Architecture of Temples in India
The ultimate origin of the Hindu temple is said to be the ancient "Crude circle of stones within man enshired sacred relics, human or divine. To cap them and mark the holy spot he used a cap-stone which has its counterpart in the shikhara or spire of the fully developed temple." From Vedic times (1500-700 BC), there had been a tradition of religious architecture. Texts on the subject began to appear around the same time period. However, construction was presumably on a small and localized scale, utilizing easily perishable materials like timber, plaster, brick, mud and clay, which lacked the permanence and grandeur of stone. Indeed, during this stage of Hinduism’s evolution, and according to vedic texts, brick took ritual precedence over stone.
The emperor Asoka who ruled from the magnificent Pataliputra in the Gangetic basin of Central India, is credited with ordering the construction of the first significant stone structures in India in the 3rd century BC. These were chautya-s or large rock-cut temples for the worship of the Buddha; Stupa-s or commemorative receptacles of his relics; rock-edicts which proclaimed the laws of the land: and superbly formed and polished pillars in stone that were erected across the kingdom.
What his grandfather chandragupta Maurya, father Bindusara and he himself had done, was to not only conquer a huge region of the Indian subcontinent but to bring together those vanquished territories and meld them for a considerable length of time into one large kinddom. The Mauryan empire was the first of note in the country’s history. In the largely agrariam economy of the north, rules established order, consistency and control by instituting an impressive administration system, diving territories into manageable districts, and formulating rules for taxation, commerce, the pricing of goods, guilds, and providing such amenities as irrigation canals and dams.
Their far-sighted approach generated a feeling of security among their subjects. In such an atmosphere, the arts were bound to flourish. Even had they not, Asoka, in a single-minded and zealous manner, had indirectly promoted them in his attempts to spread the word of the Gautama Buddha far and wide. Thus, India’s imperial art form was also its forst religious one. However, after the decline of the Mauryan empire, the various parts if the northern segment of the sub-continent wre ruled by lesser dynasties.
The next ‘nationally’ powerful rulers were the Guptas, who reigned from about the 4th to the 7th centuries AD, and whose power saw the re-emergence of great religious construction paralleled by a similar boom in southern India. This period often called the Classical or Golden Age (considered by many to be a fallacy), was a time when the arts propered and architecture especially received strong encouragement. Certainly, the post Gupta period in India was one where, across the country, acclaimed temple building occurred. According to tradition, the design of any Hindu temple, or indeed any Hindu structure, anywhere in the country, at any time, is to be based on the fundamental principle of the Vastupurshamandala. An amalgamation of the laws of astronomy, astrology and mathematics, it is depicted by a square, the faultless form, representing a sense of order and perfection in direct contradistinction to the turmoil present in human existence. Within the square is inscribed a circle. This is symbolic of the Hindu theory that life is cyclical, consisting of movement from birth to death and back again.
The Vastupurshamandala expresses in one small diagram not only the cruk of Hindu philosophy but also the distribution of the gods and stars in relation to human beings. Each has its own designated space, beginning with Brahma, the Creator, in the centre, and moving outwards to the lesser gods. Thus, in the symbolic centre or sanctum, both worshipped and God exist side by side. It must be made clear, however, that the traditional theory of Vastupurushamandala is distinctly different from the fad of pseudo-scientific babble about Vastu architecture circulating in India today. A lack of cohesive and appropriate architecture in the counter and the widespread gossip that a Vastu building will bring better luck to its owners or users, has increased the demand for such structures. In this scenario, Vastu has not escaped corruption, with ‘Vastu specialists’ springing up all over India and many designers seeing the trend as a means to making big money from emotionally needy clients.
The text of the mandala states clearly that the temple stands in space, direction-less, and therefore should not possess any one special façade. At the same time it defines the position to be accorded to various structures in the temple complex, where its buttresses were to be a built, and where doors, becams, and windows could or could not be placed.
The rules for the construction of the temple are laid down in ancient architectural treatises such as the Vastu Sastra or the ‘science of architecture’ the Brhat Samhita, complied by Varahamihira in the mid-sixth century AD and based on the works of legendary architects like Manu and Visvakarma; and the Mayamata. Much of the rationale for the guidelines laid down by these great craftsmen is culled from the holy texts of Hinduism; the four Veda-s Rig, Atharva, Yajur and Sama the numerous sastra-s (in this case, treatises; also science) written through the ages on various subjects; the Purana-s ; and the Upanishad-s.
