Temple Architecture 1

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Temple Architecture-Devalaya Vastu Part One (1of 9)

07SEPAgama and Temple architecture

The Agama literature includes the Shilpa- Shastra, which covers architecture and iconography.

The aspects of temple construction are dealt in Devalaya Vastu; and Prathima deals with the

iconography. Sometimes, the term Shipa is also used to denote the art of sculpting; but here

Shipa refers to the practice of the technique, while Shastra refers to its principles.

The worship dealt with the Agama necessarily involves worship -worthy images. The rituals and

sequences elaborated in the Agama texts are in the context of such worship- worthy image,

which necessarily has to be contained in a shrine. The basic idea is that a temple must be built forthe icon, and not an icon got ready for the temples, for a temple is only an outgrowth of the icon,

an expanded image of the icon. And an icon is meaningful only in the context of a shrine that is

worthy to house it. That is how the Agama literature makes its presence felt in the Shilpa-Sastra,

Architecture. The icon and its form; the temple and its structure; and the rituals and their

details, thus get interrelated .Further, the Indian temples should be viewed in the general

framework of temple culture, which include not only religious and philosophical aspects but

social, aesthetic and economic aspects also.

Elaborate rules are laid out in the Agamas for Silpa , describing the quality requirements of the

places where temples are to be built, the kind of images to be installed, the materials from which

they are to be made, their dimensions, proportions, air circulation, lighting in the temple complex

etc. The Manasara and Silpasara are some of the works dealing with these rules. The rituals

followed in worship services each day at the temple also follow rules laid out in the Agamas.

While describing the essential requirements for a place of pilgrimage , Shipa Shatras of the

Agamas elaborate on the requirements of the temple site; building materials; dimensions,

directions and orientations of the temple structures; the image and its specifications. The


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principal elements that are involved are Sthala (temple site); Teertha(Temple tank)

andMurthy(the idol). A temple could also be associated with a tree, called the Sthala Vriksham.

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The Gupta Age marked the advent of a vibrant period of building and sculpting activities. The

texts of this period such as the Arthashastra of Kautilya and Matsya Purana included chapters onthe architecture of the way of summary. By the end of the period, the art and craft flourished; and

branched into different schools of architectural thought; but all based on common underlying

principles. These principles are now part of Vastushastra, the science of architectural design and

construction. . It is explained that the term Vastu is derived from Vasu meaning the Earth

principle (prithvi). This planet is Vastu and whatever that is created is Vastu and all objects of

earth are Vastu.

During the medieval period, vast body of Sanskrit references, independent architectural manuals

were written, without reservation, and scattered across the country. Apparently, some attempts

were made to classify and evaluate their contents in a systematic way. Of the many such attempts

that tried to bring about order and coherence in the various theories and principles of templeconstruction, the most well known compilations are Manasara and Mayamata. They are the

standard texts on Vastu Shastra, and they codify the theoretical aspects of all types of

constructions; but specifically of temple construction. These texts deal with the whole range of

architectural science including topics such as soil testing techniques, orientation, measures and

proportion, divination, astrology and ceremonies associated with the construction of buildings.

Manasara is a comprehensive treaty on architecture and iconography. It represents the

universality of Vastu tradition and includes the iconography of Jain and Buddhist images. The

work is treated as a source book and consulted by all.

TheMayamata too occupies an important position. It is a general treatise on Vastu shastra; and isa text of Southern India. It is regarded a part of Shaiva literature and might belong to the Chola

period when temple architecture reached its peak. It is the best known work on Vastu. The work

is coherent and well structured. It defines Vastu as the arrangement of space, anywhere, wherein

immortals and mortals live.

