Hindu Architecture

HINDU ARCHITECURE

PROF. ABHIJEET B. SHINDE, PRAVARA RURAL COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE,

LONI

• During the Gupta Empire, when Buddhist practices began to fuse with the surviving Vedic practices of pre-Buddhist times, Which lead to new and well-organized religion that we now call Hinduism.

• The Gupta revival of a transformed Vedic Hinduism was a skillful exercise in adaptation and invention.

• Vedic institutions were reinvented to serve the purposes of their new champions.

• Old fire sacrifices were transformed into courtly ritual, oral Vedic literatures were rewritten to integrate contemporary social and cultural norms

• Vedic gods were supplanted by new, more agential and personal gods—particularly Shiva and Vishnu.

Hindu Architecture

Prof. Abhijeet B. Shinde, PRCA, Loni 1

Introduction -

• Sanskrit became the language of the court and the medium of an official high culture that revolved around the reinvented institution of the temple.

• Though the new Hinduism challenged Buddhism theologically, the latter’s institutions and practices were assimilated into the Hindu temple.

• Buddhist practices were not prohibitedin fact, their institutions continued to thrive.

• By this time, the Buddhists were themselves routinely making stone images of the Buddha.

Hindu Architecture


Introduction -

Gupta Period

• SRIGUPTA [ 240-280 AD ] believed to be founder of Gupta dynasty.

• Chandragupta first [ 375-414 AD ] started the real glory of gupta period

• The basic configuration of the Hindu temple can be seen at the Temple 17 at Sanchi and the Kankali Devi at Tigawa, both from the early 5th century CE.

Hindu Architecture


8.34 Section and plan: Temple 17, Sanchi 8.33 Temple 17, Sanchi, near Bhopal, India

• Both consist of a flat-roofed garbha-griha and mandapa, linked by a simple stepped stylobate and architrave.

• The garbha-griha (literally “womb chamber”) is usually square and unadorned.

• The mandapa is essentially a place for the worshipper.

Garbha griha

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period

Mandapa

PLAN

SECTION

Garbha griha Mandapa

TEMPLE AT SANCHI

• In Hindu worship, the antarala (doorway or threshold) between the garbha - griha and a mandapa marks the all-important moment of transition at which the worshipper and the deity come into direct visual contact and enact the critical transaction called darshana (“beholding of an auspicious deity”).

Hindu Architecture


Hindu Temple Philosophy

A sanctum inside the Hoysaleshwara temple in Halebidu

• the whole temple can be considered a two-way portal between the worlds of the worshipper and the deity.

• In essence, the deity descends into the lingam or statue while the worshipper ascends to the sacred threshold.

• The deity is considered to be a guest in the world of the worshipper.

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period

• Another example of an early Gupta period Hindu temple is the brick-and-mud mortar temple at Bhitargaon (400–50 CE ).

• Here the garbha - griha is surmounted by a large tapering superstructure, called the shikhara.

• This temple is constructed on a high plinth.

Garbha griha

Antarala TEMPLE AT BHITARGAON

• The shikhara marks the vertical axis in the form of the cosmic mountain.

• Its purpose is to enable the worshipper to visualize the order of the complete universe as described by Hindu cosmogony.

• A shikhara, therefore, is a three-dimensional model of the Hindu cosmos.

• All temples culminate in a finial, the conceptual center of the structure.

• From there, the “cosmos” splays outward, cascading down the building along radial lines.

Hindu Architecture



8.35 Three-dimensional model of the Hindu cosmos Based on Adam Hardy, The Temple Architecture of India

(Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Hindu Architecture



8.36 The vertical axis: the mountain as a link between the upper and lower worlds

The axis of access

Sikhara or tower

• Shikharas conceived of as solid and are for the most part, even though for structural reasons some may have internal hollows.

• The actual geometries of the shikhara are determined by its mandala, or astrological diagram.

• They can best be understood, as Adam Hardy has recently described, as complex assemblages of mini-temples, or aediculae, intended to depict the composite nature of the Hindu cosmos.

• During the 6th and 7th centuries, Hindu architecture in South Asia entered an experimental phase, and rock-cut temples competed for prominence with the new structural-stone and brick temples.

• The plethora of styles and approaches was a product of the numerous kingdoms, that of Harshavardhana (606– 47 CE ) in the north, and, moving southward, the Chalukyas, the Pallavas, the Cholas, and the Pandyas.

Hindu Architecture


• An interesting comparison can be made between two 6th-century Gupta period temples: • the Shiva shrine on Elephanta Island,

a rock-cut structure built by Shaivite monks for their own use, and

• the Dasavatara Vishnu Temple at Deogarh, a brick-and-stone structure built for a large devotee population.

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period

The Dashavatara Temple or Vishnu Temple also called Gupta temple at Deogarh

Entrance to Elephanta caves

A Hindu mandala

• Deogarh is a new invention a shrine constructed with rock to appear as if it is monolithic (i.e., rock-cut).

• The Deogarh has a representational mountain as its shikhara, begin with a square garbha-griha,

• Deogarh would have had originally held an image of Vishnu,

• Deogarh is accessible only from the west (the direction of Vishnu) and has three implied doors (ghana-dwaras, literally “blind doors”) along its remaining cardinal directions.

• Deogarh’s main shrine is at the center of a nine-square mandala, with four subsidiary shrines interlocked at its corners.

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period

Ghanadwara with sculpture of Vishnu at Deogarh Temple

Ghanadwara with sculpture of Vishnu at Deogarh Temple

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period

• The cerebral exploration of interlocking geometries based on mandala diagrams was to become the defining characteristic of Hindu temple form in the centuries to come.

• Mandalas are derived from original Vedic altars and are used in both the Hindu and Buddhist religions as diagrams to map the cosmos for astrological observations.

• These diagrams are abstract, without scale, and can take any number of forms derived from a combination of superimposed squares and circles.

