Home »
Indian Heritage & Culture »
Architecture »
Temple Architecture »
Basic form of Hindu temple
Basic form of Hindu temple
The basic form of the Hindu temple comprises the following:
-
Sanctum (Garbhagriha literally ‘womb-house’), which was a small cubicle with a single entrance
and grew into a larger chamber in time. The garbhagriha is made to house the main icon which
is itself the focus of much ritual attention -
The entrance to the temple which may be a portico or colonnaded hall that incorporates space
for a large number of worshippers and is known as a mandapa -
Freestanding temples tend to have a mountain-like spire, which can take the shape of a curving
shikhar in North India and a pyramidal tower, called a vimana, in South India -
The Vahan,e., the mount or vehicle of the temple’s main deity along with a standard pillar or
dhvaj is placed axially before the sanctum.
The basic components of the Hindu temple
Two broad orders of temples in the country are known— Nagara in the north and Dravida in the
south. At times, the Vesara style of temples as an independent style created through the selective
mixing of the Nagara and Dravida orders is mentioned as a distinctive style of temple architecture
by some experts
Iconography of Indian temples
The study of images of deities falls within a branch of art history called ‘iconography’, which
consists of identification of images based on certain symbols and mythologies associated with
them. Every region and period produced its own distinct style of images with its regional variations
in iconography.
The placement of an image in a temple is carefully planned: for instance, river goddesses (Ganga
and Yamuna) are usually found at the entrance of a garbhagriha in a Nagara temple, Dvarapalas
(doorkeepers) are usually found on the gateways or gopurams of Dravida temples, similarly,
mithunas (erotic images), navagrahas (the nine auspicious planets) and yakshas are also placed at
entrances to guard them
Subsidiary shrines around the main temple are dedicated to the family or incarnations of the main
deity. Finally, various elements of ornamentation such as gavaksha, vyala/yali, kalpa-lata,
amalaka, kalasha, etc. are used in distinct ways and places in a temple.
Related Posts