Illustration of Jagannath

TEMPLES WITH MOUNT PART I

Emerged from an ancient circumambulation-built of stones, the Hindu temples had always been revered by holy relics, human or divine. A point of contact where humans progress from the world of illusion towards knowledge and truth. Temples are solely not a place to worship but an object to be worshipped as well. Showcasing unique architecture, a Hindu temple symbolises ideas or characteristics in its structure, historically related to the common practice of people residing around it.

Sri Jagannath Temple in Rekha-Prasad/Latina style
Sri Jagannath Temple in Rekha-Prasad/Latina style, Shikhara, 1161 CE, Odisha, Photograph ©Stefan Hajdu
Jagannath Temple
Illustration of Jagannath Temple, engraving from London News, 1857, ©Columbia University

A Nagara style temple would nestle on a high platform Jagati composed of stone and bricks with several mouldings. Identified by a specific superstructure resembling a mountain peak in Nagra style is known as shikhara. Fractionated into different sub groups, The Nagara style shikharas is classified into three schools of Odisha, Chandel and Solanki patronage. Each school constitutes a distinguishable style. The beauty of shikhara lies behind the proportions of the arrangement of replicas.

Stitched Kandriya Temple
Kandariya Mahadev Temple in Shekari style (left), Shikhara, 1030 CE, Madhya Pradesh, Photograph ©Rudra Narayan Mitra and Kandariya Mahadev Temple photograph by Deen Dayal (right), 1882, ©The British Library Board

The repetitions of towers in temples are non-arbitrary, however, follow certain rules and proportions for the comfort of the societal psyche as well as geometrical congruence with the cosmos. Its proportions reflect significance: the temple is constructed according to a proper mathematical system, therefore functioning in harmony with the mathematical basis of the universe and our brain. Hagerhall et. al. (2004) have performed a more systematic enquiry into the relation between aesthetic preference and fractals. These unique fractal characters on the body of the shikhara above the sanctuary of the temples are born by the process of iteration from a single central tower which is known as unipratiti

Telika Temple Stitched
Telika Temple in Valabhi style (left), Shikhara, 9th century CE, Madhya Pradesh, Photograph ©Mukul Banerjee and Illustration of Telika Temple (right), Etching from Le Tour du Monde, 1872, ©Columbia University
Temple
Udayehshwar Temple in Bhumija style, Shikhara, 11th century CE, Madhya Pradesh, Photograph ©Dileep Kanitkar

The temple has been the centre of the intellectual, social and artistic life of the Hindu community, functioning not only as a place of worship, but also as a nucleus around which all artistic and cultural activity is concentrated and flourishes. The influence that this structure had on the society as a whole was immense; from suggesting worldly behaviour and practices, to striving to achieve the ultimate goal of human life; magnifying its responsibility of directing the individual’s gaze towards the ultimate goal.”

                                                                                                                     – Tanisha Dutta & Vinayak S. Adane

Illustration of Jagannath Temple
Konark Temple in Phamsana style, Shikhara, 13th century CE, Odisha, Photograph ©Ashok Saravanan Ay
Illustration of Konark Temple by James Fergusson
Illustration of Konark Temple by James Fergusson from book Ancient Architecture in Hindoostan, 1847 C., ©The British Library board

The application of a recursive procedure in nagara shikhara, applied in three dimensions, makes the soaring tower of the shikhara throw forth diminutive multiples of its own shape in apex relief, each one and all of them subordinated to the bulk of the entire superstructure. Placing the smaller towers on the elevation is such a manner that the peaks of each smaller tower pointing towards the summit of the main central tower, makes the impression of unity in infinity towards the cosmic axis. Another significance of such arrangements of a temple is the man’s perception for seeing the whole body of shikhara in its self-similar parts from any location of view. 

Text by Davangi Pathak

Image Courtesy: Stefan Hajdu, Rudra Narayan Mitra, Dileep Kanitkar, Ashok Saravanan Ay, Bellew Collection of Architectural Views, The British Library Board and Columbia University

Find more about the Architecture:

http://www.mahavidya.ca/2015/06/26/the-nagara-style-of-hindu-temples/

https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v3i12/U1VCMTQzMjI=.pdf

https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-architecture/ancient-architecture/temple-architecture.html

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