Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

151 Temple Reconstruction Part: 3

The next day, Arjun was summoned to the palace. Upon his arrival, he was informed about the decision made by Vijay. Hearing the decision, Arjun was very happy as a lot of resources were used to feed these prisoners. Arjun had pleaded with Vijay many times before to execute them to save costs, but Vijay had always denied his request. Because of this, Arjun always thought that Vijay was still a little soft-hearted. However, today he got to know that Vijay was only fattening the pig before slaughtering it.

He happily left the palace and went to meet the branch headquarters of the jail division under his ministry.

Upon arrival at the jailer division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he met with Director Verma, the person in charge of all matters related to the jail affairs.

Verma used to be a police officer in Bangalore town, but when he displayed his prowess and confronted the nobles in the kingdom, he was promoted to a higher post. Due to his excellent talent, he was also assigned to deal with the criminals in the city. With his ingenious methods of interrogation and a positive attitude, he climbed up the ranks to reach the post of Director of the Police and Jail division.

Verma, who was informed about the fates of these criminals, was also overjoyed as it was a constant challenge to stay alert at all times, especially when the staff under him was limited. Observing this, the criminals in the jail became more and more unruly. They were so uncontrollable that every week there were at least 4 to 5 escape attempts made in every single jail across the empire. However, he couldn't execute them, only catch them back and re-arrest them.

He was perplexed about why His Majesty ordered not to execute them, but upon receiving the recent orders, he fully understood. A smile crossed his face as he saluted Arjun and drafted his orders.

Soon, his orders reached various jails across the Empire where the criminals were housed.

"Wake up, maggots! It's finally time to work!"

"Bang!"

Shouts rang out in a jail cell as the constable tasked with staying watch woke the prisoners up with a loud voice, hitting a sleeping prisoner with the back of his musket. The prisoner who was struck expressed his dissatisfaction as he began to glare at the constable.

"What are you looking at? Move! You have work to do." But the person who was hit did not move as he clenched his fist and wanted to hit the constable. Since their arrival, except for occasional torture, they were mostly left alone and even given good food. Their vigilance against the police officers decreased, and they believed that the Empire was in trouble as there was not enough manpower to deal with all of them.

Just as his wrist was about to hit the constable, the constable smiled as it was finally his time to act. He aimed the gun at the assailants arm and pulled the trigger.

*Bang!*

Blood spurted out as the shoulder of the assailant was scraped beyond use.

"I said, GET UP, YOU USELESS WASTE OF SPACE! YOU HAVE WORK TO DO!"

Only then did everyone realize that the constable was real. similar events happened in all the jails in the empire where the war criminals were collectively dispatched to various quarries throughout the empire.

Different types of rocks were used for the construction and repair of the temples, so the quarries were placed in multiple locations. For hard granites, charnockite was used, which was found in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. This rock boasts huge and exceptional strength, and weather resistance, and is a beautiful grey and black stone; the Meenakshi temple also uses the same stone. Another variation is Kalahasti granite, a pinkish-grey stone with fine grain, making it perfect for intricate carvings; this stone is used in the Tirumala Tirupati temple. As for soft granite, the Mysore granite was used; this stone is a softer granite, so carvings could be easier and can be polished well.

Another rock selected is khondalite, the original rock used in the Konark Sun temple. It is found in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, and it is a metamorphic rock that has a coarse and granular texture with good weather resistance.

Even laterite was used as it was a beautiful reddish-brown rock, readily available and easily carved. However, the drawback is it requires careful maintenance due to its porous nature. One of the places this rock can be seen is in the Padmanabha Swamy temple.

The war criminals were also sent to Sri Lanka because the transportation of such heavy rocks was not feasible through boats. The Sondagars discovered a lot of stones indigenous to Sri Lanka. Firstly, charnockite, similar to Southern India, was found; and two other new indigenous stones were discovered. One was called gabbro, a black-grey rock that is incredibly strong and weather-resistant, commonly used in structures like Sigiriya. Another rock used in the construction of the new Vishnu temple is anorthosite, a white granular rock with exceptional strength and resistance to weather.

To supervise these war criminals, a special police unit equipped with flintlock rifles was dispatched. The commencement of quarry work resonated within a week, marked by the constant echoes of rocks being diligently struck. Once extracted, these rocks were transported to the nearest towns, where skilled craftsmen who were recently recruited further processed them for use. The entire quarrying operation was vigilantly overseen by armed guards, ensuring that the individuals involved remained confined to their designated areas. The atmosphere bore a striking resemblance to the mines portrayed in the KGF movie, as foreseen in the future.

Vishwakarma had recruited a lot of Architects from all over the empire. Surprisingly, he even invited a few Architects who were originally from the Mughal Empire. He delineated different sites to different people, grouping together Architects specializing in certain styles.

As for the Divya Vishnu Prasad Mandir, which is to be constructed in Kandy, Sri Lanka, Vishwakarma added in a lot of his own ideas as the base and let his disciple Vajra Karma take the lead in completing this historic project. Vishwakarma would have loved to be in charge of this project alone, but unfortunately, he had a lot of work to deal with. Despite knowing very well that this new temple was going to be a historical temple that would last through the ages, he readily gave up the power to his disciple as he still knew the priority.

Regarding the talent of his disciple, Vishwakarma felt immense pride, recognizing that Vajra surpassed him in skill. Lately, Vajra had been unusually active, claiming to receive unique ideas and insights ever since their meeting with His Majesty. Eager to experiment with his newfound concepts, Vajra was relentless in his pursuit. Unable to contain his excitement, he even enlisted the help of a few servants to construct a small mock building, allowing him to test various ideas.

Some of Vajra's ideas even captivated Vishwakarma, making his eyes light up with admiration. There were aspects in the model he made that even a seasoned architect like him did not consider. Also, the senior architects who were initially skeptical about Vajra taking on such a crucial role, after seeing the model, even the most stubborn architects were now convinced, witnessing the ingenuity displayed in Vajra's models. Taking all of this into account, Vishwakarma made the decision to entrust the monumental mission to his talented disciple.

The artisans of Vijayanagara became in demand again as the temple construction needed thousands of craftsmen. Craftsmen from various parts of the Empire signed up, enticed by the high salary.

To all these craftsmen, Vishwakarma also organized a sort of exam to weed out the mediocre from the best. This recruitment even reached the new territories of Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Sri Lanka. The artisans in these places were very excited as they were jobless because prior to the Vijayanagar Empire, their previous kingdom did not support or encourage indigenous craftsmanship. This led to them having no or reduced customers. They had been going through life doing some menial labour. Now, learning that their own temples would be reconstructed and rebuilt, they signed up readily.

The worker problem was also solved as the road construction in the new territories was coming to an end. While the main highways were still being constructed and would take a while longer, the small inter-town roads were completed, and being gravel roads, they were easier than the cement roads built between the cities.

While a lot of workers went home to farm and raise the cattle they earned, still, a small chunk of workers decided to re-enlist for the temple construction project, thereby increasing the speed of construction further. But the large number of manpower also increased the cost required, but this is all for the future.

In a large auditorium in the capital,

"Let's use 'Amma' for mother," a scholar suggested, emphasizing its similarity in languages such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and many others.

After giving it some thought, most of them voted in support of the proposed change.

The development of the new Bharati language was progressing well, as scholars utilized a voting system, as suggested by Vijay, to determine words and settle disputes, streamlining the process for efficiency.