ayodhya ki nertrta

1. How to ‘see’ a temple?:
insights from Indian
architectural traditions.

2. Temples as enduring
edifices of human history
and culture.
In terms of tangible heritage, temples
represent the manifestation of centuries
old ideas of aesthetics and culture: which
have otherwise changed radically in other
spheres of human life.
(Image: a structural temple in the Sanchi
Stupa complex (MP) perhaps the earliest
such surviving structure in the
subcontinent).

3. View 1: Temples providing a
window to the historical
evolution of the Hindu faith.
The devotional fervour associated
with epics such as the Ramayana
becomes particularly visible in
temples in the Medieval period. The
Vijayanagara rulers greatly
patronised temples dedicated to
Rama.
(Image: Ahalya Moksham from
Deogarh, UP: among the earliest
sculptural depictions of the epic in
stone. Currently at the National
Museum, New Delhi)

4. Image: from the
Hazara Rama Temple
in Hampi, Kranataka,
which depicts the entire
story of the Ramayana
in horizontal friezes on
the temple walls.

6. Temples with rare forms of deities enshrined in them.
Tripura Vijaya Murti
Kandariya, Khajuraho,
11th century CE
A composite forms of Surya,
Shiva and Vishnu. Dulhadeo,
Vaikuntha Chaturmurti,
Kashmir. 9th century CE

7. Temples as surviving edifices of traditions that are not thriving anymore in
the subcontinent
Chaitya at the Ellora
cave. C 10th century CE
Gupta period Shakyamuni Buddha at the
base of the Sanchi Stupa.
C. 4-5th century CE
Teerthankara at the Panchakuta Basadi
Kamabahalli, Karnataka. 12th Century C

8. Temples providing evidence of a shared language of
symbols and aesthetics
Gajalakshmi from one of the Toranas of
the Sanchi Stupa, c. 1st century BCE
Gajalakshmi from the Gomat
Bahubali Temple, Sravanabe
12th century CE

9. View 2: Temples as conveyors of complex
philosophical and theological ideas