This view has, for the most part, been changed, and now almost all Hindu temples ban meat from temple premises.

In his lifetime, as part of his missionary activity, Francis Xavier used to refer to pagans as devil-worshipers and spiritually blind, Hindu teachings as repulsive and grotesque, Vishnu's transformation as foulest shapes, Shiva as shameless, Kali as clamoring for sacrifices, many-headed and many-armed gods and goddesses in temples as hideous forms and temples and altars as place of degrading rites.

Many large Hindu temples in southern India, particularly those built by the 11th century king Rajaraja Chola I, were made of granite.

* Shahjahan during his rule destroyed hundreds of Hindu temples.

* Muhammad of Ghor destoyed several Hindu temples and relics and looted the temple wealth.

The city is home to one of Afghanistan's few Hindu temples, the Dargha Hindu Temple on Chowk Omomi Street.

These Kerala mural painting are on walls of Hindu temples.

Buddhist ( and Hindu ) temples were Mandala shaped, they are oriented according to the four cardinal points, the main gate being towards the east. Since building space and materials were scarce, Maldivians constructed their places of worship on the foundations of previous buildings.

They lacked, for example, the ubiquitous Islamic dome which did not appear in Indonesia until the 19th century, but had tall timber, multi-level roofs not too dissimilar to the pagodas of Balinese Hindu temples still common today.

Hindu and Buddhist temples in Patan, the capital of one of the three medieval Newar kingdoms

However the later temples built in Java were influenced by Indian Hindu architecture, as displayed by the towering spires of Prambanan temple.

Navagrahas can be found in almost all Hindu temples.

The Sinhalese community is well represented by many old boys associations of prominent schools in Sri Lanka and many temple organizations associated with Buddhist and Hindu temples represent both Sinhala and Tamil communities in the UK.

* The Nallur Kandaswamy temple, one of the most significant Hindu temples in the Jaffna district of Sri Lanka, is built.

As popular tourist destinations in Karnataka, Hoysala temples offer an opportunity for pilgrims and students of architecture to examine medieval Hindu architecture in the Karnata Dravida tradition.

Hoysala temples were not limited to any specific organised tradition of Hinduism and encouraged pilgrims of different Hindu devotional movements.

The Hoysalas usually dedicated their temples to Lord Shiva or to Lord Vishnu ( two of the major Hindu gods ), but they occasionally chose a different deity.

The temple complex comprises two Hindu temples, the Hoysaleshawara and Kedareshwara temples and two Jain basadi.

The blending of sexual and spiritual is portrayed in Hindu iconography, as seen in ubiquitous phallic and vaginal iconography in Hindu temples and for instance in the Kharjuraho and Konarak medieval temples, where thousands of couples having sex in endless positions, and with the gods, are carved in deep bas-relief.

He next sent an army to subdue the areas north of the Hindu Kush and in short order all the different tribes began joining his cause.

This house was the assembly place for the dead before they began the journey to the Otherworld. He is similar in some regards to the Hindu deity Yama.

Ancestors of many of today's Turkic-speaking Afghans settled in the Hindu Kush area and began to assimilate much of the culture and language of the Pashtun tribes already present there.

The pluaristic dialogue of Sikhism began with the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak after becoming enlightened saying the words " Na koi hindu na koi musalman "-There is no Hindu, there is no Muslim.

* According to calculations of Aryabhata ( 6th century ), the Hindu Kali Yuga began at midnight ( 00: 00 ) on 18 February 3102 BC.

The Bactrian king Euthydemus and his son Demetrius crossed the Hindu Kush mountains and began the conquest of the Indus valley.

Though initially nervous, he bowed to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning and began his speech with, " Sisters and brothers of America !".

The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a " universal monarch " and " god-king ", until 1351, when Angkor first fell under Ayutthayan suzerainty, to 1431, when Ayutthaya put down a rebellion and sacked the Khmer capital, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.

The Hindu restoration began around 1243 AD, with the death of Jayavarman VII's successor, Indravarman II.

During this period, Vajpayee remained center-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, but increasingly hard-line Hindu nationalists began to rise within the party and define its politics.

Gradually Hindu communities began to retreat to mountain ranges in East Java and also to neighboring island of Bali.

The Mughal miniature began by importing Persian artists, especially a group brought back by Humayun when in exile in Safavid Persia, but soon local artists, many Hindu, were trained in the style.

He writes that partly to counterbalance this deification, some Hindu schools began to emphasize that the real teacher is the transcendental Self.

After eleven years ' residence in India, Colebrooke began the study of the Sanskrit language ; and to him was entrusted the translation of the major Digest of Hindu Laws, a monumental study of Hindu law which had been left unfinished by Sir William Jones.

Disciples of Gautama Siddhartha began to visit the place during the full moon in the month of Vaisakh ( April – May ), as per the Hindu calendar.

However, after the defeat of the Palas by the Hindu Sena dynasty, Buddhism's position again began to erode and became nearly extinct in India.

For years, Gandhi and his adherents struggled to keep Muslims in the Congress Party ( a major exit of many Muslim activists began in the 1930s ), and in the process enraged both Hindu Nationalists and Indian Muslim nationalists.

J. P. was not very religious but he began to read regularly some of the most basic Hindu scriptures starting with Bhagavada Gita, deriving heroic inspiration from the great battle of the Mahabharata described in the book which enlightens the concept that the essence of man is immortal.

It is said that Basava, rebelled against the rigid practices of the caste system prevalent in mainstream Hindu society, and eventually began new philosophy of Lingayatism with a casteless society at its core.

The island was called Gharapuri and was a Hindu place of worship until Portuguese rule began in 1534.

* 4 April – On his first visit to Gujarat since the violence there began, ( See 2002 Gujarat violence ) Prime Minister Vajpayee makes an impassioned speech appealing to the Hindu and Muslim communities to end the violence, saying that the " shameful events " in Gujarat are a " blot " on India.

Also greatly discouraged was the caste system and orthodox discrimination, as Mauryans began to absorb the ideals and values of Jain and Buddhist teachings along with traditional Vedic Hindu teachings.

After capturing and conquering the Punjab region, the Ghaznavids began to employ Hindu Indians in its army.