Garbha griha

Subsiduary shrines

• Elephanta is a Hindu shrine adapted from the older Buddhist rock-cut structures

• The Elephanta caves has a real mountain in which it is embedded.

• It is Having square garbha-griha,

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period

• Elephanta Caves has the Shiva Lingam at its center.

• From the middle, four axes radiate out, defining access paths.

• Elephanta is open on all four sides, though east is its primary direction of access.

Hindu Architecture


Gupta Period • Elephanta has a much more

complex geometry, with four sets of nine-square mandalas interlocking to define two major axes of access, one from the west and the other from the north.

• The north-south axis, aligned with the main entrance, terminates in three gigantic Shiva sculptures in deeply recessed niches.

• This triptych, occupies the entire width and height of the end wall, and, compared to the rough-hewn character of the rest of structure, was carved with greater care.

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1.Mandapa, 2. Garbhagriha 3. Trimurti, 4. Shrine

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Plan: Durga Temple at Aihole, India

0 20 m

Hindu Architecture


Chalukya Period

Durga Temple - • One of the most experimental of the

Chalukyan temples in western India is the Durga Temple (675–710 CE ) at Aihole.

• it has an apsidal end clearly derived from the Buddhist caitya halls, and it ably accommodates the parikrama, or circumambulatory function, by providing an enclosed corridor around the general arc of movement.

• There are a few examples of similar apsidal temples in India, but they are rare.

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1. Garbh-Griha 2. Mandapa 3. Ardhmandapa 4. Porch

5. Internal Ambulatory path 6. External Ambulatory path

Hindu Architecture


Chalukya Period Durga Temple -

• the Durga Temple has a secondary envelope wrapping around the main shrine, which is unique in Hindu temple architecture.

• a second aisle was created and left largely unadorned, with large openings formed by simple piers.

• The veranda created by the intermediate space contrasts but protects the heavily ornamented and sculpted interior wall, which belongs to the main body of the temple.

• Contemporary with the Chalukyas, with whom they had frequent commerce, the Pallavas are one of the most distinguished dynasties of the South.

• The second Pallava ruler, Narasimhavarman II, built at Mamallapuram not only one of India’s largest port cities of the time but also a series of monuments that form something of a petrified stone city on the coast.

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period

Five Rathas and the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram.

Nakul-Sahadev Rath Draupadi Rath Draupadi Rath, Arjun Rath, Bhim Rath, Nakul-sahadev rath

• The oldest and most famous of his constructions are the Five Rathas (mid- to late 7th century) and the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram.

• The Five Rathas are a group of five miniaturized stone temples accompanied by life-size sculptures of a bull, an elephant, and a lion.

• Four of the temples are carved out of a single, large piece of rock.

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period

Five Rathas, Mamallapuram, India

• It is unclear why they were made. • They may have been an experimental

study of typological possibilities or displays of sculptural prowess in stone intended to rival woodwork.

• Miniaturization is, in fact, a persistent theme in Hindu temple design

• Every temple is a thought of as a miniature of the Hindu cosmic order.

Five Rathas at Mamallapuram.

• And the “decorative” module of a temple on a shikhara is also a miniature of the temple of which it is a part.

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period

• on every scale from the mini-temple on a shikhara, to the temple itself, to the full-scale reality of the Hindu cosmos the same form repeats itself, as in fractal geometry.

Five Rathas at Mamallapuram.

• Beyond being a symbol of cosmic order, temples also project to the worshipper a sense of personal wholeness.

Bhima Ratha and Nakul sahadeva ruth

Dharmaraja Rath Bhima Rath

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period

Dharmaraja Rath- Section

Dharmaraja Rath- Plan

• It is one of the oldest structural stone temples in southern India overlooking the Bay of Bengal.

• It is attributed to the Pallava king Narasimhavarman II.

• Originally, it was part of a series of temples that belonged to a former port city that has long since disappeared into the waves, leaving the building isolated on the beach.

• The temple is actually an amalgam of three different shrines.

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period The Shore Temple at Mamallapuram (700–728 CE ),

• The main shrine is dedicated to Shiva and faces east.

• The second shrine, with a smaller shikhara, is also dedicated to Shiva, but faces west.

• Between the two, attached to the back wall of the smaller Shiva shrine and entered from the east, is a small third shrine with no super structural presence, dedicated to the reclining Vishnu.

• The Vishnu shrine, probably the oldest on the site, is on axis with the larger Shiva shrine, although there is no direct communication between the two.

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period

Shore Temple at Mamallapuram


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1. Shiva Shrine 2. Vishnu Shrine 3. Shiva Shrine 4. Gopuram 5.Pradakshina path

PLAN

SECTION

• The entrance is through a gateway or gopuram, covered by a transverse barrel vault.

• although most of the exterior arrangements of the temple have eroded, there are indications that water may have been channeled into pools in the temple and may indeed have also entered into the Vishnu shrine which would have been appropriate, since the reclining Vishnu figure is described in hindu culture as lying in the primordial ocean.

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period Shore Temple at Mamallapuram

Hindu Architecture


Pallava Period


• The shikharas are similar to those of the nearby Five Rathas, with a strict pyramidal outline and a pilastered wall.

• The individual tiers of the Shore Temple’s shikharas have been kept distinct and separate, with the deep overhanging eaves casting dark shadows without blurring the levels.

• Both shikharas resolve themselves into octagonal capstones with long finials. • Most later Hindu temples, dedicated to more than one deity, are lined up

hierarchically or organized radially around a dominant center. • The Shore Temple’s biaxial configuration of the two Shiva shrines, which are

separated and yet linked by the small Vishnu shrine, represents an effort to balance the multiple competing liturgical requirements.

Rajasimhesvara and Virupaksha Temples- • While India was ruled by a series of diverse

kingdoms, the competition in south India between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas intensified.

• Victorious kings routinely carried the other’s masons and temple builders back home with them. This resulted in a cross-fertilization of temple design.

