Building science of Indian temple architecture

Abstract

Every style of building construction reflects a distinctive principle that represents a particular culture and era. In this context, the Indian Hindu temples are not only places of worship but they are also cradles of knowledge, art, architecture and culture. The practices and traditions of temples exist not only in history but also in present time, which greatly influence the socio-cultural life of its people and gives continuity to traditional Indian values. The evolution of Indian temple architecture is marked by a strict adherence to the ancient models that has continued over many centuries. This paper presents the philosophical and practical aspects that govern the construction of a Hindu temple building and how they influenced the form of the Hindu temple. The various stages, construction techniques and processes involved in temple construction since ancient times have been studied not only though archival research but also through a comparative study. Dimensional studies have also been undertaken with respect to simple indexes of both the northern and the southern styles of Hindu temple architecture and are discussed in this paper.