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Indian Temple Architecture - Patterns

Patterns in Indian Temple Architecture


The Gupta age presented a new era in the history on Temple Architecture. Shilpashashtras, the medieval architectural texts mentioned three styles to temple architecture, namely - Nagara Architecture (North) and Dravidian Architecture (South) and Vesara Architecture style.

  • Nagara Style

Connected with the Himalayas and Vindhyas and regionally developed in North India. The main two components of this style are the Taller Shrine and the Adjoining Mandapa. The stark differences between these two buildings is the shape of Shikhara. In the main shrine, a bell shaped structure is added. There are four chambers present in these kinds of temples, namely, 
  1. Garbagriha
  2. Jagmohan
  3. Natyamandir and
  4. Bhogamandir
Garbagriha

Jagmohan

Nata mandapa or Natyamandir or Mandapa
is the place of worship

Bhogamandir Chamber

Nagara Style


The main features differentiate in its planning and elevation as the plan is square with gradual projections in the center of each side forming a cruciform shape. There are in total four projection types;

  • Triratha  - single projection
  • Pancharahtha - double projections
  • Saptharatha triple projections and
  • Navaratha - quadruple projections

Major examples could be a few like the Sun Temple at Modhera, Sun Temple at Khajuraho, Jagannath Temple at Puri and so on.

Sun Temple Modhera

Sun Temple Khajuraho

Jagannath Temple, Puri

  • Dravida Style
Elements of Dravida Style Architecture


This style progressed in the South, throughout Chola Empire between 9th - 12th Century A.D. and it is observed in the region between the Krishna and Kaveri Rivers. The two important characteristics of Dravida temple architecture is: 
  • More than 4 sides in the Sanctum
  • Tower or Vimana are pyramidal in shape
This style is situated within ambulatory hall. The Vimana is situated on top of the Garbagriha. An extensive use of pillars and pilasters is seen in this style, circular passageways are provided around the Garbagriha (Chief's deity room) to permit devotees for Pradakshina. 

Kailasanatha Temple 

The Mandapa an ornamental pillared hall and the entire structure is enclosed within a high walled courtyard and the Gopuram is for the main access to the courtyard to the temple. Main example is the Kailasanatha Temple of Dravidian Architecture.


  • Vesara Style

Elements of Vesara Style

During the early mediaeval period, this style, which combines Nagara and Dravida elements, was associated with the region between the Krishna River and Vindhyas. Many temples in Central India and the Deccan region are built in the Vesara style, with regional adaptations. Vesara style is exemplified by the Chalukyas of Kalyani and the Hoysalas. The height of the towers has been reduced in this temple, but the number of levels has been kept and the heights of individual tiers have been reduced. This style was also replicated by the semi-circular Buddhist Chaityas. The structures are beautifully completed, and the figures are ornate and well-polished.

Plan of Keertinarayan Temple


Keertinarayan Temple

  • Badami-Chalukya
During the Badami Chalukyas' reign, Indian architecture reached its pinnacle. They established the groundwork for cave temple building on the banks of the Malaprabha River in Karnataka between 500 and 757 CE. The Badami Cave temples, which date back to the 6th century and are located in the town of Badami in northern Karnataka, are one of the greatest specimens of ancient architecture, consisting of ornamental pillars, intricately chiseled ceiling panels, and statues.


Malaprabha River

Badami Cave temples


More than 150 temples in the historic temple complex in the village of Aihole, known as the "Cradle of Indian Architecture," including the Group of Monuments of Pattadakal, are designated by UNESCO as World Heritage sites, with architectural edifices such as the Virupaksha temple and the Mallikarjuna temple being excellent examples of this style.

  • Gadag

Mallikarjuna temple

The Western Chalukya architecture, also known as the Gadag style, is a type of ornamental architecture that evolved from the previous Dravida style and characterizes the Karnata Dravida legacy. It flourished for roughly 150 years until 1200 CE during the rule of the Western Chalukya Empire in the Tungabhadra district of Karnataka and saw the building of over 50 temples. Articulation was a distinguishing aspect of this style. Some temples that exhibit this architecture are Kasivisvesvara Temple in Lakkundi and Sarasvati Temple in the Trikuteshwara Temple Complex in Gadag.

  • Kalinga:


This style as observed in Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh contains three peculiar styles which are known as Pidha Deula and Rekha Deula which are linked with Lord Shiva, Surya and Vishnu and Khakhara Deula which is linked with Goddess Durga and Chamunda. The first two styles encapsulates the sanctum sanctorum. The word Deula means temple and some of the examples include the famous Jagannath Temple of Puri and Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneshwar showcase Rekha Deula style whilst Vaital Deula of Bhubaneshwar presents Khakhara Deula and the Konark Sun Temple is a prominent example of Pidha Deula. The presence of sculpturally rich building is obvious in both forms. The Nagda temple in Rajasthan is an example of this type.
  • Maru - Gurjara
Vallabh Smarak Jain Mandir

This temple architecture emerging from Rajasthan has two different styles namely Maru-Gurjara and Maha-Maru and they emerged somewhere around 6th century. Maru-Gurjara style temple architecture is referred by scholars as an exclusive Western Indian Architecture style differentiating from temple architecture of North India. However, it this temple architecture shows features with Hoysala Temple Architecture as a sculpturally rich architecture.