The garba graha is usually surrounded by a pradakshina path (circumambulatory path) which may be built repetitively many times around the exterior of the temple, the whole complex, and the subsidiary shrines. The devotee, walking around the shrine in a clockwise direction, symbolically encircles the universe. To enter the garba grha he makes his way, usually along a single axis, from the entrance staircase to the portico, thence into a hall; closed or simply pillared, a mandapa (usually the main hall). Beyond and directly in front of him, whose line of vision is directed by rows of flanking pillars, is the altar. Before he reaches it, however, he may have to cross more than one mandapa, utilized for related congregational activities such as ritual offering, feeding of the poor, dancing and music, and the singing of bhajan-s (hymns or religious songs) every day, at stipulated times, or during special festivals or sacred occasions. Contemporary pastimes like hunting and wrestling, to name a few, were recorded. Of much significance were the tableaux depicting the patron of the temple and recounting his bravery, largesse and devotion to god. There was almost no aspect of life, religious or otherwise, that did not find its way onto the walls, windows, doors, beams, roofs, niches, ceilings, pillars and spires of the temple. While Western architecture sought more and more to expose the structure of a building, the Hindu tradition aimed at masking it beneath a profusion of stone splendour. While the sculpture drew upon the world he saw and experienced for use in his art.
The beauty of the stone was far less important than the creation of the artist. However, this is not to say that the profusion of carvings in Hindu temples was over-enthusiastic, arbitrary or unplanned. Every curve and figure was positioned with care and precision, laden with symbolism and purpose while in the Western world, carving was restricted to only certain elements of religious architecture. Contrasted sharply with the decorative outer parts of the Hindu temple was the bare, plain, dark sanctum. Framed within the doorway, where any embellishment had ended, the idol stood free of distracting elements, so that all the senses of the pilgrim could be centred upon him. His power was so strong and his beauty so divine that no adornment was necessary. Often, however, the generosity of the patron extended itself to providing expensive jewellery and rich silk apparel for the deity.
The essential water body of the temple is present generally in the form of a well or kund (tank) placed to the west of the shrine or in front of it. The temple complex may also contain cells or cloisters for its priests and subsidiary shrines devoted to the supreme deity’ s consort, attendant, or vehicle. Energy radiates in all directions from the divine image in the garba grha, and at those points of power, lesser shrines are situated. In the panchayatana temple (a five shrined complex), for instance, the central structure is surrounded by one at each of its corners, at the cardinal points signifying five holy spots in all. At other sites, where only one altar had been planned, it was mot unlikely to have sanctums spring up randomly wherever there was space when wealthy devotees donated money for them. The other vital structures on the temple estates were its kitchens, store rooms, libraries and treasuries, but little information seems to be available on them as they tended to be functional and artistically undistinguished.
The history of India is roughly classified into three rather broad periods by historians. The classical age from 400 BC to the 7th or 8th century AD, the medieval from the 8th to the 12th centuries AD, and the sultanate period from the 12th century to the period of the British Raj. Over the first three periods, two major styles of temple building had evolved; the Nagara or metropolitan (fashionable ) style was northern and the Dravida belonged to the south.
The basic for both were the same architectural texts. While the Nagara style was highly varied because its wide territory meant regional modifications and repeated invasions meant destruction and rebuilding, the Dravida was more cohesive. The preponderance of shrines in this tradition is spread over a smaller area than in the north and being geographically better sheltered from external factors, appears more uniform and well defined than its Nagara cousin.
The earliest temples of both styles were mere adaptation of the predominantly wooden structures that had preceded them. This is made abundantly clear if one looks at the chaitya-s of the Mauryans, hewn from caves but duplicating wooden framework, arches and window details in the rock. The structure of the spire differentiates one style from another, apart from traditions of embellishment that generally reflect not just these two styles but the vernacular background of the artist as well. The Nagara spire is vertical or curvilinear and continues the lines of the walls below it and meets at a point over the sanctum. The Dravida one is a high, pyramidal superstructure, divided into storeys, and crowned with a polygonal dome. A third variation, the Vesara style, was a subcategory of the Dravida, employing a round dome.