These subjects are intertwined with Astrology. The Vastu Texts believe that Vigraha (icon or

image of the deity) is closely related to Graha(planets).The term Grahaliterally means that

which attracts or receives; and Vigrahais that which transmits. It is believed that the idols

receive power from the planets; and transmit the power so received. It not merely is a symbolism

but also one that provides logic for placement of various deities in their respective quarters and

directions.The texts that are collectively called Vastu Shastra have their origin in the Sutras, Puranas and

Agamas; besides the Tantric literature and the Brhat Samhita. The Vastu texts classify the temple

into three basic structures: Nagara, Dravida and Vesara. They employ, respectively, the square,

octagon and the apse or circle in their plan. These three styles do not pertain strictly to three

different regions but are three schools of temple architecture. The vesara, for instance, which

prevailed mostly in western Deccan and south Karnataka, was a derivation from the apsidal

chapels of the early Buddhist period which the Brahmanical faith adopted and vastly improved.


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These three schools have given rise to about forty-five basic varieties of temples types.They too

have their many variations ; and thus the styles of temple architecture in India are quite diverse

and virtually unlimited .

Among the many traditions inherited (parampara) in India, the tradition of Vishwakarma is

unique. The mode of transmission of knowledge of this community is both oral and practical;and its theories construct a holistic universe of thought and understanding. The rigor and

discipline required to create objects that defy time and persist beyond generations of artists, has

imbued this tradition with tremendous sense of purpose, and zeal to maintain the purity and

sensitivity of its traditions; and to carry it forward . This has enabled them to protect the purity of

the art and skills without falling prey to the market and its dynamics.

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It is virtually impossible to state when the custom of building stylized temples took hold in our

country.

The Rig Veda is centered on home and worship at home.There is not much emphasis on temple

worship. The term employed in Grihya sutras(Ashvalayana -1.12.1; and parashara -3.11.10) to

denote a temple was Chaithya , which literally means, piling up ; as piling up of the fire alter

,agni_chiti from bricks (as in agni-chayana).This perhaps suggests that chaitya implied piling

up bricks to form a shrine. This is consistent with the view that the earliest temples were

relatively simple piled brick structures.

The use of the term Chaithya to denote a place of worship appears to have been in vogue for

quite a long period after the Vedic age . In Mahabharata, the Rishi Lomaharsha mentions to

Yudhistira that the tirtha on the Archika hill is a place where there are chaithyas for the 33 gods

(MBh 3.125).He also advises Pandavas to visit the Chaithyas on the banks of the Narmada (MBh

3.121).

Mahabharata often refers to Chaithyas as being close to Yupas (chaithyupa nikata bhumi); Yupa

being the spot where a major yajna was performed. It is possible that small shrines were erected

on the Yupa site to commemorate the Yajna.

Ramayana too mentions that Meghanada, the son of Ravana, tried to perform a Yajna in a temple

located in the Nikhumba grove.


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Zarathustra demands from Ahur Mazda Tell me,] can I uproot the idol from this assembly that

set up by the angras and the karpanas? At another time, the Emperor Xerxes, a follower of

Zarathustra declares I destroyed this temple of daevas.

The Buddhist and Jain texts mention of a certain chaithya of Devi Shasti, consort of Kumara, at

Vishala. Jain texts, in particular, mention the chaithyas of Skanda in Savasthi; of Shulapani(Rudra) and of Yakshini Purnabhadra.

Therefore by about six hundred BC, the chiathyas were quite common. They were perhaps small

-sized constructions (usually of brick) surrounded by groves of ashvattha or audumbara trees.

The Maurya period described in the Artha-shastra, had chaithyas for a number of Devis and

Devas, such as Indra, kumara, Rudra, and Aparajita etc. A description of the chaitya of goddess

kaumari suggests that it had multiple Avaranas, one enclosing the other and the outer Avarana

having a circular arch. By the time of the Mauryas, the chaithyas appeared to have steadily

gained importance, and become an integral aspect of city life. However, there is nothing tosuggest that they were large structures like the classical Hindu temples that were to follow later.

By about first century BC , the Buddhist places of congregation either as caves carved into rocks

or as free standing structures , came to be known as Chaithya_grihas. These were patterned after

the shrines of Vishnu, with the form of the fire altar being placed on the raised platform in the

apse of the chaithya hall. The term chaithya later came to increasingly associated with the

Buddhist stupas or places of worship.

It was perhaps during the period of the Imperial Guptas that a Hindu temple came to be regularly

addressed as Devalaya, the abode of Gods. The oldest of the surviving structural shrines dateback to the third or even fourth century A.D .They are made of bricks.

