Nilachal is a
style
Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to:
* Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable
* Design, the process of creating something
* Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
of
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 ...
in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, India, that is characterized by a bulbous polygonal dome over a cruciform ''
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 ...
'' type ''bada''. This hybrid style developed first in the
Kamakhya temple
The Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantra, Tantric practices. The temple is the center of the ''Kulachara Tantra Marga'' and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual fes ...
on the Nilachal hills under the
Koch kingdom
The Kamata Kingdom (pron: ˈkʌmətɑ) emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, a ...
and became popular as a style later under the
Ahom kingdom.
Origin
The Koch king Viswasingha restarted worship at the ruins of the Kamakhya temple, and his son, Naranarayana decided to reconstruct the temple from the existing material lying scattered. He sent artisans and craftsmen under an army general named Meghamukdam. After two failed attempts at restoring the stone ''shikhara'', Meghamukdam decided to take recourse to brick masonry and created the current dome. Made by craftsmen and architects more familiar with Islamic architecture of Bengal, the dome became bulbous and hemispherical which was ringed by minaret-inspired ''angashikharas''.
Examples
*
Kamakhya temple
The Kamakhya Temple at Nilachal hills in Guwahati, Assam is one of the oldest and most revered centres of Tantra, Tantric practices. The temple is the center of the ''Kulachara Tantra Marga'' and the site of the Ambubachi Mela, an annual fes ...
* Jai Dol
* Siddhesvara temple, Sualkuchi
Notes
References
*
{{Architecture of India
Architecture of Assam
Hindu temple architecture