In the words of Sri Aurobindo, “An Indian temple to whatever godhead it may be built is in its inmost reality an altar raised to the divine Self, a house of the cosmic Spirit, an appeal and aspiration to the Infinite.”

Temple had pervaded not only religious life of the citizens but also their secular life and their spiritual aspirations. Indian temples had magnificent architecture with abundant sculptures, well documented parts and their significances. In the words of Sri Aurobindo, “Indian architecture especially demands this kind of inner study and this spiritual self-identification with its deepest meaning and will not otherwise reveal itself to us. The secular buildings of ancient India, her palaces and places of assembly and civic edifices have not outlived the ravage of time; what remains to us is mostly something of the great mountain and cave temples, something too of the temples of her ancient cities of the plains, and for the rest we have the fanes and shrines of her later times, whether situated in temple cities and places of pilgrimage like Srirangam and Rameshwaram or in her great once regal towns like Madura, when the temple was the centre of life. It is then the most hieratic side of a hieratic art that remains to us. These sacred buildings are the signs, the architectural self expression of an ancient spiritual and religious culture. Ignore the spiritual suggestion, the religious significance, the meaning of the symbols and indications, look only with the rational and secular aesthetic mind, and it is vain to expect that we shall get to any true and discerning appreciation of this art. (The Foundations of Indian Culture)

The importance and benefits of DC appliances have been clearly brought out in the past articles. Energy efficiency is a low hanging fruit and this has to be deployed in a big way and both state and central governments have to give a major thrust for this along with encouragement of renewable energy in a big way. The idea can be successfully exploited inn roof top solar systems and other forms of green energy such as Micro Wind, PICO Hydel and Bio mass/gas generation systems. Depending on the local availability of resources many of these forms of renewable energy can be brought together using a smart micro grid system for individual buildings. The following graphics explains this concept in a pictorial manner.

In the above schematic different forms of renewable energy sources are coupled together in a smart micro grid. iGrid takes inputs from several of them like Solar Panels, Rooftop Micro Wind, PICO Hydel, Biogas generation system and the electricity grid.

Mimusops elengi is spread all over South India and in the Andaman Islands. It is a medium-sized evergreen tree with a regular globular, spreading crown and attains a height of 10 m. to 16 m. It is native to India and grows in all regions with a tropical climate, except in water-logged areas.

The flowers are Pleasant smelling and full of nectar. A lotion prepared from the flowers is used to clear wounds and ulcers. A secretion of the bark helps in shrinking of the tissues, controls bleeding and cures excessive secretion of mucous from the bladder and urethra. It is also used to treat fevers and also as a mouthwash to protect gums and teeth. A paste of roots mixed with vinegar is applied to swellings on the face and a paste made with water is applied to pustule eruptions of the skin (Dastur, 1962). Regular chewing of tender fruits strengthens the teeth. The seeds are used in the preparation of eye drops and to treat bowel disorders. The oil extracted from the seed is applied to swellings of the joints (Shanmugham, 1989).

Maghizham (Bakula) is sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. In Hindu tradition, it is sacred to Lord Shiva. It is one of the many sacred trees mentioned in the Hindu religious texts, according to which the bakula (Mimusops elengi) is sacred to Lord Trimurthi (Bidwood, 1986: Gupta, 1971: Tiwari, 1989).