[MUSIC PLAYING]
RAJA KUMARI: Hey, I'm Raja Kumari.
And today, I'm home, and I'd like
to show you some of my favorite temples in India.
So I'm going to use Google Arts and Culture today
to look at some classical Hindu temples, north and south.
A lot of these temples were unseen for a long time.
They're really hard to get to.
So the idea that we can kind of check them out from here
is really exciting.
I want to go to a temple that I remember visiting as a child.
It's called Mahabalipuram.
And the thing that I remember about this place the most
is how huge the sculptures of the giant cows and elephants
were.
Whoa.
Look at these pictures.
I always love photos of temples, because it's
like everything changes around it but the temple.
Whoa.
The Pallavas.
So it was built by the Pallavas.
That's true.
I remember this.
I don't remember this though.
That's amazing.
Whoa.
Look at at the colors.
There's always like the lotuses.
See, the style is very south India.
In the south, it's like very ornate.
So let's see.
I want to check out this is really cool.
So these museum views.
Wow.
See this is what I was talking about those elephants.
Whoa.
So these are all tons of stories.
Like this is a [INAUDIBLE] it looks like.
This is Vishnu.
This is definitely a story of Vishnu.
Many sages involved.
Whoa, they lost their heads.
These guys lost their heads.
This is obviously all out of the cliff,
which is like incredible.
We don't even do stuff like this anymore.
Look at the baby elephants.
They're so small and perfect.
Wow.
Look at that.
I have to show this to my mom.
OK.
Let's see what else is out here.
Are those real monkeys or--
I don't know.
Maybe they're monkeys made out of stone.
Let's see.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
OK.
So let's see in the north.
What kind of temples are in the north.
There's a really crazy one.
I wonder if I could spell it.
Brihadisvara.
Oh, wonderful.
OK, great.
OK.
So this temple, Brihadisvara.
I remember trying to learn to say that like 109 times.
So the crazy thing about this temple--
OK, so let's pull it up like this, wow--
is it's huge.
You can't tell-- let me see if we can get in
so you can see perspective.
Everything is over the top size like when you
get inside the inner sanctum.
I wonder, over here where the people are,
that's probably where the entrance is.
Yeah.
But they're exiting.
I remember this.
You cannot forget a place once you've been there like this.
Oh, I want to get around the front.
So it was built by Rajaraja.
Since it's opening, for 1,000 years,
it's been open every day.
Like they have been running this temple for 1,000 years.
There's the Nandi.
Here it is.
Yes, I'm getting closer
So any Shiva temple will have a Nandi, which is like a bull.
And he's the god.
He's attached to Shiva.
So you know, he's usually in all the temples
and this one is huge.
Can we get closer?
Oh, this is-- OK, OK, I figured it out.
See it, how big it is?
It's giant.
See the people in comparison?
It's huge Nandi.
It's like one of the only places in India with one this big.
But the fact that it's just been running,
it's such a part of history, and it's such a part
of like history that continues.
And it's not like ancient history
is forgotten and somewhere tucked away in a museum.
It's living.
It's like living history.
So if you have a chance to visit this place, I suggest it.
I really hope you enjoyed checking out some
of my favorite places in India.
I hope this inspires you to use Google Arts and Culture
and check out some places that you're
inspired to visit one day.