• The Rajasimhesvara Temple (700-730 CE ) built by the Pallava king in his capital, Kanchipuram was the model for the Virupaksha Temple (733-744 CE), built by the Chalyukyan queen at Pattadakal.

Hindu Architecture


Late Chalukyan Period

• Workmen from Rajasimhesvara also worked on the Virupaksha; the two make for an interesting comparison.

• The garbha-griha is surrounded by a well-defined and fully enclosed parikrama path,

• It has nine subsidiary shrines arrayed in constellation around it,

Hindu Architecture



Rajasimhesvara Temple

• It Has attached mandapas, • Rajasimhesvara Temple’s two enclosed mandapas set up a single longitudinal

axis • Rajasimhesvara’s precinct is packed with a phalanx of subsidiary shrines, and

in fact has the beginnings of a second precinct enclosure also made of subsidiary shrines,

• The inner columns of the Rajasimhesvara have a simple arithmetic geometry.


Plan: Rajasimhesvara Temple

0 25 m

Hindu Architecture



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1. Garbha Griha 2. Gudha Mandapa 3. Sabha mandapa 4. Gopuram 5. Shrines


Hindu Architecture



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Plan: Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal, India

0 15

Hindu Architecture



1 2 3 4

5 Virupaksha Temple

• The two temples’ are similar in their size and organizational type, rather than their appearance and formal order.

• Though most Hindu temples face east, Virupaksha, being a Shiva temple, faces west.

• The garbha-griha is surrounded by a well-defined and fully enclosed parikrama path

• the Virupaksha Temple establishes the presence of subsidiary shrines through articulations of the outer wall.

1. Garbha Griha, 2. SabhaMandap, 3. Nandi Shrine, 4. Gopuram, 5. Shrines

• Virupaksha’s Temple single mandapa is fully pierced and sets up a cross-axis with spatial dynamism.

• Virupaksha’s precinct has only an episodic collection of subsidiary shrines attached to it and breaks to respond to the cross-axis of the mandapa.

• The Virupaksha, being a Shiva shrine, also has the requirement of a Nandi pavilion for Shiva’s bull; the pavilion sits as a separate element in its forecourt.

Hindu Architecture



Virupaksha Temple

• Unlike earlier Hindu temples in which the garbha-griha is framed by its plinth and precinct walls, here the outer frame and the inner garbha-griha are locked into each other by means of spatial intermediaries, including the mandapa, that allow for both axial and circumambulatory readings.

• the geometric order of the Virupaksha is more articulated than Rajasimhesvara, as is evidenced in the ordering of the of twelve freestanding columns of the mandapa that are extended into the edges, either by pilasters or by columns, and arranged to clear the path of the cross-axis.

Hindu Architecture



Virupaksha Temple

• The beams run on elaborately carved, square columns with scalloped brackets. Charging elephants project from the beams above the columns. Interior at Virupaksha Temple

Scene from the Mahabharata

Hindu Architecture



Guardian Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal

Virupaksha Temple

External view of Virupaksha Temple

• Control of the Deccan Plateau was wrested from the Chalukyas around 750 CE by the Rashtrakutas, who ruled for about two centuries, until 973 CE .

• The Rashtrakutas quickly established their military superiority and captured the all-important trade routes that connected the western region to the rest of the subcontinent, in particular, the dakshinapatha, or southern route.

• On the dakshinapatha at Verul (contemporary Ellora), the Rashtrakuta ruler Krishna I ordered the construction of what was to become the largest rock-cut temple ever.

Hindu Architecture


Rashtrakuta Period

Kailasnath Temple at Ellora

Hindu Architecture


Rashtrakuta Period

• Fifty meters wide, more than 90 meters deep, and 20 meters high, Kailasnath is in the middle of the 3-kilometer-long wall of basalt that has thirty-four caves carved out of it (12 are Buddhist, 17 Hindu, and 5 Jain, dating from 600 to 1000 CE ).

• Kailasnath is conceived as a representation of the mythological mountain abode of Shiva, Mt. Kailash.

• Unlike the Buddhist rock-cut structures that essentially had always been elaborations of a cave, Kailasnath is an independent entity, a freestanding colossal sculpture revealed from the matrix.


• Two “victory towers” have been left on either side of the mass of the Nandi chamber.

• They not only provide the vertical axis of the composition, but their length also visibly measures the mass of the rock that has been excavated.

Hindu Architecture


Rashtrakuta Period


Victory Tower Temple of Kailasnath,

Ellora

• From outside, the temple is almost entirely obscured by its two-storied entrance gopuram (flanked on either side by Shaivite and Vaishnavite figures) on the west that leads, through a vestibule, into the main space.

• The ground floor is dominated by the immense presence of the excavated mass, since the body of the temple at this level is mostly solid and cannot be entered.

• Toward the back, the perimeter is ringed by a colonnade of square pillars whose only purpose seems to be to support the overhanging rock.

• In the midst of an elaborate sculptural program, the lower rock mass of the main shrine has life-size elephants carved into it, as if they were supporting the temple above.

Hindu Architecture


Rashtrakuta Period Kailasnath Temple at Ellora

Hindu Architecture


Rashtrakuta Period

• Access to the main level of the temple is from a pair of symmetrical stairs on the west that emerge into the entrance vestibule of the shrine.

• The mandapa has sixteen columns clumped into groups of four, creating a cruciform central space that opens into smaller porches on the north and south.

• The garbha-griha has no inner parikrama;


• instead on the outside, defined by five subsidiary shrines. Bridges connect the main shrine with the Nandi chamber and the entrance gopuram as well.

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1. Garbha Griha 2. Sabhamandap 3. Ardhmandap 4.Nandi shrine 5. Gopuram 6. Shrines 7. Lankeshwara Temple

• The shikhara or tower of the main shrine has a four-tiered pyramidal shape resolving into an octagonal finial.

• The subsidiary shrines use the same vocabulary.

• Toward the north, on the cross axis with the mandapa, there is another rock-cut temple, Lankesvara, complete with a sixteen-pillar mandapa and garbha-griha, That almost rivals the main shrine.

