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The ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT INDIAN TEMPLES

BySamirsinh P Parmar

Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur&

Prof. D.P. MishraDepartment of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur

Proceedings of the National Seminar on Ancient Indian Science and TechnologyNAIST 2015

14th October, 2015, Kanpur, India

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1. ABSTRACT Each culture and era has a distinctive construction practice which is unique and

represents the ideology, development, art and architecture of that particular era or culture.

In this context, the Hindu Temples are epitome of knowledge, art, architecture, culture and represents the advancement of building science of the ancient Indian subcontinent.

This paper deals with the styles, design and geometry, structural system and construction technology of the Indian temples.

The distinctive architectural styles and elements of Hindu Temple are also presented in this paper.

The construction technology starting from the selection of the team to planning, carving and assembling of individual pieces are also detailed in this paper.

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2. Steps in Temple Construction1. Bhu pariksha: Examining and choosing location and soil for temple and town. The land should be fertile

and soil suitable.2. Sila pariksha: Examining and choosing material for image3. Karshana: Corn or some other crop is grown in the place first and is fed to cows. Then the location is fit

for town/temple construction.4. Vastu puja: Ritual to propitiate vaastu devata.5. Salyodhara: Undesired things like bones are dug out.6. Adyestaka: Laying down the first stone7. Nirmana: Then foundation is laid and land is purified by sprinkling water. A pit is dug, water mixed with

navaratnas, navadhanyas, navakhanijas is then put in and pit is filled. Then the temple is constructed.8. Murdhestaka sthapana: Placing the top stone over the prakara, gopura etc. This again involves creating

cavities filled with gems minerals seeds etc. and then the pinnacles are placed.9. Garbhanyasa: A pot made of five metals (pancaloha kalasa sthapana) is installed at the place of main

deity.10. Sthapana: Then the main deity is installed.11. Pratistha: The main deity is then charged with life/god-ness.

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3.ELEMENTS OF HINDU TEMPLE

• “Sikhara”refers to the spire or the tower. It is shaped as pyramidal and tapering representing the mythological • “Meru” or the highest mountain peak.• “Garbhagriha” refers to the womb chamber which is the innermost chamber of any temple where the deity resides.

It is mainly square in layout and is entered through eastern side. • • “Pradakshina Patha” refers to the ambulatory passageway for circumambulation and comprises of enclosed corridor

outside the garbhagriha. The devotees walk around the deity in clockwise direction, paying their respect to the deity. • “Mandapa”, is the pillared hall in front of the garbha- griha, used as assembling point by devotees for chant; rituals

meditate or observe the priests perform the rituals. • Sometimes, “Natamandira” is also provided in some temples which mean the hall for dancing. In some early temple

structures, the mandapa was isolated and separate structure from the sanctuary. • “Antarala”, refers to the intermediate chamber which joins the main sanctuary and the pillared hall of the temple

premises. • “Ardhamandapa” refers to the front porch in the main entrance of the temple which leads to the main temple Some

other essential structural elements found in the Hindu temples are Mainly found in the south Indian temples.• “ Gopurams” are the monumental and ornate entrance to the temple premises. • “ Pitha”or the plinths of the main temple.• The gateways typical to north Indian temples are,”Toranas”.

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3.ELEMENTS OF HINDU TEMPLE

Typical Component parts of Hindu temples.

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4. THE GEOMETRY OF HINDU TEMPLEVastupurashamandala is the square which represents the earth and the circle represents the universe suggesting timelessness and infinity (see Fig. below). The mandala is actually a square divided into smaller squares arranged in the form of a grid. Each smaller square depicts the area of the respective Gods. The most commonly used mandala is the square subdivided into 64 and 81 squares.

Figure-: The image of Vastupurushamandala with 64 blocks for different deities

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 5. VINYASASUTRA (LAYOUT & ORIENTATION) of Ancient TemplesIn Hindu temple manuals, design plans are described with 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81 up to 1024 squares; 1 pada is considered the simplest plan, as a seat for a hermit or devotee to sit and meditate on, do yoga, or make offerings with Vedic fire in front. The second design of 4 padas has a symbolic central core at the diagonal intersection, and is also a meditative layout. The 9 pada design has a sacred surrounded center, and is the template for the smallest temple. Older Hindu temple vastumandalas may use the 9 through 49 pada series, but 64 is considered the most sacred geometric grid in Hindu temples.

Figure-: Typical Temple Plan (a)Shrine alone (b)Shrine with porch (c)Shrine with Antarala and porch. (d) Sarvatobhadra shrine with four entrances

(Source: Hardy, Adam. The Temple Architecture of India) Figure-: Typical Temple plan of temple : temple of Tanjavur

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6.Concluding Remarks.The temple architecture portrays the advancement of ancient Indian building sciences. This paper discussed the

styles, design and geometry, structural system and construction materials and technology of the Indian temples. The distinctive architectural styles of Hindu temples are discussed in the paper. It also focus on geometric excellence of the layout plans of the ancient temples. The balance, hierarchy, regulation and symmetry like architectural concepts was well developed in ancient India before thousand of years.

7.Referances1. S.P Gupta and S. Vijayakumar. 2010. Temples in India: Origin and Developmental Stages. D.K. Print wood(P) Ltd.,

New Delhi2. Acharya V.A, “Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Spaces” Research Paper, Department of Architectural and

Planning, I.I.T. Roorkee, Roorkee, India, 1991. Paper no 28193. Kak S. “Space and cosmology in Hindu temples”. Vaastu Kaushal: International Symposium on Science and

Technology in Ancient Indian Monuments. New Delhi. November 16-17.

For further information : Mail to : samirddu@gmail.com

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Thank YouThis paper is dedicated to largest Hindu temple in world: Angkor Wat