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.