Hindu temple architecture

Hindu temple architecture as the main form of <a href="/facts/Hindu_architecture/5ClFo7KY">Hindu architecture</a> has many different styles, though the basic nature of the <a href="/facts/Hindu_temple/BvAAj7Yn">Hindu temple</a> remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the <a href="/facts/Garbhagriha/gy3sArkC">garbha griha</a> or womb-chamber, where the primary <a href="/facts/Murti/XSc6rEIh">Murti</a> or the image of a deity is housed in a simple bare cell. For rituals and prayers, this chamber frequently has an open space that can be moved in a clockwise direction. There are frequently additional buildings and structures in the vicinity of this chamber, with the largest ones covering several acres. On the exterior, the garbhagriha is crowned by a tower-like <a href="/facts/Shikhara/cmJtPkj2">shikhara</a>, also called the <a href="/facts/Vimana_(architectural_feature)/HN0ucgl6">vimana</a> in the south. <a href="/facts/Gopuram/AnykgqQK">Gopuram</a> gateways are elaborate in the south. The shrine building often includes an circumambulatory passage for <a href="/facts/Circumambulation/6CP5Q5Na">parikrama</a>, a <a href="/facts/Mandapa/06YIW3tF">mandapa</a> congregation hall, and sometimes an <a href="/facts/Antarala/zS0KSTno">antarala</a> antechamber and porch between garbhagriha and mandapa. In addition to other small temples in the compound, there may be additional mandapas or buildings that are either connected or separate from the larger temples.
Hindu temple architecture reflects a synthesis of arts, the ideals of <a href="/facts/Dharma/q7MFlJPp">dharma</a>, values, and the way of life cherished under Hinduism. The temple is a place for <a href="/facts/Tirtha_and_Kshetra/dlsbdMU1">Tirtha</a>—pilgrimage. All the cosmic elements that create and celebrate life in Hindu pantheon, are present in a Hindu temple—from fire to water, from images of nature to deities, from the feminine to the masculine, from <a href="/facts/Kama/zlTz4H6H">kama</a> to <a href="/facts/Artha/aKNDBVv5">artha</a>, from the fleeting sounds and incense smells to Purusha—the eternal nothingness yet universality—is part of a Hindu temple architecture. The form and meanings of architectural elements in a Hindu temple are designed to function as a place in which to create a link between man and the divine, to help his progress to spiritual knowledge and truth, his liberation it calls <a href="/facts/Moksha/b3uuA7jI">moksha</a>.
The architectural principles of Hindu temples in India are described in the <a href="/facts/Shilpa_Shastras/mvLjFt7Q">Shilpa Shastras</a> and <a href="/facts/Vastu_shastra/BzPGHSya">Vastu Sastras</a>. The Hindu culture has encouraged aesthetic independence to its temple builders, and its architects have sometimes exercised considerable flexibility in creative expression by adopting other perfect geometries and mathematical principles in Mandir construction to express the <a href="/facts/San%C4%81tana_Dharma/NGDmeAgy">Hindu Way of life</a>.
Hindu temple architecture and its various styles has had a profound influence on the stylistic origins of <a href="/facts/Buddhist_architecture/RXy9yDYJ">Buddhist architecture</a>. Aspects seen on Buddhist architecture like the <a href="/facts/Stupa/0dXQxGA3">stupa</a> may have been influenced by the <a href="/facts/Shikhara/cmJtPkj2">shikhara</a>, a stylistic element which in some regions evolved to the <a href="/facts/Pagoda/KekTlSK1">pagoda</a> which are seen throughout <a href="/facts/Thailand/GCUnN4JK">Thailand</a>, <a href="/facts/Cambodia/t1wJd6GU">Cambodia</a>, <a href="/facts/Nepal/yWCzTBR2">Nepal</a>, <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a>, <a href="/facts/Taiwan/VcJoUD8w">Taiwan</a>, <a href="/facts/Japan/U5mz0SRT">Japan</a>, <a href="/facts/Korea/cj2kDBzc">Korea</a>, <a href="/facts/Myanmar/zcqQH2oE">Myanmar</a>, and <a href="/facts/Vietnam/0ulfA8Eq">Vietnam</a>.

Hindu temple architecture open-in-new

Hindu temple architecture