The human figure is often the model for statues of gods but precise rules were laid in the ancient architectural texts for the dimensions and proportions that sculptors had to follow when creating images of certain types of deva-s (gods), apsaras, or asura-s (demons). Apart from this, they employed local art forms and relied on their collective memory for the figures and faces of divinities. The figure of the sun in certain northern temples therefore, dressed in cloak and boots, is obviously derived from foreign cultural elements in the region white his demeanour and facial features at the sun Temple of Konark in Orissa are distinctly indigenous.
Gods are represented in the two basic aspects of being santa (the benign or peaceful) and ugra (the enraged of terrific) and display certain states of mind, the range of feelings being classified as the nine emotions (nav rasa). These are held to be srngara (erotic), hasya (laughing), karuna (pathetic), vira (heroic), raudra (furious), bhayanaka (fearful), bibhatsa (loathsome), adbhula (supernatural), and santa (peaceful).
Guidelines indicate the stance of each figure, depending on his role and position in the divine hierarchy. There are four basic stances-the samabhanga, where the weight of the body is evenly balances, adhanga, where the weight of the body is evenly balanced, abhanga (a slight bend), tribhanga (triple bend), and atibhanga (excessive bend). Their bodies are youthful, suggesting immortally, their figures, whether shaped floridly or simply, seem suffused with an ethereal quality. Their young faces are ageless, with forehead, eyebrows, eyes, noise, lips being precisely distributed, uniform and often stylized Nevertheless they are an indication of the region of their creation. The treatises define certain lengths of face and body nava or dasa tala-s (nine or ten lengths)- for the gods and goddesses, but the perfect proportion is described as follows: "The height from the soles of the feet up to the root of the hair on the forehead is equal to the width between the tips of the middle fingures when the arms are stretched horizonatally." Thus, while the holy trinity would be carved in dasa tala-s, goddesses would be one length less (nava tala-s) while the Vamana or dwarf avatar of Vishnu would be only seven.
Various mortal ceremonies also take place on the temple estate. Wedding vows taken in front of god, for instance, are considered sacred even if here has been no elaborated ceremony and traditional purifying fire. Symbolic sacrifices are made here by those seeking a boon or divine intervention. At the Tirupathi templein Andhra Pradesh, dedicated to Vishnu (or Sri Balaji, as he is known in the south), horedes of pilgrims flock every day for it is said that the deity grants anything asked of him. In return they sacrifice their hair to him. While the emphasis may be on individual fellowship, community worship does take place in the form of gatherings to sing hymns or observe priests conducting the daily rituals. People also gather at the temple or local meeting halls celebrate special occasions.
In the olden days, festivals provided an interlude from the humdrum of life or entertainment in the form of song and dance, ritual, good food, and gatherings of loved ones. Weddings to were anticipated just as keenly. Lasting a month or more, from preparation to celebration, they were a welcome change from the monotony of daily life. Hindu observances would be too many to count or list. Nonetheless, some of the chief festivals or holy days that Hindu all over India celebrated or observe, include (from January to December), Makar Sankranti, Sivaratri, Holl, Rama Navami, Rakhi, Janmashtami, Ganesha Chaturthi, Dusserah, and Diwali.
The emperor Asoka who ruled from the magnificent Pataliputra in the Gangetic basin of Central India, is credited with ordering the construction of the first significant stone structures in India in the 3rd century BC. These were chautya-s or large rock-cut temples for the worship of the Buddha; Stupa-s or commemorative receptacles of his relics; rock-edicts which proclaimed the laws of the land: and superbly formed and polished pillars in stone that were erected across the kingdom.
What his grandfather chandragupta Maurya, father Bindusara and he himself had done, was to not only conquer a huge region of the Indian subcontinent but to bring together those vanquished territories and meld them for a considerable length of time into one large kinddom. The Mauryan empire was the first of note in the country’s history. In the largely agrariam economy of the north, rules established order, consistency and control by instituting an impressive administration system, diving territories into manageable districts, and formulating rules for taxation, commerce, the pricing of goods, guilds, and providing such amenities as irrigation canals and dams.
