This photograph from the ‘Architecture in Dharwar and Mysore’ was taken by Dr. A.C.B.Neill in 1856. Pictured here is the outer wall of the pillared hall of the temple. The photographer has finely captured the carved rows and niches of the adhisthana (temple base), jali vatayana (netted wall), and the pilasters on the bhitti (body/wall) of the temple. The adhisthana (temple… Read more »
This photograph from the ‘Architecture in Dharwar and Mysore’ was taken by Dr. A.C.B.Neill in 1856. The temple identified here is the Chennakeshava temple in Belur, Karnataka. The photograph shows the entrance to the temple flanked by small subordinating shrines on either side of the stairway. The topmost structure consists of five devakoshtas (niches) with divinities inside. … Read more »
This photograph from the ‘Architecture in Dharwar and Mysore’ was taken by photographer Dr. William Henry Pigou in 1856. The temple identified here is the Chalukyan Doddabasappa temple built in the 12th century and is located 20kms away from Gadag city in Karnataka. Incorrectly captioned as a Jain temple by the photographer/publisher, the temple is dedicated… Read more »
This picture shows the Shyam Rai Temple, regarded as a structural beauty amongst the Bishnupur Temple Complex in West Bengal. It was built during the reign of Raghunath Singha (1626 – 1656), a Malla King who is recognised to be a patron of art and architecture. The temple is a pancharatha temple with one main… Read more »
The Brihadishwara Temple at Thanjavur marks the acme of the Southern Temple Architecture, in magnitude, design, technique, and art. This Great Temple, built between AD 1003 to 1010, is also called the Rajarajeshvara after its builder Rajaraja I, the great Chola Ruler. The Temple complex consists of various subsidiary shrines of different deities, and an… Read more »
This photograph depicts the before-restoration ruins of the Sun temple at Konark, in Orissa. Once famous as the Black Pagoda, for the temple resembles the chariot of the Sun God, with 12 wheels and seven horses that represent the number of months in a year/zodiac signs and days in the week. It was built by… Read more »
One of the most striking ways in which temples in India announce their provenance is with the spires that loom over the rest of the structure—this is where a North-South divide makes itself felt
The many reasons—from the highly spiritual to the purely pragmatic—behind the rise of the Indian temple town
The earliest temple was a humble place that served as a conduit between hope and whatever higher power held human fates in its hand. As faith in this unseen hand grew, so did the edifice that gathered the hopeful. Today, temples are among the richest repositories of our nation’s artistic, social and cultural legacies. Join… Read more »
Discover the true meaning of faith in a Tamil Nadu temple with an empty sanctum
A brief history of how Hindu temples took root and flourished in India