• And to the South there are two additional shrines, also rock-cut, one of which extends almost 25 Meters into the rock.

Hindu Architecture



• Most discussions of Kailasnath’s construction process assume that gigantic trenches were dug into the rock to clear out the main mass of the temple;

• this would have been followed by a process of excavating and sculpting. • Since Kailasnath is derived from rock-cut cave temple precedents,

excavating the sacred cave and then, in an act o superseding the infinity of the mountain around the traditional caves, “uncovering” the exterior in the form of a complete temple, makes sense conceptually as well.

• There would have been no room for error, since rock cannot be replaced.

• Making the temple had to have been an act of skilled and deliberate craftsmanship.

• The reason for their decision to dedicate the full extent of their resources to the creation of a gigantic rock-cut structure is unknown, but it must have had to do with reasserting the value of the traditional way of making a monumental ritual structure in the face of the imminent modernity of the structural stone temple.

Hindu Architecture



Hindu Architecture



ELEVATION

SECTION

• the Gurjara Pratiharas from the west, the Rashtrakutas from the Deccan Plateau, and the Buddhist Pallav kings from the east were locked in a battle for control of the central Gangetic Plains.

• Kanauj, through which all of the major trade Routes south, east, and north passed, was the prized possession.

• The three contenders, By turn, had all managed to capture Kanauj, but two centuries of warfare weakened all Three to such a degree that they all eventually collapsed.

• The resultant power vacuum In northern India led to a series of new kingdoms. Some of these, like the Chalukyas, Were former vassal states that now declared independence.

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

Rise of the Rajput Kingdoms Between 800 and 1000 CE-

• More significantly, a large number other communities that had previously been subjugated emerged as kingdoms in their own right.

• These are known collectively as the Rajput kingdoms because of their shared caste identity (rajput means “royal son”).

• Among these, the Solankis (western and central India), the Chandellas (north-central India), and the Orissans (east and central India) were eminent Temple builders.

• The capital of the Solankis Patan, was the largest city in India and the tenth-largest city in the world.

• The result was one of the largest temple-building campaigns in India, with new forms coming into being. Regional deities and gods were accepted into the expanding Hindu pantheon, and worship was conducted in regional languages.

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

Adalaj StepWell Ahmedabad

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

47 By Bernard Gagnon - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31339003

Rani-ni-Vav at Patan

• Access to and distribution of fresh water played a critical role in all of Indian society, where water had both an economic and a symbolic value.

• But Solanki wells were no simple affairs.

• The step well called the Ranini Vav, or “Queen’s Step Well,” was built at Anhilwara (Patan) in the 11th century, in memory of Bhimdev I (1022–63) by his widowed queen, Udaymati.

Rani-ni-Vav, step well at Patan

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

• It consists of a long stairway leading down to the water table.

• The entire excavation is lined with a multitiered colonnaded “facade” supported by elaborately carved stone columns and beams.


• It was partially roofed, with light filtering even into the deepest parts 28 meters below the surface.

• The reason for such splendor was that the Rani-ni-Vav (rani means “queen”; vav, “well”) served as a supplementary palace for the queen and her attendants.

Section

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

The well-shaft of the Queen's Stepwell (Ranki Vav) in Patan. Water was drawn by pulleys hooked on each overhanging pair of stone brackets.

• Since the well went so far down, its walls had to be buttressed against implosion.

• This was achieved by building heavy stone buttresses at the well’s mouth and bracing its interior.

partial plan

Rani-ni-Vav, step well at Patan, India

• The natural temperature of the earth, combined with the evaporative effects of the wind passing over the water, turned the step well into a subterranean world of cool repose during the blistering summer months.

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period


• In a more symbolic sense, the step well was also another version of the ghats of Varanasi or the water tank of the Sun Temple at Modhera, except that the step well was fully inhabitable.

• The Rani-ni-Vav survived intact because it was intentionally filled in with earth by the retreating Solankis to protect from invaders

• the Solankis, were among the most zealous temple builders amongst Rajputs who ruled in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

• They traded not only with the other kingdoms of South Asia but also with Central Asia.

• The Solanki royal temple, dedicated to Surya, or the sun, was made from golden sandstone in a tripartite axial arrangement.

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period Sun Temple at Modhera

11.20 Plan: Sun Temple at Modhera

Ramakunda pool

Sabha mandapa, assembly pavilion

Gudha mandapa, covered pavilion

Garbha-griha

Parikrama

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

Shrines

Sun Temple at Modhera • The main shrine is in the west, a rectangular water

tank in the east, and a mandapa in between, all integrated into a single composition.

• The mandapa is connected to the steps surrounding the water tank by a freestanding gateway, or torana, that marks the top of a flight of steps.

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period

• While the aesthetic expression of all the temple’s elements is in itself quite remarkable, it is the delicate richness with which all the columns, brackets, cusped and wavy arches, and roofs are carved that stands out.

Sun Temple at Modhera

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period


• Their distinction lies in how they function optically to connect the building’s elements.

• Standing on the western edge of the tank and looking eastward toward the main temple, the view seems to be of one building composed of the steps leading upward to the mandapa.

• But the conical top belongs to the shrine in the distance, and the entrance of the mandapa is actually the torana in the foreground.

Hindu Architecture


Rajput Period



Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Introduction

• In a brief period of about 175 years, the Chandellas, who called their kingdom Jejakabhukti, built more than eighty temples in and around their capital of Khajuraho (ancient Khajjuravahaka).

• The crispness of their architectural forms and the close continuity in their order and language indicates that there must have been a core group of architects, or perhaps even a single architect-in-charge.

• Two of the main royal temples of the Chandellas were the Lakshmana (ca. 950 CE ) and the Khandariya Mahadeva (1000–1025) temples.


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

• Dedicated to Shiva, the Lakshmana rises on a high platform ensuring that, like all other Khajuraho temples, it is visible in the surrounding flat countryside from afar.

