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Gopura
A ''gopuram'' or ''gopura'' (Tamil language, Tamil: கோபுரம், Telugu language, Telugu: గోపురం, Kannada: ಗೋಪುರ, Malayalam language, Malayalam: ഗോപുരം) is a monumental entrance tower, usually ornate, at the Entrance Hall, entrance of a Hindu temple, in the Dravidian architecture, South Indian architecture of the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, and Telangana, and Sri Lanka. In other areas of India they are much more modest, while in Southern Indian temples they are very often by far the highest part of the temple. Ancient and early medieval temples feature smaller ''gopuram'', while in later temples they are a prominent feature of Hindu temple architecture, Hindu Tamil architecture, Dravidian style; in many cases the temple compound was expanded and new larger gopuram built along the new boundary. They are topped by the ''kalasam'', a bulbous stone finial. They function as gateways through the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamil Architecture
Tamil Nadu is known for its ancient temple architecture. Nearly 33,000 ancient temples, many at least 800 to 2000 years old, are found scattered all over Tamil Nadu. As per Tamil Nadu Hindu Endowments Board, there are 38,615 temples. Most of the largest Hindu Temples are located in Tamil Nadu. Studded with complex architecture, a variety of sculptures, and rich inscriptions, the temples remain the very essence of the culture and heritage of Tamil land, with historical records dating back to at least 3,000 years. The state also abounds with a large number of temple tanks. The state has 2,359 temple tanks located in 1,586 temples and also confluence of many architectural styles, from ancient temples to the Indo-Saracenic style (pioneered in Madras) of the colonial era, to churches and mosques, to the 20th-century steel and chrome of skyscrapers. History Throughout the history of Tamil Nadu, a king was considered to be divine by nature and possessed religious significance. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Temple Architecture
Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many different styles, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the ''Garbhagriha, garbha griha'' or womb-chamber, where the primary ''Murti'' 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 ''shikhara'', also called the ''Vimana (architectural feature), vimana'' in the south. ''Gopuram'' gateways are elaborate in the south. The shrine building often includes an circumambulatory passage for circumambulation, parikrama, a mandapa congregation hall, and sometimes an antarala antechamber and porch between garbhagriha and mandapa. In additi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khmer Architecture
Khmer architecture (), also known as Angkorian architecture (), is the architecture produced by the Khmer during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE. The Indian rock-cut architecture, architecture of the Indian rock-cut temples, particularly in sculpture, had an influence on Southeast Asia and was widely adopted into the Indianization of Southeast Asia, Indianised architecture of Cambodian (Khmer), Names of Vietnam, Annamese and Javanese temples (of the Greater India). Evolved from Indian influences, Khmer architecture became clearly distinct from that of the Indian sub-continent as it developed its own special characteristics, some of which were created independently and others of which were incorporated from neighboring cultural traditions, resulting in a new artistic style in Asian architecture unique to the Angkorian tradition. The development of Khmer architecture as a distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Temple
A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to whom it is dedicated.; Quote: "The Hindu temple is designed to bring about contact between man and the gods of Hinduism religion" (...) "The architecture of the Hindu temple symbolically represents this quest by setting out to dissolve or decrease the boundaries between man and the divine". Hindu temple architecture, which makes extensive use of squares and circles, has its roots in later Vedic traditions, which also influence the temples' construction and symbolism. Through astronomical numbers and particular alignments connected to the temple's location and the relationship between the deity and the worshipper, the temple's design also illustrates the idea of recursion and the Microcosm–macrocosm analogy, equivalency of the macrocosm and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India by population, sixth largest by population, Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, who speak the Tamil language—the state's official language and one of the longest surviving Classical languages of India, classical languages of the world. The capital and largest city is Chennai. Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is straddled by the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait to the south-east, the Laccadive Sea at the southern Cape (geography), cape of the peninsula, with the river Kaveri bisecting the state. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vimana (architectural Feature)