Their far-sighted approach generated a feeling of security among their subjects. In such an atmosphere, the arts were bound to flourish. Even had they not, Asoka, in a single-minded and zealous manner, had indirectly promoted them in his attempts to spread the word of the Gautama Buddha far and wide. Thus, India’s imperial art form was also its forst religious one. However, after the decline of the Mauryan empire, the various parts if the northern segment of the sub-continent wre ruled by lesser dynasties.
The next ‘nationally’ powerful rulers were the Guptas, who reigned from about the 4th to the 7th centuries AD, and whose power saw the re-emergence of great religious construction paralleled by a similar boom in southern India. This period often called the Classical or Golden Age (considered by many to be a fallacy), was a time when the arts propered and architecture especially received strong encouragement. Certainly, the post Gupta period in India was one where, across the country, acclaimed temple building occurred. According to tradition, the design of any Hindu temple, or indeed any Hindu structure, anywhere in the country, at any time, is to be based on the fundamental principle of the Vastupurshamandala. An amalgamation of the laws of astronomy, astrology and mathematics, it is depicted by a square, the faultless form, representing a sense of order and perfection in direct contradistinction to the turmoil present in human existence. Within the square is inscribed a circle. This is symbolic of the Hindu theory that life is cyclical, consisting of movement from birth to death and back again.
The Vastupurshamandala expresses in one small diagram not only the cruk of Hindu philosophy but also the distribution of the gods and stars in relation to human beings. Each has its own designated space, beginning with Brahma, the Creator, in the centre, and moving outwards to the lesser gods. Thus, in the symbolic centre or sanctum, both worshipped and God exist side by side. It must be made clear, however, that the traditional theory of Vastupurushamandala is distinctly different from the fad of pseudo-scientific babble about Vastu architecture circulating in India today. A lack of cohesive and appropriate architecture in the counter and the widespread gossip that a Vastu building will bring better luck to its owners or users, has increased the demand for such structures. In this scenario, Vastu has not escaped corruption, with ‘Vastu specialists’ springing up all over India and many designers seeing the trend as a means to making big money from emotionally needy clients.
The text of the mandala states clearly that the temple stands in space, direction-less, and therefore should not possess any one special façade. At the same time it defines the position to be accorded to various structures in the temple complex, where its buttresses were to be a built, and where doors, becams, and windows could or could not be placed.
Where to Build A Temple
Since the temple was to be the house of god, it had to erected in a place that was suitable to him and conductive to his contentment. Its inviting nature of the actual function of refuge form hard life outside also suggests that man’s contentment formed part of the intention of the design. Temples have been built at diverse locations in India, on craggy mountain tops, in valleys and plains, on islands, by the banks of rivers, in forts, near forests, at the heart of cities, and distant from any civilization. This many seem illogical but as one ancient text explains, "The gods always play where groves are near, rivers, mountains and springs, and in towns with pleasure gardens" It is (in) such places that the gods love and always dwell in." No matter where it is situated, one essential factor for the existence of the temple is water. For water is a puriflying element and even if not available in reality, must be present in symbolic representation. Water is central to the economy and to the perpetuation of any civilization. In Hinduism, therefore, water was highly revered. The stipulation of a water body at a temple site ensured respect for the substance and a location that was favorable for construction and maintenance. Needless to say it attracted and served devotee and passerby equally.Of The Ordering of Chaos
In the Hindu religion, worship is not so much about congregations as it is about individual prayer. The way the temple is designed reflects the need of each person to reach god. Based on the Vastupurushamandala, the basic temple is square in plan, its most significant component being the garba grha, with all the other chambers being purely additive. Yet, this part is the one that is reached last by the devotee for he is led into it by a progression of architectural, sculptural and symbolic devices so that by the time he arrives there he is in a state of mind befitting worship.The rules for the construction of the temple are laid down in ancient architectural treatises such as the Vastu Sastra or the ‘science of architecture’ the Brhat Samhita, complied by Varahamihira in the mid-sixth century AD and based on the works of legendary architects like Manu and Visvakarma; and the Mayamata. Much of the rationale for the guidelines laid down by these great craftsmen is culled from the holy texts of Hinduism; the four Veda-s Rig, Atharva, Yajur and Sama the numerous sastra-s (in this case, treatises; also science) written through the ages on various subjects; the Purana-s ; and the Upanishad-s.
