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Hindu temple architecture: Difference between revisions
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| image2 = Elliptic plan of the Temple next to the Heliodorus pillar, Besnagar.jpg | | image2 = Elliptic plan of the Temple next to the Heliodorus pillar, Besnagar.jpg | ||
| caption2 = Elliptic plan of the Temple | | caption2 = Elliptic plan of the Temple | ||
| footer=<center>Excavation of the huge Temple of [[Vāsudeva]] next to the [[Heliodorus pillar]] in [[Besnagar]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Approaches to Iconology |date=1985 |publisher=Brill Archive |isbn=978-90-04-07772-0 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UesUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA41 |language=en}}</ref> The Temple measured 30x30 meters, and the walls were 2.4 meters thick. Pottery remains assigns the site to the 2nd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ghosh |first1=A. |title=Indian Archaeology 1963-64, A Review |date=1967 |publisher=ASI |page=17 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3416858 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3416858}}</ref> Further excavations also revealed the outline of a smaller elliptic temple structure, which was probably destroyed by the end of the 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian Archaeology -- A Review 1964-65 |date=1965 | | | footer=<center>Excavation of the huge Temple of [[Vāsudeva]] next to the [[Heliodorus pillar]] in [[Besnagar]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Approaches to Iconology |date=1985 |publisher=Brill Archive |isbn=978-90-04-07772-0 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UesUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA41 |language=en}}</ref> The Temple measured 30x30 meters, and the walls were 2.4 meters thick. Pottery remains assigns the site to the 2nd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ghosh |first1=A. |title=Indian Archaeology 1963-64, A Review |date=1967 |publisher=ASI |page=17 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3416858 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3416858}}</ref> Further excavations also revealed the outline of a smaller elliptic temple structure, which was probably destroyed by the end of the 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian Archaeology -- A Review 1964-65 |date=1965 |pages=19–20, BSN-3 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.1442629 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1442629|author1=Archaeological Survey Of India }}</ref> The platform and the base of the [[Heliodorus pillar]] are visible in the immediate background.</center> | ||
}} | }} | ||
Remains of early elliptical shrines discovered in [[Besnagar]] (3rd-2nd century BCE)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Julia |title=Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD |date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-61132-344-3 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Nagari, Rajasthan|Nagari]] (1st century BCE), may be the earliest known Hindu temple structures, associated to the early [[Bhagavata]] tradition, a precursor of [[Vaishnavism]].<ref name="SVM">{{cite book |last1=Mishra |first1=Susan Verma |last2=Ray |first2=Himanshu Prabha |title=The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The temple in western India, 2nd century BCE–8th century CE |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-19374-6 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CtDLDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ray |first1=Himanshu Prabha |title=The Apsidal Shrine in Early Hinduism: Origins, Cultic Affiliation, Patronage |journal=World Archaeology |date=2004 |volume=36 |issue=3 |page=348 |doi=10.1080/0043824042000282786 |jstor=4128336 |s2cid=161072766 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128336 |issn=0043-8243}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Julia |title=Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD |date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-61132-344-3 |pages=176–177 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |language=en}}</ref> | Remains of early elliptical shrines discovered in [[Besnagar]] (3rd-2nd century BCE)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Julia |title=Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD |date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-61132-344-3 |page=40 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Nagari, Rajasthan|Nagari]] (1st century BCE), may be the earliest known Hindu temple structures, associated to the early [[Bhagavata]] tradition, a precursor of [[Vaishnavism]].<ref name="SVM">{{cite book |last1=Mishra |first1=Susan Verma |last2=Ray |first2=Himanshu Prabha |title=The Archaeology of Sacred Spaces: The temple in western India, 2nd century BCE–8th century CE |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-19374-6 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CtDLDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ray |first1=Himanshu Prabha |title=The Apsidal Shrine in Early Hinduism: Origins, Cultic Affiliation, Patronage |journal=World Archaeology |date=2004 |volume=36 |issue=3 |page=348 |doi=10.1080/0043824042000282786 |jstor=4128336 |s2cid=161072766 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128336 |issn=0043-8243}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Julia |title=Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD |date=31 August 2013 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-61132-344-3 |pages=176–177 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA176 |language=en}}</ref> | ||
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==Design== | ==Design== | ||
[[File:17th century Odisha palm leaf manuscript Hindu temple architecture 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|17th-century palm leaf manuscript page on temple building, [[Odisha]].]] | [[File:17th century Odisha palm leaf manuscript Hindu temple architecture 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|17th-century palm leaf manuscript page on temple building, [[Odisha]].]] | ||
