Best of India - Churches!!

India is a land of diversity in every sense of the word. The people, the places, the languages, the customs, the religions and the list goes on and on. There is hardly any country as diverse and yet integrated as India.

Inspired by India Today's article, "Best of India" dated Oct 23, 2006, I have decided to start a series "Best of India" at my blog. I have been lucky to live all over India due to my Dad's Army background but still there are 100s of places that I haven't visited. This series will give me a chance to showcase India that I have or want to visit one day. The series can involve anything or anyplace. It can be the best trek, best place to eat , best spiritual place, best place to meditate, best place for a romantic get-away etc. Although, in order to showcase the unseen and unknown, I will mostly showcase places that are relatively unknown (so yea, there is a good chance that TajMahal and Qutab Minar won't feature here).

If anyone who is reading this series would like to suggest a place that they have visited or would like to visit one day, then do leave the name and some description of that place in the comment box and I would be happy to research and write-up about the same. This series will be sprinkled between my regular posts, in order to keep things interesting.

In India, everything starts and ends with the name of God and what better day to start then on the eve of Christmas. Today, I will be showing some of the best churches in India (in terms of architecture or aesthetic value)

This is St. Philomena's Cathedral in Mysore. It is one of the largest churches in India. I love the color contrasts used in the stained glass windows. The church was build in 1840 A.D as St. Joseph's Church but renamed St. Philomena's Cathedral in 1933. The church was named so because it has a crypt with a statue of St. Philomena, a 3rd century saint from Greece.

This is one of my favorite pictures because it has a statue of Christ with his arms outstretched, on top of the church and the weather/clouds just make this image heavenly. This is St. Joseph's Church (also known as Palyam Church) in Trivandrum, Kerela. The choir service in the church is performed in three languages, English, Malayalam and Tamil. This just shows how different religions have integrated within the Indian society and has become a part of it.

This is one of the most revered churches in India, Santhome Church in Chennai. It is believed that the church is built over the tomb of St. Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. It is believed that the sand taken from St. Thomas's tomb has healing power and so the Church itself has been reaised to mythical proportions like no other.

One of the oldest neighborhoods of Panjim is Fountainhas and it houses beautiful church by the name of, St. Sebastian Church. The church was built in 1818 as a small chapel. The church and the neighborhood has a traditional Portuguese architecture. The "Crucifix of Inquisition" lies in this church.

St. Francis Church in Cochin is the oldest European church in India. It was constructed in 1503 and Vasco Da Gama, the first European to discover India, was buried here. It has a very modest building but its the history behind it that makes it so important among all the churches in India.

Mount Mary Church in Bandra, Mumbai, has one of the best interiors of church that I have seen. It attracts lakhs of devotees every year because of its prime location. The good thing about most religious places in India is that it attracts people from all faiths and same is true for Mount Mary Church. The statue of "Our Lady" in the church was brought in 16th century but was replaced later after it was disfigured by Arab pirates. (Thank You Mehak for mentioning the Church in the comment box.)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!