The garba graha is usually surrounded by a pradakshina path (circumambulatory path) which may be built repetitively many times around the exterior of the temple, the whole complex, and the subsidiary shrines. The devotee, walking around the shrine in a clockwise direction, symbolically encircles the universe. To enter the garba grha he makes his way, usually along a single axis, from the entrance staircase to the portico, thence into a hall; closed or simply pillared, a mandapa (usually the main hall). Beyond and directly in front of him, whose line of vision is directed by rows of flanking pillars, is the altar. Before he reaches it, however, he may have to cross more than one mandapa, utilized for related congregational activities such as ritual offering, feeding of the poor, dancing and music, and the singing of bhajan-s (hymns or religious songs) every day, at stipulated times, or during special festivals or sacred occasions. Contemporary pastimes like hunting and wrestling, to name a few, were recorded. Of much significance were the tableaux depicting the patron of the temple and recounting his bravery, largesse and devotion to god. There was almost no aspect of life, religious or otherwise, that did not find its way onto the walls, windows, doors, beams, roofs, niches, ceilings, pillars and spires of the temple. While Western architecture sought more and more to expose the structure of a building, the Hindu tradition aimed at masking it beneath a profusion of stone splendour. While the sculpture drew upon the world he saw and experienced for use in his art.
The beauty of the stone was far less important than the creation of the artist. However, this is not to say that the profusion of carvings in Hindu temples was over-enthusiastic, arbitrary or unplanned. Every curve and figure was positioned with care and precision, laden with symbolism and purpose while in the Western world, carving was restricted to only certain elements of religious architecture. Contrasted sharply with the decorative outer parts of the Hindu temple was the bare, plain, dark sanctum. Framed within the doorway, where any embellishment had ended, the idol stood free of distracting elements, so that all the senses of the pilgrim could be centred upon him. His power was so strong and his beauty so divine that no adornment was necessary. Often, however, the generosity of the patron extended itself to providing expensive jewellery and rich silk apparel for the deity.
The essential water body of the temple is present generally in the form of a well or kund (tank) placed to the west of the shrine or in front of it. The temple complex may also contain cells or cloisters for its priests and subsidiary shrines devoted to the supreme deity’ s consort, attendant, or vehicle. Energy radiates in all directions from the divine image in the garba grha, and at those points of power, lesser shrines are situated. In the panchayatana temple (a five shrined complex), for instance, the central structure is surrounded by one at each of its corners, at the cardinal points signifying five holy spots in all. At other sites, where only one altar had been planned, it was mot unlikely to have sanctums spring up randomly wherever there was space when wealthy devotees donated money for them. The other vital structures on the temple estates were its kitchens, store rooms, libraries and treasuries, but little information seems to be available on them as they tended to be functional and artistically undistinguished.
The history of India is roughly classified into three rather broad periods by historians. The classical age from 400 BC to the 7th or 8th century AD, the medieval from the 8th to the 12th centuries AD, and the sultanate period from the 12th century to the period of the British Raj. Over the first three periods, two major styles of temple building had evolved; the Nagara or metropolitan (fashionable ) style was northern and the Dravida belonged to the south.
The basic for both were the same architectural texts. While the Nagara style was highly varied because its wide territory meant regional modifications and repeated invasions meant destruction and rebuilding, the Dravida was more cohesive. The preponderance of shrines in this tradition is spread over a smaller area than in the north and being geographically better sheltered from external factors, appears more uniform and well defined than its Nagara cousin.
The earliest temples of both styles were mere adaptation of the predominantly wooden structures that had preceded them. This is made abundantly clear if one looks at the chaitya-s of the Mauryans, hewn from caves but duplicating wooden framework, arches and window details in the rock. The structure of the spire differentiates one style from another, apart from traditions of embellishment that generally reflect not just these two styles but the vernacular background of the artist as well. The Nagara spire is vertical or curvilinear and continues the lines of the walls below it and meets at a point over the sanctum. The Dravida one is a high, pyramidal superstructure, divided into storeys, and crowned with a polygonal dome. A third variation, the Vesara style, was a subcategory of the Dravida, employing a round dome.