Lakshmana Temple

• Independent subsidiary shrines are located at the four corners of the platform, suggesting a sense of enclosure and defining a sacred precinct without the actual existence of a wall.


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Lakshmana Temple

• Access is highly dramatic, via an axially placed stair to the platform and another set of stairs to the temple.The profile of the temple was itself something of a “stairway to heaven.”


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

• The temple consists of three mandapas preceding the main shikhara.

• The mandapas are articulated in horizontal layers, while the main shikhara emphasizes the vertical.

• the mandapa is no longer just a flat roofed box in front of the temple: it now has its own pyramidical roof that competes with the shikhara of the main shrine.

• From this time on, one of the main characteristics of Hindu temples is their silhouette.

Lakshmana Temple

Plan

Section

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1. Garbha griha 2. Mahamandapa 3. Ardhmandapa


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Lakshmana Temple

• The front elevations of the mandapas are designed so that at eye level they all appear to nestle into each other perfectly.

• (This is similar to the design of the Sun Temple at Modhera.)

• The objective was not just aesthetic.

http://rth.remotetraveler1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/gallery/lakshmana-temple-khajuraho/Front-view-of-Lakshmana-Temple-Khajuraho.JPG

• The superstructure of every Hindu temple is conceived as a model of the universe; its purpose is to disclose to the believer the inherent order and beauty of that universe.

• Architects of this temple orchestrated the front elevations not mathematically or geometrically, but perspectively.


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Lakshmana Temple


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Kanderiya Temple (1000–1025), • This Temple sits on a high platform

that it shares with another smaller temple, the Jagdambi, dedicated to the goddess Parvati.

• There are no corner shrines, so the profile of the Khandariya and is silhouetted against the sky without distraction.

• At 30 meters, including the 4m high platform on which it rests, the Khandariya rises higher than all the other temples.

• but its strength lies not in its size, but in the quality of its architecture.

• The effect is particularly spectacular in the circumambulation route, where the light coming from a high source casts dark shadows between the folds of the sculptures, bringing them into sharp relief.


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Kanderiya Temple

• The slight widening at the base, the strong horizontal protrusions of the porches, and the tightly bound faceting at the intersection of the shikhara and the mandapa make for an extraordinarily powerful composition.

• Because of their height, the porches give the visitor a sense of elevation above the quotidian. The interior of the sanctuary, however, is appropriately deep and dark, like a cave.

• the Khandariya temple is lit by large openings located well above eye level.

• The openings are furnished with platforms and steps for attendants and musicians.


Hindu Architecture


Chandella Period

Kanderiya Temple

Elevation

Plan

• Its profile is designed to represent the rhythms of a jagged mountain range, both in its outlines and in the composition of its parts.

• Unlike the Lakshmana, the Khandariya’s four mandapas are articulated with distinctive mini-shikharas that cluster around the main shikhara.

• These mini-shikharas produce the sense of a rising wave while still being fully geometrical.


Hindu Architecture


Orissa & Linga raja Temple

Vastushastra

• In the 10th and 11th centuries, a series of technical manuals was published under such titles as Vastu Shastra (“Construction Treatise”) and Shilpa Shastra (“Sculpture Treatise”);

• they provide insight into the highly codified language of temple design and construction.

• From these texts we know that a temple’s overall design was handled by a chief Brahmin, known as a sutradhar.

• He based his work on an astrological diagram called a mandala, a graph that mapped the positions of stars, planets, deities, and the sun with respect to a particular site.

• Its design is based on the overlay of a square and a circle. • The sutradhar chose from hundreds of mandalas, depending on the deity of the

temple and the religious persuasion of the community. • The temple’s actual form was derived through a series of geometrical maneuvers

designed to express the potency of the various planets and deities occupying the grid of the mandala.


Hindu Architecture


Vastushastra

• Radiating lines, the weight given to the primary directions, and special triangles all determined the location of the building’s various parts.

• A complex system of faceting, known as rathas, determined the detailed articulation of the temple’s surface.

• The purpose of the rathas was to enable multiple deities to share a single surface in the vertical and horizontal plane by suggesting superimposed layers.

• The final form was inevitably a heavily faceted pyramid.



Hindu Architecture


Vastushastra

• Once the design had been determined, it was relayed to the master builder, whose craft was handed down through oral tradition.

• Sculpture and paintings were then finished by independent shrenis (“artisans”).

• The cosmic order expressed by a temple offers a vision of a pyramidal universe cascading downward in conceptual waves from a single point of origin that in itself is without form or substance.

• The objective of the worshipper, in apprehending this vision, was to devote himself or herself to ascending to that formless center, a task assisted by devotion to the temple’s resident deity.



Hindu Architecture


Orissa

Raja Rani Temple

Rathas are the projections and recesses that form the pagas.

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Rekha Deul Jag Mohan


Hindu Architecture


Lingaraja Temple, Orissa

• Located in eastern India south of Bengal another important kingdom was Orissa, whose fertile rivers and ports were key to its wealth.

• Over the centuries, various dynasties ruled from its capital, Bhubaneshwar, which came to be home to about seven thousand Hindu temples, many of which were distributed around a sacred pool.

• A few hundred still stand. • As Hinduism matured, the ruling dynasties grew in power, and their ritual practices

became more and more elaborate, the temples of Bhubaneshwar grew in size and complexity.

• The temples were unique, as the mandapa was given its own pyramidical roof that had to be harmonized with the rising shikhara of the garbha-griha (which the Orissans call rekha deul).

• The emergence of this attempt at integration is seen at the Rajarani Temple (ca. 1000 CE ).



Hindu Architecture


Lingaraja Temple, Orissa

• As the “king” of the Bhubaneshwar temples, the Lingaraja Temple (ca. 1100) was distinguished not only by its size but also by the presence of a row of three jagmohans.

• The rituals that would normally have been conducted in a single hall were here separated, enabling several rituals to occur simultaneously and creating the sense of a mini-pilgrimage in their performance.