Some of the them might perhaps been temporary structures, erected on occasions of community-

worship. The canonical concept of pavilion (mantapa) suggests that they might have been

pavilions to accommodate those who gathered to participate in the worship ritual. It is only later

that structures tended to be permanent bigger.

The earliest temples in north and central India which have survived the vagaries of time belong

to the Gupta period, 320-650 A. D. ; such as the temples at Sanchi, Tigawa (near Jabalpur in

Madhya Pradesh), Bhumara (in Madhya Pradesh), Nachna (Rajasthan) and Deogarh (near Jhansi,

Uttar Pradesh).They consist of a square, dark sanctum with a small, pillared porch in front, bothcovered with flat roofs. The brick temple at Bhitargaon ; and the Vishnu temple at Deogarh,

built entirely of stone , both , have a square sanctum, but instead of a flat roof there is a

pyramidal superstructure (sikhara).

The rock-cut temple and monastery tradition also continued in this period, notably in western

India, where the excavationsespecially at Ajanta acquire extreme richness and magnificence.


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The temple groups at Aihole and Pattadakal in North Karnataka date back to about 5thcentury,

and seem to represent early attempts to experiment with several styles and to evolve an

acceptable and a standard regional format. Here, temples of the northern and the southern styles

are found next to each other. Besides, Badami, the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled

much of Karnataka in the 6th to 8th centuries, is known for its ancient cave temples carved out of

the sandstone hills above it.

The school of architecture in South India seems to have evolved from the earliest Buddhist

shrines which were both rock-cut and structural. The later rock-cut temples which belong to

5thor 6thcentury A.D. were mostly Brahmanical or Jain, patronized by three great ruling

dynasties of the south, namely the Pallavas of Kanchi in the east, the Calukyas of Badami in the

8thcentury A.D, the Rastrakutas of Malkhed came to power and they made great contributions to

the development of south Indian temple architecture. The Kailasanatha temple at Ellora belongs

to this period.

The next thousand years (from600 to 1600 A.D.) witnessed a phenomenal growth in templearchitecture. The first in the series of Southern or Dravidian architecture was initiated by the

Pallavas (600-900A.D.) The rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram (of the rathatype) and the

structural temples like the shore temple at Mahabalipuram and the Kailasanatha and Vaikuntha

Perumal temples in Kancheepuram (700-800 A.D.) are the best representations of the Pallava

style. The Kailasanatha (dating a little later than the Shore Temple), with its stately

superstructure and subsidiary shrines attached to the walls is a great contraction. Another

splendid temple at Kanchipuram is the Vaikuntha Perumal (mid-8th century), which has an

interesting arrangement of three sanctums, one above the other, encased within the body of the

superstructure. The Talapurisvara temple at Panamalai is another excellent example. The

Pallavas laid the foundations of the Dravidian school which blossomed during the Cholas, the

Pandyas, the Vijayanagar kings and the Nayaks.

Most important of a large number of unpretentious and beautiful shrines that dot the Tamil

countryside are the Vijayalaya Colisvara temple at Narttamalai (mid-9th century), with its

circular sanctum, spherical cupola, and massive, plain walls; the twin shrines called Agastyisvara

and Colisvara, at Kilaiyur (late 9th century); and the splendid group of two temples (originally

three) known as the Muvarkovil, at Kodumbalur (c.875).


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The Vijayalaya Colisvara temple, with its first and second thala (base) of the vimanam square inshape, the third in circular (vasara) and the griva and Sikhira also in circular shape; is a

forerunner of the magnificent temple at Gangaikondacholapuram built by Rajendra Chola. The

vimana is a fine mixture of Nagara and Vesara styles.