Sculpture
Temple sculpture is a highly organized and sophisticated art form created in various ways for the dual purpose of embellishing and narrating. It exists in temples as free-standing figures or in friezes, on brackets, columns, lintels, pediments, borders, cornices, spires, horizontal bands, vertical sections, moldings and torana-s (garland, gateway, door ornamentation).The human figure is often the model for statues of gods but precise rules were laid in the ancient architectural texts for the dimensions and proportions that sculptors had to follow when creating images of certain types of deva-s (gods), apsaras, or asura-s (demons). Apart from this, they employed local art forms and relied on their collective memory for the figures and faces of divinities. The figure of the sun in certain northern temples therefore, dressed in cloak and boots, is obviously derived from foreign cultural elements in the region white his demeanour and facial features at the sun Temple of Konark in Orissa are distinctly indigenous.
Gods are represented in the two basic aspects of being santa (the benign or peaceful) and ugra (the enraged of terrific) and display certain states of mind, the range of feelings being classified as the nine emotions (nav rasa). These are held to be srngara (erotic), hasya (laughing), karuna (pathetic), vira (heroic), raudra (furious), bhayanaka (fearful), bibhatsa (loathsome), adbhula (supernatural), and santa (peaceful).
Guidelines indicate the stance of each figure, depending on his role and position in the divine hierarchy. There are four basic stances-the samabhanga, where the weight of the body is evenly balances, adhanga, where the weight of the body is evenly balanced, abhanga (a slight bend), tribhanga (triple bend), and atibhanga (excessive bend). Their bodies are youthful, suggesting immortally, their figures, whether shaped floridly or simply, seem suffused with an ethereal quality. Their young faces are ageless, with forehead, eyebrows, eyes, noise, lips being precisely distributed, uniform and often stylized Nevertheless they are an indication of the region of their creation. The treatises define certain lengths of face and body nava or dasa tala-s (nine or ten lengths)- for the gods and goddesses, but the perfect proportion is described as follows: "The height from the soles of the feet up to the root of the hair on the forehead is equal to the width between the tips of the middle fingures when the arms are stretched horizonatally." Thus, while the holy trinity would be carved in dasa tala-s, goddesses would be one length less (nava tala-s) while the Vamana or dwarf avatar of Vishnu would be only seven.
Worship
Pooja (worship) in the Hindu tradition takes the form of a personal prayer and communion with god and the intervention, on the dindividual’s behalf, by the priests versed in the rituals and ceremonies associated with various deities and occasions. The prayer encompasses not just a silent fellowship with the divine being but a ritual of chants and verses used to propitiate or invoke him. The live temple is full of activity, with the deity needing reqular care. The idol is rituallay bathed, clothed, bejeweled, showered with flowers, fed, entertained, and even married.Various mortal ceremonies also take place on the temple estate. Wedding vows taken in front of god, for instance, are considered sacred even if here has been no elaborated ceremony and traditional purifying fire. Symbolic sacrifices are made here by those seeking a boon or divine intervention. At the Tirupathi templein Andhra Pradesh, dedicated to Vishnu (or Sri Balaji, as he is known in the south), horedes of pilgrims flock every day for it is said that the deity grants anything asked of him. In return they sacrifice their hair to him. While the emphasis may be on individual fellowship, community worship does take place in the form of gatherings to sing hymns or observe priests conducting the daily rituals. People also gather at the temple or local meeting halls celebrate special occasions.
Festivals
The Hindu follow a lunar calendar and their festivals or holy days therefore shift, from year to year, in relation to the Gregorian calendar. Hindu festivals had their beginnings in both Vedic and Dravida (or later) traditions and were based on seasonal changes, the honouring of professional occupations, occasions of thanksgiving, religious observances, the movements of the plants and stars, the commemoration of important events in Hindu lore or a combination of these.In the olden days, festivals provided an interlude from the humdrum of life or entertainment in the form of song and dance, ritual, good food, and gatherings of loved ones. Weddings to were anticipated just as keenly. Lasting a month or more, from preparation to celebration, they were a welcome change from the monotony of daily life. Hindu observances would be too many to count or list. Nonetheless, some of the chief festivals or holy days that Hindu all over India celebrated or observe, include (from January to December), Makar Sankranti, Sivaratri, Holl, Rama Navami, Rakhi, Janmashtami, Ganesha Chaturthi, Dusserah, and Diwali.