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It is a bit of "holy" diplomacy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered Indian help to conserve Prambanan Temple complex dedicated to Shiva in Indonesia that suffered extensive damage in the May earthquake . India will be sending a team of officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to help in the conservation of the complex.

"The Ministry of External Affairs wrote a letter telling us that the Prime Minister has offered to help rebuild the Prambanan Temple complex. We have written a letter to the Indian Ambassador telling him that we will help in any way we can,'' said ASI Director-General C. Babu Rajeev. It is hoped that the ASI's knowledge about temples will be an asset in this job.

A World Heritage Site, the temple complex is the largest Shiva temple complex in Java.

With a long history of damage by earthquakes, the temple complex was abandoned and crumbled in 1600 A.D. Named after a village close by, the complex has over 200 temples and was completed around 900 A.D. A complex that is being continuously built since 1918, it was ironically being rebuilt when it was hit by an earthquake earlier this year.

"We will be sending a team to Indonesia. They will interact with their Indonesian counterparts to understand what kind of help we can provide. Whether they need technological help or manpower, it really depends on what they ask for. We have also been sent pictures of the damage so that we can understand the temple,'' said Mr. Rajeev. While the entire complex covers a huge area, most tourists visited only the eight large temples along with eight smaller ones. The largest and most ornate temple of the group is dedicated to Shiva. The story of good triumphing over evil -- the Ramayana -- is carved on the walls.

According to news reports broken bits of the temple were scattered all over the ground after the 6.3 magnitude quake occurred. The temple was also closed to the public to assess the damage. -- Mandira Nayar

Mandira Nayar

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