These simple beginnings led rapidly (in about a century) to grandeur and style. The temples, now

built of stone, were huge, more complex and ornate with sculptures. Dravidian architecture

reached its glory during the Chola period (900-1200 A.D.). Among the most magnificent of the

Chola temples is the Brhadishvara temple at Tanjore with its 66 metre high vimana, the tallest of

its kind. The later Pandyans who succeeded the Cholas improved on the Cholas by introducing

elaborate ornamentation and huge sculptural images, many-pillared halls, new annexes to the

shrine and towers (gopurams) on the gateways. The mighty temple complexes of Madurai and

Srirangam set a pattern for the Vijayanagar builders (1350-1565 A.D.) who followed the

Dravidian tradition. The Pampapati Virupaksha and Vitthala temples in Hampi are standing

examples of this period. The Nayaks of Madurai who succeeded the Vijayanagar kings (1600-

1750 A.D.) made the Dravidian temple complex even more elaborate by making the gopurams

very tall and ornate and adding pillared corridors within the temple long compound.


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The Hoysalas (1100-1300A.D.) who ruled the Kannada country improved on the Chalukyan

style by building extremely ornate, finely chiseled, intricately sculptured temples mounted on

star shaped pedestals. The Hoysala temples are noted for the delicately carved sculptures in the

walls, depressed ceilings, lathe-turned pillars in a variety of fanciful shapes ; and fully sculptured

vimanas. The exterior is almost totally covered with sculpture, the walls decorated with severalbands of ornamental motifs and a narrative relief.Among the more famous of these temples,

which are classified under the Vesara style, arethe twin Hoysalesvara temple at Halebid, the

Chenna Kesava temple at Belur (1117), the Amrtesvara temple at Amritpur (1196), and the

Kesava (trikuta) temple at Somnathpur (1268).


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In the north, the major developments in Hindu temple architecture were in Orissa (750-1250

A.D.) and Central India (950-1050 A.D.) as also Rajasthan (10thand 11thCentury A.D.) and

Gujarat (11th-13thCentury A.D.). The temples of Lingaraja (Bhubaneswar), Jagannatha (Puri) and

Surya (Konarak) represent the Kalinga-nagara style. The greatest centre of this school is the

ancient city of Bhubaneswar, which has almost 100 examples of the style, both great and small,

ranging from the 7th to the 13th century. The most magnificent structure, however, is the great

Lingaraja temple (11th century), an achievement of Kalinga architecture in full flower.

The most famous of all Kalinga temples, however, is the colossal building at Konarak, built by

the Chandellas, dedicated to Surya, the sun god. The temple and its accompanying hall are

conceived in the form of a great chariot drawn by horses.


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The Surya temple at Modhera (Gujarat) and other temple at Mt. Abu built by the Solankis have

their own distinct features in Central Indian architecture. Bengal with its temples built in bricks

and terracotta tiles and Kerala with its temples having unique roof structure suited to the heavy

rainfall of the region developed their own special styles.

Hindu temples were built outside India too. The earliest of such temples are found in Java; for

instance the Shiva temples at Dieng and Idong Songo built by the kings of Sailendra dynasty (

6th-9thcentury). The group of temples of Lara Jonggrang at Paranbanam (9th to 10 thcentury) is a

magnificent example of Hindu temple architecture. Other major temples are: the temple complex

at Panataran (Java) built by the kings of Majapahit dynasty (14century); the rock-cut templefacades at Tampaksiring of Bali (11thcentury); the Mother temple at Beshakh of Bali

(14thcentury); the Chen La temples at Sambor Prei Kuk in Cambodia (7th6thcentury); the

temples of Banteay Srei at Angkor (10thcentury) and the celebrated Angkor Vat temple complex

(12thcentury) built by Surya Varman II.


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Sources:

Pictures from Internet

Devalaya Vastu

By Prof. SKR Rao

Encyclopaedia Britannica

http://www.britannica.com/dday/print?articleId=109585&fullArticle=true&tocId=65333

Temple and Township
http://www.britannica.com/dday/print?articleId=109585&fullArticle=true&tocId=65333http://www.britannica.com/dday/print?articleId=109585&fullArticle=true&tocId=65333http://www.britannica.com/dday/print?articleId=109585&fullArticle=true&tocId=65333


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Vastu Purusha

Mandala

Temple Layout

Parts of the Temple

Iconography

Norms and Measurements

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