![]() The following is the layout of a Jain temple. ![]() The Buddhist temple at Neak Pean at Angkor, Cambodia was also designed by aligning squares around the central square. Even the Sri Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple at Amritsar is structured in a square shape with the Sanctum placed in the Brahma sthana. Incidentally, the Buddhist and Jain temples too follow the same principles. Plan of the Ancient Temple of Vishveshvur, by James Prinsep Even the ancient temple of Sri Vishwanatha of Kashi that was later destroyed by Aurangzeb, during 1669 CE, was in form a square, with the sanctum at the heart of it. The 9th-century Temple at Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia is built upon six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, resembling the Sri Yantra. And, in case it becomes necessary to construct a temple on a land of such “un approved” shape, the area meant for the temple should be demarcated and rendered a square or a rectangle in shape. Shapes of sites to be avoided are: circular (vritta), triangular (trikona), rod shaped (dandakriti), bow shaped (dhanur akara) and other irregular shapes. The ratio between the breadth and the length of the area may be 4:8 4:7 4:6 or 4:5. ![]() The land considered suitable for the purpose of constructing the temple (vastu bhumi) and placed at the center (Brahma Sthana) of the Vastu mandala of the township must be in the shape of a rectangle or a square. This again involves preparation of another Vastu Mandala. This specifies the location, the size and the orientation of the various temples to come up in the proposed complex. Having determined the suitability of the land for constructing a temple, and having drawn up the Vastu Mandala of the town and identified the temple location the next stage is to draw up a construction plan. The drawing of the court yard of the Shiva temple at Thiruvālangādu, by the famous artist Silpi. Else, I fear, it might get too complicated. It is also said, it would be better if the elevation on the west or the South is slightly higher.įor the limited purpose of this discussion let us stick to the square or rectangular layout, ignoring the rest. In case the layout is rectangular ,the North South dimension should be greater than East-west dimension. Varaha-samhita calls such layouts as Siddha-bhumi, the best of all. The rest of the lay outs are for other (lesser) deities.īut all texts generally agree that the square or the rectangular shape of layout are the best and most auspicious. Similarly the Square (Chandura), Rectangle (Agatra), fish (meena), diamond or rhombus (vajra) and sword (khadga) are recommended for Devi temples. For instance: the back of a tortoise (kurma), pot (kumbha), conch (shanka) and lotus (kamala) are recommended only for Vishnu and Shiva temples. ![]() These layouts have specific applications and are not to be used generally. The Shilpa text Shiva-prakasha in its chapter titled vastu-bhumi-bedha, describes sixteen (Shodasha) types of temple layouts: the Square (Chandura) Rectangle (Agatra) Trapezium ( with uneven sides – like a cart – shakata) Circle (Vritta) Elliptical (kritta vritta) triangular (dwaja) diamond or rhombus (vajra) Arrow (shara) umbrella (chatra) fish (meena) back of a tortoise (kurma) conch (shanka) crescent (ardha-chandra) pot (kumbha) sword (khadga) and lotus (kamala). South elevation plan of Kailash temple is Plate LXXX11 from the book “Cave temples of India” by Ferguson, James and James Burgess (Thanks to Dr.JB Ratti) ![]()
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