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Shikhara
''Shikhara'' (IAST: '), a Sanskrit word translating literally to "mountain peak", refers to the rising tower in the Hindu temple architecture of North India, and also often used in Jain temples. A ''shikhara'' over the ''garbhagriha'' chamber where the presiding deity is enshrined is the most prominent and visible part of a Hindu temple of North India. In South India, the equivalent term is ''vimana''; unlike the ''shikhara'', this refers to the whole building, including the sanctum beneath. In the south, ''shikhara'' is a term for the top stage of the vimana only, which is usually a dome capped with a finial; this article is concerned with the northern form. The southern ''vimana'' is not to be confused with the elaborate gateway-towers of south Indian temples, called ''gopuram'', which are often taller and more prominent features in large temples. Forms ''Shikhara'' can be classified into three main forms: *''Latina''. The ''shikhara'' has four faces, which may include proj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Temple Architecture
Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many varieties of style, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the ''garbha griha'' or womb-chamber, where the primary ''Murti'' or the image of a deity is housed in a simple bare cell. This chamber often has an open area designed for movement in clockwise rotation for rituals and prayers. Around this chamber there are often other structures and buildings, in the largest cases covering several acres. On the exterior, the garbhagriha is crowned by a tower-like ''shikhara'', also called the ''vimana'' in the south. The shrine building often includes an circumambulatory passage for parikrama, a mandapa congregation hall, and sometimes an antarala antechamber and porch between garbhagriha and mandapa. There may be other mandapas or other buildings, connected or detached, in large temples, together with other small temples in the compound. Hindu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urushringa
''Urushringa'' (Sanskrit: ''uruśṛn̍ga'' उरुशृङ्ग, lit. ''having high peak'') is a subsidiary tower springing from the sides of the main ''shikhara'' tower in the Hindu temple architecture of northern India. Overview The urushringa is smaller and narrower than the shikhara, and "engaged" or connected to it where they meet, except right at the top. It strengthens the feeling of height given by the temple, and may give some structural support by acting like a buttress, as well as adding to the visual symbolism of the temple as a sacred mountain. They often reflect the complex shape of the sanctuary structure at ground level, following the ''ratha'' projections up into the shikhara. The style of shikhara with urushringas is known as sekhari. Many of the temples in the famous Khajuraho Group of Monuments have sekhari towers, though others do not. On the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple there are 84 urushringas around the shikhara.Harle, 233-235; Michell, 121-123 T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vimana (architectural Feature)
''Vimana'' is the structure over the ''garbhagriha'' or inner sanctum in the Hindu temples of South India and Odisha in East India. In typical temples of Odisha using the Kalinga style of architecture, the ''vimana'' is the tallest structure of the temple, as it is in the ''shikhara'' towers of temples in West and North India. By contrast, in large South Indian temples, it is typically smaller than the great gatehouses or ''gopuram'', which are the most immediately striking architectural elements in a temple complex. A ''vimana'' is usually shaped as a pyramid, consisting of several stories or '' tala''. ''Vimana'' are divided in two groups: ''jati vimanas'' that have up to four ''tala'' and ''mukhya vimana'' that have five ''tala'' and more. In North Indian temple architecture texts, the superstructure over the ''garbhagriha'' is called a ''shikhara''. However, in South Indian Hindu architecture texts, the term ''shikhara'' means a dome-shaped crowning cap above the ''vimana''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amalaka
An amalaka ( sa, आमलक), is a segmented or notched stone disk, usually with ridges on the rim, that sits on the top of a Hindu temple's shikhara or main tower. According to one interpretation, the amalaka represents a lotus, and thus the symbolic seat for the deity below. Another interpretation is that it symbolizes the sun, and is thus the gateway to the heavenly world. The name and, according to some sources the shape, of the amalaka comes from the fruit of Phyllanthus emblica (or Mirobalanus embilica), the Indian gooseberry, or myrobolan fig tree. This is called ''āmalaki'' in Sanskrit, and the fruit has a slightly segmented shape, though this is much less marked than in the architectural shape. The amalaka itself is crowned with a kalasam or finial, from which a temple banner is often hung. History The shape first appears (or survives) as an element in the capitals of columns around the time of Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, recurring in some capitals of the 1st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latina (architecture)
In Hindu temple architecture, ''Latina'' or ''Rekha Prasad'' is the most common type of northern Indian '' shikhara'' (tower or spire on top of a shrine), whose form is a single slightly curved tower with four sides of equal length, thus square in plan. The sides may be broken by slight projections running up the tower, called ratha Ratha ( Proto-Indo-Iranian: ''*Hrátʰas'', Sanskrit: रथ, '; Avestan: ''raθa'') is also known as the Indo-Iranian term for a spoked-wheel chariot or a cart of antiquity. Harappan Civilisation The Indus Valley Civilization sites of Dai ...s, and there is often considerable decoration, especially at the corners, where some division into horizontal "storeys" may be seen. The tower is traditionally built by superimposing horizontal slabs of stone. The two variant and more elaborate types of northern Indian towers are the '' Sekhari'' and the '' Bhumija'', both based on the ''Latina'' plan. Notes ReferencesLatina-Encyclopædia Britannic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhumija
