Why we don’t have precolonial palaces, temples

New Delhi—The wedding of Filipino visual artist Jeudi “Bam” Garibay and Indian dance artist Ashna Katoch gave me the chance to visit India once again this week. I first came to India 15 years ago when I traveled solo all the way to Kashmir. This time, I came with friends as we visited historic sites in Agra, Jaipur, and New Delhi, before and after the wedding.

As we went around visiting ancient structures, the old question that confounded me in the past, perplexed me once again. Every time I visit a foreign land with ancient precolonial structures, the question that nags me is, why is the Philippines bereft of any comparable structures made of rocks, stones, or bricks that were built by our ancestors before the Spanish conquistadors and Catholic friars came. The building of churches, forts, lighthouses and ”bahay na bato” structures in our islands only began during the Spanish occupation.

Others who have been confronted with the same paradox offer the reasoning that our islands have not been gifted with the kind of rocks that are plentiful as construction materials in countries whose ancestors built structures like the pyramids, forts, castles, temples, and the like. However, the explanation fails to convince because solid structures were erected in our islands using adobe, coral rocks, river stones, and bricks but only after the Spaniards came. So why were these same materials not used by our ancestors to erect sturdy structures before western colonizers came? Were our ancestors in the backwaters of civilization compared to the kingdoms whose ancient structural wonders still exist to this day?

Why does Cambodia have its Angkor Wat, Indonesia its Borobudur, India its Taj Mahal, Egypt its pyramids, Peru its Machu Picchu, Greece its Parthenon, Italy its Colosseum, and China its Great Wall? These structures were constructed hundreds to thousands of years before the spread of western colonization.

Instead of figuring out why our precolonial ancestors didn’t build solid edifices, we should figure out why other ancient societies needed to build stone structures. By inverting the analysis, we see our ancestors in a clearer light, and we may understand why they didn’t follow in the footsteps of societies that went on building sprees in olden times. At least three major reasons may explain why many ancient kingdoms built grandiose edifices.

First, many of these ancient societies were ruled by megalomaniac leaders (judged in the context of modern times) who built lavish palaces and extravagant burial grounds like the pyramids and the Taj Mahal. These rulers either utilized unpaid slave labor or plundered the public treasury to pay workers and artisans to build and prodigally decorate huge mansions. These leaders with enormous egos and outsized appetite for conquests engaged in wars to expand their dominion, and in the process, they had to construct fortified enclaves. Other leaders built walled cities to defend their communities against fellow megalomaniac rulers. In fact, history authors have written that many of the advancements in civilization were the result of the necessities of war, especially the need to support armies.

Second, religion was responsible for the many rock-solid edifices built in ancient times. The kinds of religion that impelled people to construct temples did not develop deep roots among our precolonial people. Animism was the primary form of religious belief of our ancestors. They worshiped nature spirits and their deceased ancestors. Animism espoused respect for the environment because of the belief that the natural world is inhabited by spirits and supernatural entities. Thus, we didn’t have precolonial temples because the spirits that our ancestors worshiped dwelt in nature.

Third, many foreign kingdoms were compelled to build solid edifices to deal with the harsh environment. Societies with yearly bouts of cold weather had to construct solid and thick structures to keep the heat inside their dwellings during the cold months. In contrast, our ancestors lived in a temperate environment that never necessitated solid rock dwellings. Besides, wood, bamboo, and nipa were the construction materials that were plentiful, and they were suited to our warm and humid surroundings.

Hundreds of years before western colonizers came, our ancestors were regularly trading with kingdoms that had temples, palaces, and walled fortifications. They could have built imitations of those structures. But the leadership temperament, the religious bend, and the environmental necessity weren’t there. Our precolonial ancestors didn’t bequeath us with palaces, temples, and walled cities. They bestowed to us the preserved beauty and bounty of our natural environment which are the sites and wonders that draw millions of tourists in our islands.

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