  • Symbolism
Metaphysical aspects are represented by symbolism, which is an artistic/poetic movement that uses visuals to transmit mystical concepts, feelings, and states of mind indirectly. Architectural shapes become content carriers, serving as symbols in plan, elevation, and decoration. This symbolism can be deciphered knowingly or inadvertently.

Symbolism was a reaction against anti-idealist notions such as naturalism and realism, which sought to reflect reality in its gritty specificity, emphasizing the humble and common over the ideal. In the domain of symbolism, numerous ancient historical writings aid in the basic knowledge of the topic, although modern and recent texts have eschewed traversing the course.

A fractal is a two- or three-dimensional geometrical figure in which each part has the same statistical homogeneity as the overall figure. In small scales, they appear to be progressive, with mathematical roots traced back across time as a systematic path of published works. This began with ideas of recursion, reiteration, and repetition in the seventeenth century, and culminated in the twentieth century with the coining of the term fractal. Benoît Mandelbrot was the first to develop the term in 1975; the derivation comes from the Latin word fractus, which means "fractured," and it is used to apply the concept of theoretical fractional dimensions to natural geometric patterns.

Carl Bovill, Michael J. Ostwald, Nikos Salingros, Kirti Trivedi, Sambit Dutta, and many others have made significant contributions to this field and its applications in architecture, with George Michel, Adam Hardy, Sambit Dutta, and Subhash Kak contributing significantly to the field of temple architecture.

Immanuel Kant demonstrates in his 'Critique of Pure Reason' (1781) how attempts to use reason to establish metaphysical 'truths' always result in impossible contradictions. He then demonstrates how we learn about the world. The contradictions in the meanings of various shapes and patterns in temple structures are part of the society's character and thus part of the temple embellishments, as the temple is an image of the society. The human mind is an active, rather than a passive, receiver of information. We 'constitute' the world when we look at it in order to make sense of it. The constantly changing nature is also understood as humans' constant interaction with these structures, where their impact becomes part of their experience, subtly modulating it. Some of the concepts we apply to our current experiences come from our past ones, but the most important ones come before experience.

  • Methodology

More than one scholar, including Dr. Kirti Trivedi and Md. Rian, has demonstrated that fractal geometry exists in medieval temple architecture. The practical application of this could be due to the need to depict various concepts using specific metaphors. These metaphoric representations carry meanings that Euclidean geometric combinations cannot depict or explain in their own right. As a result, if a strong relationship develops between symbolism in a Hindu temple context and fractal geometry in the same context, the reason for using this unusual type of geometry in this temple context may be justified. The temple structures' fractal geometry has been adequately demonstrated. It is also known that symbolism exists in temple complexes to aid man's journey to enlightenment. The only missing link in this trio is the connection between fractal geometry and symbolism. 


Fractal Characteristics of different mandalas and their iterations from the skala mandala.





  • Fractal Geometry

The abundance of details in the temples of Laxman and Kandariya Mahadev not only make the temples highly fractal in terms of roughness, but also displays the characteristics of Gods who are very important in Hindu cosmology and philosophy. Various natural elements and a number of figures displaying sexual gestures on the temple fabrics represent creation, among other metaphors. In other words, even the smallest details of the temple carry the concept of creation. Naked eyes can see the smallest details up to a certain level, but the story or images of the gods create a spiritual journey for the power of imagination to perceive further to infinity. Though the geometric details are not exact repetitions of its parent body of the temple, it does repeat the same concept/theme of the body. The smallest figures resemble paramanu (atom), the smallest time unit, consciousness, which serves as a microcosm of the largest time unit, cosmos. 

The interior of Kandariya Mahadev temple, like the exterior, is full of figures and floral details, with figural details protecting the sanctuary from demons and floral details depicting cosmic events. The fractal pattern of the Kandariya Mahadev temple plan, replicas of detailed towers, and rhythmic growth of horizontal friezes create a harmony of fractal characters throughout the complex. The temple's high level of detail adds a fractal taste of coarseness throughout the structure.

Kandariya Mahadeva Temple
Plan

Interior - Kandariya Mahadeva Temple
(Kevin Standage)



Sketch, 1970
Nashik Maharashtra Temple,
section and plan

Vrindavan Temple,
Uttar Pradesh

Halebidu Karnataka, 
floor plan



Conclusion:

Religion is a coordinating system of knowledge (real and imagined) about the universe that has proven essential to humankind's survival. The temple structure serves as a vehicle for transmitting this knowledge. From the macro to the micro scale, the temple structure is intended to act at various levels to explain the concept of spiritual journey, morale in daily life, and the concept of human beings and their environment.

The temple construction depicts meanings on both the subconscious and conscious portions of our minds. Humans' inherent urge pushes them to build in accordance with a similar algorithm, which naturally makes them feel at ease with their surroundings. 

Each arrangement is demonstrated as a technique for resolving a reoccurring architectural phenomenon: the interplay between a specific circumstance, the forces that recur in this context, and a spatial configuration that permits these forces to resolve themselves (Alexander, 1979). As a consequence, it can be concluded that the use of these basic parameters can greatly aid in the analysis of temple design in more than just physical terms. The physical manifestation of the temple is only a means of gaining a grasp of the concept. Fractals can also describe the concept of proliferation and multiplication with self-similarity. Thus, fractal geometry is shown to satisfy the parametric constraints in the formal analysis of temples.




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