• These jagmohans • a primary jagmohan, • a nat-mandir (“dance hall”), • a bhogmandapa (“collective

ritual performance hall”) These were about the same size, though Each has a distinctive plan suited to its function.


Hindu Architecture


Lingaraja Temple Orissa

• The jagmohan has a fully articulated exterior, making it a shrine in itself.

• The natmandir is airy and open so that its activities could be seen and heard in the surroundings.

• The bhog-mandapa duplicates the jagmohan and was probably added later to facilitate rituals by larger groups that could not access the innermost shrine.

Rekha Deul Jagmoahan Nat Mandir Bhog-mandap



Hindu Architecture


Orissa Lingaraja Temple Orissa

• The Lingaraja’s 37.5-meter-high rekha deul, which dominates the silhouette, has a distinctive profile, first rising almost vertically and then, only toward the top, curving inward, before yielding to a recessed neck that supports a wide amalaka resting on the backs of lions (an indication of royal patronage).

• The Lingaraja sits in the middle of a quadrangular compound dotted with numerous small subsidiary shrines that were added over time to the main sequence in order to increase its potency.

• This proliferation is common in active Hindu temples


Hindu Architecture


Orissa

Lingaraja Temple Orissa

• It is described as the parivar (literally, the “family”) of the main shrine, which is expected to change and grow in time as does a prosperous family around a reigning patriarch.

• Though the Lingaraja is now decommissioned, the nearby Jagannath Temple in Puri, also built by the Gangas in the 12th century, is still in use, and as a result, its parivar has grown.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction • India’s south came to be dominated by a single power, the Cholas, who

combined military strength with an effective strategy of wealth generation and governance to bring about a social and economic revolution of their own.

• Building for themselves a new capital at Thanjavur, they eventually came to control all of peninsular India, becoming the largest power on the subcontinent.

• They lost no time in embarking on an aggressive campaign of temple building, not only to spread Shaivism, but also to consolidate their economic base.

• The Chola king Rajaraja I (985–1004) turned his attention to the trade routes and soon brought the Arabian shipping lanes under his control.

• Sri Lanka became a vassal state. His son, Rajendra I (1014–44), with his eye on the lucrative sea trade with China, sent his fleet to conquer Malaya and Shrivijaya, leaving the Cholas the controlling superpower of Southeast Asia.

• The Cholas, who called their sphere of influence the Cholamandalam, the “Chola Vision-World” possessed the largest naval force India was to have until modern times.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction • The Cholas chose the image of Shiva Nataraj, who orders the movement of the

world with his dance, as their representative royal deity. • The temple itself was an extension of the royal ordering of the world. • The word “temple” in Tamil is kovil (kov meaning “god-king,” il meaning “home”); • it connotes both temple and palace and thereby serves a range of functions, from

the religious to the judicial. • For every economic unit (like a village or a district), the Cholas built a temple. • While the temple’s basic endowments of agricultural land or villages were made by

the king, the actual land for the building was donated by the local elite. • Donations for building materials were made by the merchants. • Provisions, such as images, lamps, and oil were obtained through individual

donations. • Temples were also run like a corporation. • They had the authority to make land grants and to invest their assets as they

considered fit. • They even became banks, with major contributions and Investments inscribed on

the walls of the temple for all to view.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction

• While regional temples served the more quotidian purposes of governance, Rajaraja I’s royal temple at Thanjavur, the Chola capital, embodied a vision of kingship at the scale of an empire.

• Rajaraja I projected imself as a cakravartin, a king destined to bring order to the world, a demigod in the grace of Shiva Nataraj.

• He called his temple the Dakshinameru, the “Mt. Meru of the South,” distinguishing his world from that of the north.

• (Dakshinameru is now generally know as the Rajarajeshwara or the Brihadeshwara Temple).


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction

• Major ceremonies of royal initiation and legitimation were held there, linking deity and king.

• The daily rituals of the deities mirrored those of the king, including his morning round of the sacred enclosure and his sunset retreat to his bedroom. By Nirinsanity - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40493543

• Dakshinameru maintained a staff of six hundred devadasis, treasurers, accountants, record-keepers, watchmen, musicians, readers of texts, and craftsmen of every sort—in addition to scores of Brahmin priests.

• To this day it remains the largest temple in India.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction

• Situated next to a river that was channeled to form a moat symbolic of the cosmic ocean, its outer enclosure was built like a fortress.

• It was entered on axis through a five-story gopuram. A second, three-story freestanding gopuram, set on a long, low platform, gave access to the main quadrangle.

• The towering, sixteen-story mass of the main shikhara dominates the view, with pilasters, piers, and attached columns articulating the entire surface.

• In the interior, the circumambulation route that goes around the massive lingam in the garbha-griha is repeated on the upper story, which is inhabitable.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction

• This is a rarity in Hindu temples, an allusion to the idea that Rajarajeshwara offered access to the realm of the gods. The ground story (which symbolically corresponds to the earthly realm) is therefore articulated as two stories, indicating more than one celestial dimension of the royal temple.

• The main temple is preceded by two cojoined, dimly lit hypostyle halls: the antarala, or vestibule, where the priest would be, and the mandapa. In the mandapa, the columns are exquisitely and intricately carved showing the potential for refinement whereas in the antarala, the columns are left as massive and plain monoliths: the first manifestation of form emerging out of the formless.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction

• In this way, the Chola temples became the financial centers of the community.

• Village assemblies were held in them, and they were often responsible for the education of upper-caste boys.

• The temple’s administration, however, was controlled by the king, and Brahmins were the only ones allowed to conduct rituals.

• Temples maintained a huge permanent staff that included musicians, artists, artisans, and dancers (including devadasis, women dancers dedicated to the temple for life.)

• The community’s cultural institutions, in other words, were also the preserve of the temple.


