ELEMENTS OF
• HINDU
The sanctuary as whole is known as the TEMPLE
Vimana that consists of two parts.
• The upper part of the Vimana is called as the Sikhara.
• The lower portion inside the Vimana is called as the Garbhagriha (cella or inner chamber).
‘Sikhara’ meaning the tower or the spire.
• It is the pyramidal or tapering portion of the temple which represents the
mythological ‘Meru’ or the highest mountain peak.
• The shape and the size of the tower vary from region to region.
‘Garbhagriha’ meaning the womb chamber.
• It is nucleus and the innermost chamber of the temple where the image or idol of the deity is placed.
• The chamber is mostly square in plan and is entered by a doorway on its
eastern side.
The visitors are not allowed inside the Pradakshina patha’ meaning the ambulatory passageway for circumambulation.
• It consists of enclosed corridor carried around the outside of
garbhagriha.
• The devotees walk around the deity in clockwise direction as a worship ritual and symbol of respect
to the temple god or goddess.
• ‘Mandapa’, is the pillared hall in front of the garbhagriha, for the assembly of the
devotees.
• It is used by the devotees to sit, pray, chant, meditate and watch the priests performing the
rituals.
• It is also known as ‘Natamandira’ meaning temple hall of dancing, where in olden days ritual of music and
dance was performed.
• In some of the earlier temples the mandapa was an isolated and separate structure from the sanctuary
like in Mahabalipuram
• . ‘Antarala’ meaning the vestibule or the intermediate chamber.
It unites the main sanctuary and the pillared hall of the temple.
CONSTRUCTI
ON
• No structural innovativeness
• Based on centre of gravity
TECHNIQUES
• Mass supporting mass
• Repetition
• No mortar- dry order
• Method of quarrying-
• groove drawn
• hole driven
• wooden peg inserted
• on pouring water wood expands
• stone breaks free
• Facing was hammer dressed
• Offsite fabrication was always carried out
• Assembling at site after preparation of each block at quarry
• To enable this accurate measurements are needed
• Sometimes models are prepared initially Main aim as mass rather than line for a temple
DIFFERENT
STYLES OF
TEMPLE
ARCHITECTURE
Nagara Dravida Vesara
Vastu-purusa
mandala
TEMPLE
• The temple is a holy site (tirtha), where they practitioners can perform Circumambulation
(pradaksina).
• They also perform the pious act of gazing at the deity (darsan) and offering
prayers, flowers and food (puja).
• The temple is never a meeting place for a congregation, but it came to be a focal point of the
community.
• The heart of the temple is the dark hall called garbha grha (womb hall), where the most
important icon is placed. It is the most important area.
• Pillared halls (mandapa) and porticos were added to the garbha graha, which was surmounted
with a tower (sikhara)--center of the universe (axis mundi).
• Many varieties: wood, brick, terracotta, and variety of stone (e.g., schist, chlorite, marble)
• Temples required to be heavily ornamented, things lacking in ornament were considered imperfect
or incomplete.
Motifs: narrative reliefs, animal motifs, floral and vegetation motifs.
THE LOCATION AND STRUCTRE OF THE TEMPLE:
• Temples are found deliberately at a place where the positive energy
- magnetic and electric wave conveyances of north/south post push.
• The idol of God is set in the core center of the temple, known as “Garbhagriha” or “Moolasthanam”-
place where earth’s magnetic waves are discovered to be most extreme.
VASTHU PURUSA MANDALA:
A myth explains the symbolic diagram (mandala): the gods in seeking to impose
order on chaos, forced the primeval man, Purusa, into a square grid, the vastu-
purusa mandala, whose basic unit is the square pada
Hindu temple is the dwelling of the gods. It is based on the grid systems of
64 (8x8) and 81 (9x9) squares.
Square is the prefect shape for the ground plan.
Priests perform ritual of consecrations which connect between sexual
rites and fertility in Hindu architecture.