''Vimana'' is the structure over the '' garbhagriha'' or inner sanctum in the Hindu temples of South India and Odisha in East India. In typical temples of Odisha using the Kalinga style of architecture, the ''vimana'' is the tallest structure of the temple, as it is in the ''shikhara'' towers of temples in West and North India. By contrast, in large South Indian temples, it is typically smaller than the great gatehouses or '' gopuram'', which are the most immediately striking architectural elements in a temple complex. A ''vimana'' is usually shaped as a pyramid, consisting of several stories or '' tala''. ''Vimana'' are divided in two groups: ''jati vimanas'' that have up to four ''tala'' and ''mukhya vimana'' that have five ''tala'' and more. In North Indian temple architecture texts, the superstructure over the ''garbhagriha'' is called a ''shikhara''. However, in South Indian Hindu architecture texts, the term ''shikhara'' means a dome-shaped crowning cap above the ''vimana' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed in 1150 CE as a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Vishnu. It was later gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the century. Considered by some experts to be the List of largest Hindu temples, largest religious structure in the world, it is regarded as one of the best examples of Khmer architecture and a symbol of Cambodia, depicted as a part of the Flag of Cambodia, Cambodian national flag. Angkor Wat was built at the behest of the Khmer king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura (present-day Angkor), the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the Khmer architecture#Temple mountain, temple-moun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalasam
A ''kalasha'' () is a finial, generally in the form of metal or stone spire, used to top the domes of Hindu temples. Kalashas as architectural feature has been used at least before the first millennium BCE and were made of terracotta and wood during this early period. They were used as decorative element placed on top of various types of buildings. They are mainly restricted to temple architecture in the contemporary period. Present in the form of an inverted pot with a point facing the sky, kalashas are prominent elements of temple architecture. According to the ''Aitareya Brahmana'', a golden kalasha is regarded to represent a sun upon the summit of a deity's dwelling, the temple. Most kalashams are made of metal and some of stone. The view of the ''gopuram'' (temple tower) is one of the important rituals of Hindu worship along with view of the '' dhvaja stambha'' (temple flag mast). These gopurams are usually topped with ornamental kalashas. Kalashas are consecrated dur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dravidian Architecture
Dravidian architecture, or the Southern Indian temple style, is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged from Southern India, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. In contrast with North Indian temple styles, Dravidian architecture uses shorter and more pyramidal towers, called vimana, over the garbhagriha or sanctuary, where the north has taller towers, usually curving inwards as they rise, called shikharas. Larger modern Dravidian style temples, however, include one or more high gopura or gatehouse entrances to the compound as their dominating feature; large temples have several dwarfing the vimana, although these are a much more recent development. There are numerous other distinct features, such as the '' dvarapalakas'' – twin guardians at the main entrance and the inner sanctum of the temple and ''goshtams'' – deities carved in niches on the outer side walls of the garbhagriha. Mentioned as one of three styles of temple building ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern India
South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area () and 20% of India's population. It is bound by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse, with two mountain ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Penna, Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers are important non-perennial sources of water. Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Kochi are the largest urban areas in the region. The majority of the people in South India speak at least one of the four major Dravidian languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. During its history, a number of dynastic kingdoms ruled ov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pandya
The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing since at least the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE, the dynasty passed through two periods of imperial dominance, the 6th to 10th centuries CE, and under the 'Later Pandyas' (13th to 14th centuries CE). Under Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I and Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I, the Pandyas ruled extensive territories including regions of present-day South India and northern Sri Lanka through vassal states subject to Madurai. The Pandya dynasty is the longest ruling dynasty in the world. The rulers of the three Tamil dynasties were referred to as the " three crowned rulers (the mu-ventar) of the Tamil Region" in the southern part of India. The origin and the timeline of the Pandya dynasty are difficult to establish. The early Pandya chieftains ruled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and the List of states and union territories of India by population, tenth-most populous in the country. Telugu language, Telugu is the most widely spoken language in the state, as well as its official language. Amaravati is the state capital, while the largest city is Visakhapatnam. Andhra Pradesh shares borders with Odisha to the northeast, Chhattisgarh to the north, Karnataka to the southwest, Tamil Nadu to the south, Telangana to northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the east. It has the Coastline of Andhra Pradesh, third-longest coastline in India at about . Archaeological evidence indicates that Andhra Pradesh has been continuously inhabited for over 247,000 years, from early archaic Hominini, hominins to Neolithic settlements. The earliest r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
