Enigmatic Lands ~ Sacred Sites
Asia and the Pacific
Ajanta and Ellora
The temples and chambers at these sites in south-central Indian, many hewn from single huge stones, are thought be to products of a millennium’s work by tens of thousands of Buddhists and Hindus.
Allahabad
According to Hindu mythology, the Prakrishta Yagna, Lord Brahma, the creator -- God of the Trinity, chose a piece of land on earth, on which the three rivers -- the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati -- would flow into a quiet confluence. That land, blessed by the Gods, came to be called Prayag or Allahabad, as it is known today. It is one of the most sacred pilgrimage centres of India. Seeking to be freed from repeated reincarnation, Hindus gather in this city every twelve years to crowd into the waters.
From the realms of mythology and legends, the history of Allahabad then moved through time to 1575 CE, when Emperor Akbar founded a city, of lavish proportions, and named it Allahabad. The monarch realized its strategic importance, as a waterway landmark in North India, and also built a magnificent fort, on the banks of the holy sangam. Allahabad, today, is an important city where history, culture and religion create a magical confluence .... much like the sacred rivers that caress this blessed land.
Angkor
According to legend, this center of Cambodian Hinduism -- the world’s largest city in 1000 CE -- was abandoned after the snake god, enraged by the murder of a priest’s son, caused a devastating flood.
Photo
Sacred Sites -- Info and Photograph
Bobobudur
Considered a three-dimensional model of the Buddhist cosmos, this ornate temple on Java is believed to offer spiritual enlightenment to pilgrims who climb clockwise around its six concentric levels.
Photo (Java) Interactive
Pictures and Info
Picture (Detail)
Photo
Dragon’s Triangle
Like the Bermuda Triangle, this area between Yap Island, Taiwan, and Japan is a source of baffling phenomena, including the "triangle wave," which is said to hit ships from three directions simultaneously.
Hawaiian Islands
Throughout Hawaii are prehistoric engineering works allegedly built by the menehune, a legendary race of dwarfish humanoids. Some believe the menehune are as real as the projects attributed to them.
Mount Fuji
This highest of Japanese peaks is sacred to Buddhists, for whom it is a gateway to another world, and to Shintoists, who have built numerous shrines dedicated to Sengen-Sama, the mountain’s Goddess.
Mount Kailas
Although exceedingly rugged and remote, this mountain in Tibet has been the destination of pilgrims for more than a thousand years. They consider it the center of the world, a dwelling place of Gods.
Story of Mount Kailas
Picture
Excellent Photo & Information
Another Photo
A Different Angle
The Potala
According to popular belief, this golden-roofed former palace of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa, Tibet, is the handiwork of the Gods, who are said to have raised it in a single night.
For more information and a beautiful photograph, visit Sacred Sites.
Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Hundreds of stone figures with huge human heads glare across this tiny isle in the South Pacific. They stand on platforms on which the islanders consigned their dead to the elements.
Tai Shan
This majestic mountain in eastern China was venerated by Chinese emperors for about 4,000 years -- even though for most of that time it was sacred to Taoism and not to the state religion, Confucianism.
Uluru (Ayers Rock)
Though the face of this massive rock in central Australia is continuously being altered by erosion, the Aborigine people hold its surface features to be the marks of their giant, semidivine ancestors.
Sunset at Ayers Rock
Photo and Info
Another Picture
The Changing Colors of Uluru
Sacred Places of the Women of Uluru
Further Resources
Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites
by Colin Wilson
Celtic Sacred Landscapes
by Nigel Campbell Pennick
Earth Memory: Sacred Sites
Doorways into Earth's Mysteries
by Paul Devereux
Power Places of Kathmandu: Hindu and Buddhist
Holy Sites in the Sacred Valley
by Kevin Bubriski
Sacred Sites of the West
by Bernyce Barlow
The Yucatan: A Guide to the
Land of Maya Mysteries
by Antoinette May
Continue to Enigmatic Sites in:
Travel to Uranus for Universal Myths.
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