the inability to obtain enough supporting evidence to weave a complete story. With the stress of life, one hardly knows anything beyond one's grandfather! The human memory hardly relates to more than fifty years of history. We can only relate what we have seen, though some try to forget the past. The artifacts I am visiting, would look totally unreal, if I was not seeing them. Lately technology has given us photography to relate to unseen objects, but our estimation would be very different than a direct panoramic view using one's own eyes. We go to our next site. This has its usual gate and the compound. It is a smaller structure, but the front facade was beautifully restored. A British couple and their two children had joined company. Visit to new places does bring excitement to children's minds. For some reason, structures make stronger impact than the natural sights. Human beings possibly have a tacit admiration to human achievements. The children were asking many questions which do not have real correct answers. As we passed through the front facade, we saw solid trees rising up to a hundred feet or higher. They had grown everywhere destroying the entire structure. I saw a tree vertically right on the wall. It was a lovely spectacle though not intended by the artisans. One can imagine the weight of the rocks that could support the massive tree on its top. The high mineral content of the volcanic rocks had a lot to do to provide the support. I felt like to go near and touch the tree. There were guards nearby to discourage such adventure. Some day we would have to explore more!
The so called "prasat"s have compounds and the temples just stand there as massive structures. We came next to a Shiva temple, with a tiny shrine and Nandi (Shiva; bull) installed right at the stairs. It was possible that the shrine was recovered from inside the Temple and then placed outside by some religious people. I saw fresh flowers and offerings at the shrine. The linga was covered with a small embroidered umbrella. I loved it. I stood by for a while.
The Temple itself was in four levels. The stone stairs were unusable and have been replaced by wooden stairs. The logic was to go up one level and then walk around the periphery and ride to the next level. An elephant was placed on the corners of each level. At the top level, I met a young couple of Australia passionately examining the structure. I asked them if they had visited India. They said they might visit another time. I was in a mood to convince them to schedule their visit to appreciate the stone construction. I helped them make a plan. They could write to me with any questions.
Coming down from the temple structure we had a third place to visit. The rains had resumed and we took shelter at a huge Buddha shrine next to what they call "leper king's palace". I skipped the palace and under slow drizzle tried to trek through a long procession route called "elephant walk". Raised about ten feet from the ground, it is about a quarter mile elevated path which must have made a gorgeous spectacle for a procession to pass through. The right side had open space where probably the commoners assembled in order to witness the festive procession. I admired the taste.
It was time to return back to the city. I have to connect to Dr Darith and pick up laundry.