Hindu Architecture


Chola Period

Introduction

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1. Garbh Griha 2. Ardha Mandapa 3. Maha Mandapa 4. Nandi Mandapa 5. Gopuram 6. Shrine of Subramanya


Hindu Architecture


Late orissa Period

Sun temple konark • A new phase in Orissan history was ushered in by the Gangas, who, unlike their

Shaivite predecessors, preferred the Vaishnavite religion. • Under them, the Jagannath Temple in Puri (1174), the Sun Temple at Konarak

(1258), and the Ananta Vasudeva in Bhubaneshwar (1278) were built. • The Ananta and the Jagannath temples are similar to the earlier Lingaraja Temple,

with a sequence of three mandapas leading up to the main shrine, or deul. • The Sun Temple, however, assumes the single mandapa model of the Brihadeshwara

Temple but magnifies it into a gigantic building. • Whereas the mandapa survived intact into the modern era, the temple collapsed

and only its base remains.

Conjectural Reconstruction of the Surya Temple by Percy Brown, Konarak (from the "Indian Architecture" by Percy Brown, 1942, Bombay)


Hindu Architecture


Late orissa Period

Sun temple konark

• It was begun by King Narasimhadeva (1238–64) who, after a series of successful battles, decided to dedicate the wealth he had appropriated from his conquests to build a temple to Surya, the sun god, instead of honoring the entire Shiva family, as had been the case with the earlier Gangas temples.

• Few Hindu temples are dedicated only to Surya; this is one of the only instances of a regional tribal god being paid homage on a royal scale.

• It was fused with Tantric themes visible in the sensual and erotic sculptural motifs. • Like the Cholas, the Gangas paraded their deities in procession, in huge wooden

chariots shaped like temples. • Narasimhadeva’s Sun Temple, however, is designed around such an event. • The giant stone chariot carries the sun in its daily path across the sky. • Twelve pairs of wheels, one for each month, were carved into the base and were

accompanied by seven horses (three on the north, four on the south), one for each day of the week.


Hindu Architecture


Late orissa Period

Sun temple konark • The wheels, each more than 3

meters in diameter, had eight major and minor spokes, each with their own astrological significance.

One of the 24 wheels of the chariot carved on the base of the Surya Temple, Konarak. Each wheel is close to 3 m in diameter

• When seen from the side at some distance, the temple seems on the verge of movement.

• The mandapa has three sets of horizontal moldings in typical Orissan style, and the deul (now lost) was of the traditional vertical expression.

• It sits in the middle of a large compound measuring 180 by 220m

Conjectural Restoration of Surya Temple by James Fergusson ( from "The History of

Indian and Eastern Architecture" by James

Fergusson, 1876)


Hindu Architecture


Late orissa Period

Sun temple konark

• Three subsidiary shrines, or nisas, facing north, south, and west, each with cruciform prechambers, are attached to the base of the deul.

• There are also a multitude of smaller independent shrines, constituting its “family,” as is typical of Orissan temples.

• The stones at Konarak are not joined by any limestone or cement, a testament to the refinement of the builders’ masonry skills.

• The site is associated with a sacred pond held to have curative powers.

• A major ceremony takes place there every February, with thousands of pilgrims converging on the pool to take a dip in its holy waters. Plan and section: Sun Temple at Konarak

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1. Deul (Garbah griha) 2. Jagamohan 3. Nisa Shrine 4. Gavaksha Portal


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas

Kesava temple

• In southern India, after the Cholas’ decline late in the 12th century, the Hoysalas declared their independence.

• They built about ninety temples from the late 12th to the mid-14th centuries. • The important ones are at the two Hoysala capitals, Belur and Halebid.

Relief carvings on vesara tower over shrine in Chennakeshava temple at Somanathapura

Mandapa in Hoysaleshwara temple, Halebidu


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas

Kesava temple, Halebid

• The Hoysalesvara Temple at Halebid (1121–60) is a composite of two identical star-shaped shrines of equivalent importance and complexity.

• Both face east and abut each other.

• Their cruciform garbha-griha is expressed on the exterior as a multifaceted star-shaped perimeter and three subsidiary shrines opening to the south, west, and north.

Plan: Hoysalesvara Temple, Halebid, India

• On the east their entrance forecourts lead to a cruciform mandapa, , one side of which is provided with an extra bay where two small shrines were inserted.

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1. Garbha Griha 2. Mandapa 3. Nandi Mandapa 4. Shrines


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas

Kesava temple, Halebid • The distance between the two shrines was calculated to ensure that each shrine

could stand alone and be fully resolved (including in the full expression of its platform) and yet be linked at the first opportunity without any additional or superfluous bays.

• Even so, it could be argued that the Hoysalesvara Temple is really two distinct temples linked together by a corridor, rather than a single unit with multiple centers.

View from southide of Hoysalesvara Temple, Halebid, India


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas

Kesava temple, Somnathpura • Most impressive with its multiple shrines is the Kesava (Somnatha) Temple at

Somnathpur, India (ca. 1268). • Part of a larger Vaishnavite complex, the temple is an ambitious structure, designed

with three shrines that retain their individuality and yet merge into a single expressive unit by sharing a mandapa.

Keshava_temple_at_Somanathapura


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas

Kesava temple, Somnathpura

• Enclosed by a low quadrangle with an entrance gate to the east, the temple sits on a low-stepped platform that follows its outline.

• Three star-shaped shrines, each with its own pre-chamber, open onto a square court elongated toward the east to form a colonnaded mandapa.

Plan: Kesava (Somnatha) Temple, Somnathpur, India

1. Garbha Griha 2. Mandapa 3. Gopuram

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Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas


Sculptures on exterior (above) Skyline of temple (right above), ceilings (right)

• Since each shrine is surmounted by a low superstructure and the mandapa is flat, the Kesava Temple does not have a dramatic skyline like those of the Chandella temples at Khajuraho.

• On closer examination, the plan and the detailing of the temple, however, are surpassed by none.


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas


• The Hoysala architects built with a hard, black schist that, though difficult to work with, could sustain deep cuts and take on a fine polish.

