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In Hindu temple architecture, ''Latina'' or ''Rekha Prasad'' is the most common type of northern Indian ''
Latina-Encyclopædia BritannicaSekhari-Encyclopædia Britannica
{{Architecture of India Hindu temple architecture
In Hindu temple architecture, ''Latina'' or ''Rekha Prasad'' is the most common type of northern Indian ''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'' chambe ...
'' (tower or spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...
on top of a shrine
A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...
), 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 rathas, 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
References
Latina-Encyclopædia Britannica
{{Architecture of India Hindu temple architecture