A Hindu temple is a symmetry-driven structure, with many variations, on a square grid of ''padas'', depicting perfect geometric shapes such as circles and squares.<ref name= | A Hindu temple is a symmetry-driven structure, with many variations, on a square grid of ''padas'', depicting perfect geometric shapes such as circles and squares.<ref name="stellakvolume1"/><ref name=mmgeometry/> Susan Lewandowski states that the underlying principle in a Hindu temple is built around the belief that all things are one, everything is connected. A temple, states Lewandowski, "replicates again and again the Hindu beliefs in the parts mirroring, and at the same time ''being'', the universal whole" like an "organism of repeating cells".<ref name=susanlchap4>Susan Lewandowski, The Hindu Temple in South India, in Buildings and Society: Essays on the Social Development of the Built Environment, Anthony D. King (Editor), {{ISBN|978-0710202345}}, Routledge, Chapter 4</ref>{{rp|68, 71}} The pilgrim is welcomed through mathematically structured spaces, a network of art, pillars with carvings and statues that display and celebrate the four important and necessary principles of human life—the pursuit of [[artha]] (prosperity, wealth), the pursuit of [[kama]] (desire), the pursuit of [[dharma]] (virtues, ethical life) and the pursuit of [[moksha]] (release, self-knowledge).<ref>Alain Daniélou (2001), The Hindu Temple: Deification of Eroticism, Translated from French to English by Ken Hurry, {{ISBN|0-89281-854-9}}, pp 101-127</ref><ref>Samuel Parker (2010), Ritual as a Mode of Production: Ethnoarchaeology and Creative Practice in Hindu Temple Arts, South Asian Studies, 26(1), pp 31-57; Michael Rabe, Secret Yantras and Erotic Display for Hindu Temples, (Editor: David White), {{ISBN|978-8120817784}}, Princeton University Readings in Religion (Motilal Banarsidass Publishers), Chapter 25, pp 435-446</ref> | ||
At the centre of the temple, typically below and sometimes above or next to the deity, is mere hollow space with no decoration, symbolically representing ''Purusa'', the Supreme Principle, the sacred Universal, one without form, which is present everywhere, connects everything, and is the essence of everyone. A Hindu temple is meant to encourage reflection, facilitate purification of one's mind, and trigger the process of inner realization within the devotee.<ref name=stellakvolume1/> The specific process is left to the devotee's school of belief. The primary deity of different Hindu temples varies to reflect this spiritual spectrum. | At the centre of the temple, typically below and sometimes above or next to the deity, is mere hollow space with no decoration, symbolically representing ''Purusa'', the Supreme Principle, the sacred Universal, one without form, which is present everywhere, connects everything, and is the essence of everyone. A Hindu temple is meant to encourage reflection, facilitate purification of one's mind, and trigger the process of inner realization within the devotee.<ref name=stellakvolume1/> The specific process is left to the devotee's school of belief. The primary deity of different Hindu temples varies to reflect this spiritual spectrum. | ||
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===The plan=== | ===The plan=== | ||
[[File:64 grid Manduka design Hindu Temple Floor Plan Vastu Purusa Mandala Ancient Architecture.svg|thumb|360px|The 8×8 (64) grid Manduka Hindu Temple Floor Plan, according to Vastupurusamandala. The 64 grid is the most sacred and common Hindu temple template. The bright saffron centre, where diagonals intersect above, represents the Purusha of Hindu philosophy.<ref name= | [[File:64 grid Manduka design Hindu Temple Floor Plan Vastu Purusa Mandala Ancient Architecture.svg|thumb|360px|The 8×8 (64) grid Manduka Hindu Temple Floor Plan, according to Vastupurusamandala. The 64 grid is the most sacred and common Hindu temple template. The bright saffron centre, where diagonals intersect above, represents the Purusha of Hindu philosophy.<ref name="stellakvolume1"/><ref name=mmgeometry/>]] | ||
The design, especially the floor plan, of the part of a Hindu temple around the sanctum or shrine follows a geometrical design called ''vastu-purusha-mandala''. The name is a composite Sanskrit word with three of the most important components of the plan. ''Mandala'' means circle, ''Purusha'' is universal essence at the core of Hindu tradition, while ''Vastu'' means the dwelling structure.<ref name=sl6869>Susan Lewandowski, The Hindu Temple in South India, in Buildings and Society: Essays on the Social Development of the Built Environment, Anthony D. King (Editor), {{ISBN|978-0710202345}}, Routledge, pp 68-69</ref> Vastupurushamandala is a [[yantra]].<ref>Stella Kramrisch (1976), The Hindu Temple Volume 1 & 2, {{ISBN|81-208-0223-3}}</ref> The design lays out a Hindu temple in a symmetrical, self-repeating structure derived from central beliefs, myths, cardinality and mathematical principles.<ref name=mmgeometry>{{cite journal |last=Meister |first=Michael |date=1983 |title=Geometry and Measure in Indian Temple Plans: Rectangular Temples |journal=Artibus Asiae |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=266–296 |doi=10.2307/3249613 |jstor=3249613}}</ref> | The design, especially the floor plan, of the part of a Hindu temple around the sanctum or shrine follows a geometrical design called ''vastu-purusha-mandala''. The name is a composite Sanskrit word with three of the most important components of the plan. ''Mandala'' means circle, ''Purusha'' is universal essence at the core of Hindu tradition, while ''Vastu'' means the dwelling structure.<ref name=sl6869>Susan Lewandowski, The Hindu Temple in South India, in Buildings and Society: Essays on the Social Development of the Built Environment, Anthony D. King (Editor), {{ISBN|978-0710202345}}, Routledge, pp 68-69</ref> Vastupurushamandala is a [[yantra]].<ref>Stella Kramrisch (1976), The Hindu Temple Volume 1 & 2, {{ISBN|81-208-0223-3}}</ref> The design lays out a Hindu temple in a symmetrical, self-repeating structure derived from central beliefs, myths, cardinality and mathematical principles.<ref name=mmgeometry>{{cite journal |last=Meister |first=Michael |date=1983 |title=Geometry and Measure in Indian Temple Plans: Rectangular Temples |journal=Artibus Asiae |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=266–296 |doi=10.2307/3249613 |jstor=3249613}}</ref> | ||