Bhumija is a variety of north Indian temple architecture marked by how the rotating square-circle principle is applied to construct the '' shikhara'' (superstructure or spire) on top of the sanctum. Invented about the 10th-century in the Malwa region of central India (west Madhya Pradesh and southeast Rajasthan) during the Paramara dynasty rule, it is found in Hindu and Jain temples. Most early and elegant examples are found in and around the Malwa region, but this design is also found in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Deccan and some major Hindu temple complexes of southern and eastern India.Encyclopedia Britannica (2018)Bhumija in South Asian Arts Description The hallmark of Bhumija style is a square plan that is not divided, but instead rotated around its center ''and'' this rotation is stopped at regular intervals as the superstructure rises vertically. By adjusting the pace of rotation and the interval at which the rotation stops, many creative variations can be implemented. Each tie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jain Temple
A Jain temple, Derasar (Gujarati: દેરાસર) or Basadi (Kannada: ಬಸದಿ) is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is essentially restricted to temples and monasteries, and Jain buildings generally reflect the prevailing style of the place and time they were built. Jain temple architecture is generally close to Hindu temple architecture, and in ancient times Buddhist architecture. Normally the same builders and carvers worked for all religions, and regional and period styles are generally similar. For over 1,000 years, the basic layout of a Hindu or most Jain temples has consisted of a small garbhagriha or sanctuary for the main murti or cult images, over which the high superstructure rises, then one or more larger mandapa halls. Māru-Gurjara architecture or the "Solanki style" is, a particular temple style from Gujarat and Rajasthan (both regions with a strong Jain presence) that originated in both Hindu and Jain temp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garbhagriha
A ''garbhagriha'' or ''sannidhanam'' is the ''sanctum sanctorum'', the innermost sanctuary of a Hindu and Jain temples where resides the ''murti'' (idol or icon) of the primary deity of the temple. In Jainism, the main deity is known as the ''Mulnayaka''. Literally the word means "womb chamber", from the Sanskrit words ''garbha'' for womb and ''griha'' for house. Although the term is often associated with Hindu temples, it is also found in Jain and Buddhist temples. Traditionally, in Hinduism only 'priests' (''pujari'') are allowed to enter this chamber, though in modern practice this is often considerably relaxed. Architecture The room has a single entrance, normally facing east to be accessed by the rising sun, and no windows. It is normally square, and at least approximately a cube, with the representation of the temple's deity placed in the centre, so that it can be seen by worshippers outside. Relative to the size of the temple, and especially the large tower arising o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahabodhi Temple
The Mahabodhi Temple (literally: "Great Awakening Temple") or the Mahābodhi Mahāvihāra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but rebuilt and restored Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. Bodh Gaya is 15 km from Gaya and is about from Patna. The site contains a descendant of the Bodhi Tree under which Buddha gained enlightenment, and has been a major pilgrimage destination of Buddhists for well over two thousand years, and some elements date to the period of Ashoka (died c. 232 BCE). What is now visible on the ground essentially dates from the 5th century CE, or possibly earlier, as well as several major restorations since the 19th century. But the structure now may well incorporate large parts of earlier work, possibly from the 2nd or 3rd century CE.Harle, 201; Michell, 228–229 Archaeological finds from the site however, indicate that the place was a site of veneration for Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sekhari (architecture)
''Sekhari'' or ''Shekhari'' is a type of northern Indian '' shikhara'' (tower or spire on top of a shrine) which comprises a central '' Latina'' spire with '' urushringa'' half spires added on all sides.Tadgell, 342-343 It is a one of two sub-types of ''shikhara'', the other being '' bhumija''. Notes References *Tadgell, Chistopher, ''The East: Buddhists, Hindus and the Sons of Heaven'', 2015, Routledge, , 9781136753831google books {{Architecture of India Hindu temple architecture ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gopuram
A ''gopuram'' or ''gopura'' ( Tamil: கோபுரம், Malayalam: ഗോപുരം, Kannada: ಗೋಪುರ, Telugu: గోపురం) is a monumental entrance tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a Hindu temple, in the South Indian architecture of the Southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Telangana, and Sri Lanka. In other areas of India they are much more modest, while in Southern Indian temples they are very often by far the highest part of the temple. Ancient and early medieval temples feature smaller ''gopuram'', while in later temples they are a prominent feature of Hindu Dravidian style; in many cases the temple compound was expanded and new larger gopuram built along the new boundary. They are topped by the ''kalasam'', a bulbous stone finial. They function as gateways through the walls that surround the temple complex. Another towering structure located towards the center of the temple is the Vimanam. Both of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hindu temple is designed to bring about contact between man and the gods" (...) "The architecture of the Hindu temple symbolically represents this quest by setting out to dissolve the boundaries between man and the divine". The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions, deploying circles and squares. It also represents recursion and the representation of the equivalence of the macrocosm and the microcosm by astronomical numbers, and by "specific alignments related to the geography of the place and the presumed linkages of the deity and the patron". A temple incorporates all elements of the Hindu cosmos — presenting the good, the evil and the human, as well as the elements of the Hindu sense of cyclic time and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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