Indian Temple Architecture

Temple at khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh

Architecture as in the concept of planning residences and cities has prevailed in India since the early civilizations as is seen in the cities of Harappa and Mohenjodaro in the Indus valley civilization. Even in times when other civilizations were still maturing, the Indus valley cities had well planned cities with proper drainage system along with strategically planned residences with material variations. evidence also suggests that the residences could have also had a level above the ground level.

Ruins at Mohenjodaro

With such history, it is a wonder architecture took a back stage position for the next few centuries. It was then seen in a typical Hindu village in the form of various elements like the stambha or the pillar and the sun window. It was then majorly seen in the ornate styles of Buddhist and Jain styles that seem to have copied elements from the early Hindu architecture. The Buddhists build stupas while the Jains created rock-cut caves to house the chaityas and viharas.

Specifically in Hindu architecture, smalls shrines were built to house the deity until the Gupta period and were the main architectural structures of those times. They only consisted of the shrine or the garbhgriha and a portico in the front to seat the faithful. It was mainly in the Gupta period that the Hindu temples started evolving, seeing the religious competition they faced from the Buddhist and the Jains.

The temple eventually evolved to first having a larger hall-like portico called mandpas, and then to one that ran all around the temple. Then came the plinth above which the temples were raised to portray their importance in the society. In the next stage of development the earlier flat roofs temples got new tall tower-like roofs called as shikharas. It was in the in the final stage of their evolution that the temples developed multiple mandapas, the pradakshina path or the cir-cum-ambulatory path around the shrine and the antarala or the chamber in between the shrine and the mandapa.

After the temple plan was completely evolved, certain modifications were made across various parts of the Indian subcontinent. The temple style that prevailed in the northern India was called the Nagara style while the style that came up in southern India was called the Dravidian style of temple architecture. The roots of the Dravidian style can be found in the rock-cut architecture of the rathas of Mahabalipuram.

                      Nagara style temple
                                                                                                                                                                                         Dravidian style temple

In spite of having having various styles of architecture being developed  across the subcontinent by various dynasties and their craftsmen, all temples, whether of the Nagara style or the Dravidian style, have certain spaces that are common to both styles.These elements are :

• Ardhmandapa: It is the outer most chamber of the temple, generally where the stairs culminate into the closed space of the temple. It is utilized by the faithful to sit and seek shelter in the temple.
• Mandapa: It is the second chamber in a temple. Earlier, this chamber was used by the faithful to offer their prayers to the principal deity. It was also used to offer prayers to the deity in the form of dance and music. 
• Mahamandapa: Generally not seen in smaller temples, it is the third chamber in a temple. It is also the largest chamber in a temple. It leads into the Antarala.
• Antarala : It is the space between the garbhagriha and the mandapa. It contains the pradakshina path or the cir-cum-ambulatory passage through which the worshipers go round the garbhagriha. 
• Garbhagriha: Also called the shrine, it the central and the most important chamber in any temple. It houses the principal deity of the temple. To highlight its importance, it is topped with a tall shikhara.
• Shikhara: A shikhara is a tall tower like structure standing atop the garbhagriha or the shrine. Its style varies along with the location, the north from the south and those from the ones in Indonesia and Cambodia.

These similarities highlight the cultural beliefs that existed during those times that were common to all Hindus across India. The planning of the temple is such that the principal deity is not directly visible from the outside of the temple. This implies to the belief that one does not meet the deity without any efforts or that meeting god is not easy. The temples also have a ascending profile to the roofs from the mandapa to the garbhgriha, with the Shikhara being the tallest. This represents the importance of the deity in the temple and of the temple in the society.

Along with the similarities the temples differ in various other aspects like the ornamentation, the the orders, the deity and some also in plan. Its these differences that make each temple in India unique in itself, having gained its own identity through history due to not only the style of the temple, but also its surroundings, the cultures that prevailed around it, the various practices happening in the temple complex and also the myriad assortment of devotees that came to the temples, giving it the character they have gained today.

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