The Mysteries of Asia three-part video series was originally produced for The Learning Channel. During this segment, historians and others examine temples built in India more than 1,000 years ago. They remain quite intriguing, though today’s tourists rarely visit them. Records reveal that trained elephants had to drag millions of stone blocks to help erect these structures.
The program notes that due to the temples’ size, the U.S. Senate, Versailles, the Houses of Parliament, and St. Paul’s Basilica in Rome could all fit within a single one of them.
Michael Bell narrates as footage and animated maps are used to help viewers learn more about what these ancient structures look like and why they were built.
India’s temples were destroyed in two huge waves. Firstly by Ashoka who destroyed all the temples and dismantled the Guru Kulas applying their resources and treasure to Budhism. (Saranath, constructed by Ashoka, is the oldest constructed religious structure in Post Ashokan India) The second was, as is well known, but only mentioned in whispers after 1947, the invasions by Moslem vandals, looters, slavers, and plunderers.