Wall sculptures and molding frieze in relief


Hindu Architecture


Hoysalas

Kesava temple, Somnathpura • With multiple tiers of

deeply excoriated circular bands, columns seem to pulsate and swirl in space, as if they had just been removed from the wheel.

• Although most have been carved over, many of the columns have been left unadorned, which imparts to them an almost modern, mechanical quality, something rarely found in Hindu architecture. Mandapa with lathe turned pillars and domical_ceilings


Hindu Architecture


Vijaynagara

Introduction

• The brothers Harihara and Bukka escaped from captivity under Ala-ud-Din Khilji, to establish a new kingdom in the mid-14th century that resisted the rising tide of Islamic rule for 250 years.

• Consolidating Chalukyan, Hoysala, and late Chola territories, Vijayanagara built up its wealth by investing in Cholan decentralized temple-based administration and by irrigating new lands.

• A complex of canals, dams, and aqueducts irrigated the surrounding lands, bring water to the city, and fed the palace’s tanks and baths.


Hindu Architecture


Vijaynagara

Introduction

• Its capital was located to maximize defense.

• Difficult to traverse rocky hills and the impassable Tungabhadra River provided defense from the north and west, the primary directions of a potential attack.

• The city itself was located on an uneven plateau, and the urban area was built into the gullies and valleys of the terrain.

Aerial view of Hampi

View of the Virupaksha temple gopura from (left), Two Shiva temple (above) Hemakuta hill


Hindu Architecture


Vijaynagara Vimanam over the

Inner Sanctum

Mantapam

Pillared Halls

Outer Wall

Gopuram, Entrance

Spire

Water tank

Virupakha Temple, Hampi


Hindu Architecture


Vijaynagara

Introduction

• Vijayanagara’s temples and palaces were aligned to the cardinal directions, but three long market streets emanating from the temples are all mysteriously aligned about 2 degree south of east.

• The main temples are freestanding on the southern bank of the Tungabhadra, but the palaces and the city are enclosed in a fortified wall.

• The palace complexes are bound in their own enclosures.


Hindu Architecture


Vijaynagara

Introduction

• A “hundred-columned hall” and a huge platform, the Mahanavami Dibba, were designed to stage the frequent tribute ceremonies by vassals.

• An elaborate ceremonial tank and bathing pool, both fed by aqueducts, were part of the main palace.

• A long passageway sliced between two palaces gave public access to the Ramachandra Temple, the oldest and most sacred temple in Vijayanagara.


Hindu Architecture


Nayaks of madurai

Minakshi temple • In 1658 Aurangzeb took over the Mughal throne. • The Mughal Empire in northern India expanded to its greatest extent, incorporating

the sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda in the 1680s. • Artisans and craftsmen fled due to Aurangzeb’s discrimination • Nayaks, erstwhile governors of Vijayanagara territories established a sort of

confederation of autonomous kingdoms with capitals in Madurai, Tanjore, Gingee, and Ikkeri.


Hindu Architecture


Nayaks of madurai

Minakshi temple • The Nayaks, though nominally under the rule of

Delhi, continued the Chola and Vijayanagara practice of treating temples as surrogate courts.

• the temples of Madurai and Tanjore became veritable cities unto themselves.

• Their gates were rarely closed, and urban life moved in and out at will.

• The Meenakshi Sunderesvara Temple (1623–59) has two main shrines, the larger one dedicated to Shiva in the manifestation of Sunderesvara (“the beautiful one”) and the smaller to his wife Meenakshi (“the fish-eyed one”).

• The temple’s main deity is Meenakshi, a local regional goddess who is important to the Tamils.


Hindu Architecture


Nayaks of madurai

Minakshi temple • Although Sunderesvara’s shrine has a well-defined axis leading to it, it is Meenakshi’s

more informally defined access path that has the important historical locations along it, most importantly the Lotus Tank the mythical origin of the temple and a corridor with painted panels depicting stories from her life. In addition, it has markets, private shrines, places for resting, dwellings for priests, and ceremonial sites;


Hindu Architecture


Nayaks of madurai

Minakshi temple

Plan: Kesava (Somnatha) Temple, Somnathpur, India

• As it grew, the temple became a series of enclosures that nestle a diverse array of functional and ceremonial spaces such as pillared halls, open courts, inhabitable corridors, and shrines, all designed to accommodate the temples diverse civic and religious functions

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1.Sundareshwara temple 2. Meenakshi Temple 3. Golden lotus tank

4. Veer Vasantharayar Mandapa 5. Hall of 1000 pilars 6. Gopuram 7.Puthu Mandapam

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Hindu Architecture


Nayaks of madurai

Minakshi temple

• Seen from a distance, the Meenakshi Sunderesvara Temple’s silhouette is defined by its gopurams, or gateways, the highest ones reaching 50m.

• Made of brick, they are largely solid and are ornamented with a myriad of vividly painted mythical deities and creatures.

• The gopurams increase in height the farther they are from the center.

• The gold-covered shikharas over the shrines are actually the temple’s smallest superstructures.


Hindu Architecture


Nayaks of madurai

Minakshi temple

• In part, the gopurams’ function is to announce the temple’s presence to the city, and when seen from a distance, they create a visual wave radiating out into the landscape.

• In other words, the mandalic universe that is usually condensed into the figurative representation of a Hindu temple’s shikhara, was, under the Nayaks, expanded so far outward that it encompasses the geography of the entire city itself.

• And because Madurai sits in a river valley surrounded by a ring of low-lying hills, the hills can be imagined as the next layer of gopurams, implying mythical unseen mountains beyond.


Hindu Architecture


REFERENCES:

• Tittle Slide : Sculpture at Keshava temple, Somnathpur, (http://karnatakatravel.blogspot.in/2011/07/keshava-temple-of-somanathapura.html)

• Global history of Architecture - Francis D.K.Ching, Mark Jarzombek Vikramaditya Prakash • www.wikipedia.com • Images.google.com • www.pinterest.com • www.slideshare.net

Design

Hindu Architecture