Mr Kushal made plans for me. How much time I might spend at a site was my option. The drivers of three-wheelers parked their vehicles at the designated areas and the visitors looked up their vehicle to continue travel. Most often the drivers would be alert and waiting, but occasionally they might take a nap. Mr Kushal had the habit of getting into the happy-mood conversations with fellow drivers. They could be settling themselves in the nearby stores. Once or twice I had difficulty in discovering my transport after my tough climbs.
Our next stop was supposed to be a palace cum temple called Preh Khan. Apparently this was a victory palace for the king and he would display the winning "sword" in a special pavilion built specially for the purpose. The subjects would come to pay respects to the "sword" and there would be festivities in its honor. There would be special dance performances and the king would be felicitated for his adventure and victory. The "sword" would be given a divine status and through the process the king himself would assume divinity. After its one-time success the "sword" would be encased and worshiped daily to diffuse energy by its divinity. Human beings are good believers. One better believes than being executed!
I don't know where the phrase "Preh Khan" came from. Lately it is being "translated" as "good sword" which is forcing a meaning from the assumptions. From the sound of it and from what I thought the functionality was I thought about the word "prekshA" in Ramayana where the grandiose bow of Shiva was displayed. The bow was so heavy that it had to be carried by a large vehicle pulled by elephants such that it showed its magnificent presence to the citizens. It was not clear if the bow was heavy or the bow's casing was heavy. In any case, Rama had no difficulty in lifting the bow. Object worship does bring mind concentration though the success in any task is not necessarily connected to the object.
We proceeded and parked. Every location had the usual gate that one showed the ticket and entered. There would be musicians and shopkeepers on the side. I walked about three hundred yards to reach the front facade of the palace. A long stone walkway led to the gate. Unlike the temple structures, the walls of the walkway was not carved. It was robustly built.
The front of the building has a verandah and "rooms" opening to the verandah. It was not clear if doors existed. Wood rots but the fixings could be visible, they were not. It looked like the verandah could be stretching around the building. These parts have not been restored. The entrance had carvings around and then one entered into an "infinite corridor" as one sees in MIT. The engineeing alignment was excellent. I went through square-shaped pillared rooms that possibly had a structure in the center. I guessed that they could be shiva-lingas but I had nothing to verify with.
After going through several such rooms, I met a group of people who had official-looking badges on them. Many of the carvings and images were lumped in big piles next to the structure and these people were on guard to prevent theft. One of them got in conversation with me and told me his India connection. He said he was a Hindu and would love to visit India. He escorted me the rest part of the massive palace. We reached the back courtyard that had the "sword" pavilion and the dance platforms.
The palace had a separate entrance on the back side possibly for the commoners who visited to enjoy the festivities and witness the cultural events. The stage was like an amphitheater with enough space around for a full panoramic view from three directions. There was a space for the king on the palace side. I heard that elephants were also deployed in the shows like in circus acts.
Looking around the structure I saw the invasion of large trees on to the man-made structures. Trees are symbols of life and they survive with minimal needs. The cracks between the stones take dirt and eventually give nutrients for a seed to germinate. After germination, it is a struggle for survival. I saw tall ash trees projecting high into the sky resting themselves on flimsy unstable stone structures. The roots of the trees probably has snaked through the cracks and filled up all available space to act as mortar to hold the rocks together. It is a great exercise in the mathematics of stability.
The Bhagavadgita in its analysis portrays each living being as a tree whose roots are bonded to other objects because of the "karma" of the individual. To follow food, water and shelter is the goal of the root. The root is like a tissue, extremely flexible and malleable. I was seeing the Gita's message in front of me. The tall tree in front of me was fed by its minute roots that were looking for a little water through the cracks!
I saw more trees encroaching. They looked gorgeous. It is a new kind of art. The play of life in the universe is mysterious. There is no theory how life came to be, but certainly life refuses to give up. Life feels happy by giving rise to new life and we call it natural law. Since we do not know its origin, we invoke God and feel awed. All we know is that we did not create it but we can pass it on.
Mayan pyramids are not invaded by the trees possibly because they filled up the cracks with stone dust. Unlike Mayan pyramids, the facade here was of volcanic rocks which are much harder. They are heavier and stronger, but the cracks in between led to the eventual decay. Possibly most structure broke through the tree invasion.
It was lunch time. In royal palace environments, lunch also happens in community kitchens. Mr Kushal did guess my experimenting mind. He took me to a large shed where about twenty different vendors were serving food in a restaurant style setting.
