Originating in ancient India, Vastu shastra is a traditional Hindu system of architecture based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, space arrangement, and spatial geometry. The designs aim to integrate architecture with nature, the relative functions of various parts of the structure, and ancient beliefs utilising geometric patterns (yantra), symmetry, and directional alignments.
Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many varieties of style, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the 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 in the south. The shrine building often includes an circumambulatory passage for parikrama, a mandapa congregation hall, and sometimes an antarala antechamber and porch between garbhagriha and mandapa. In addition to other small temples in the compound, there may be additional mandapas or buildings that are either connected or separate from the larger temples.
The Somanath temple or Deo Patan, is a Hindu temple located in Prabhas Patan, Veraval in Gujarat, India. It is one of the most sacred pilgrimage sites for Hindus and is the first among the twelve jyotirlinga shrines of Shiva. It is unclear when the first version of the Somnath temple was built, with estimates varying between the early centuries of the 1st millennium and about the 9th century CE. The temple is not mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism as Somnath nomenclature, but the "Prabhasa-Pattana" is mentioned as a tirtha, where this temple exists. For example, the Mahabharata in Chapters 109, 118, and 119 of Book 3, and Sections 10.45 and 10.78 of the Bhagavata Purana state Prabhasa to be a tirtha on the coastline of Saurashtra.
A Hindu temple is a structure designed to bring Hindus and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion. It is considered the house of the god to whom it is dedicated. The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temple are rooted in Vedic traditions, deploying circles and squares. It also represents recursion and the representation of the equivalence of the macrocosm and the microcosm by astronomical numbers, and by "specific alignments related to the geography of the place and the presumed linkages of the deity and the patron" etc. A temple incorporates all elements of the Hindu cosmos — presenting the good, the evil and the human, as well as the elements of the Hindu sense of cyclic time and the essence of life — symbolically presenting dharma, artha, kama, moksha, and karma.
Vesara is a hybrid form of Indian temple architecture, with South Indian plan and a shape that features North Indian details. This fusion style likely originated in the historic architecture schools of the Dharwad region. It is common in the surviving temples of later Chalukyas and Hoysalas in the Deccan region, particularly Karnataka. According to Indian texts, Vesara was popular in central parts of India such as between the Vindhyas and the river Krishna. It is one of six major types of Indian temple architecture found in historic texts along with Nagara, Dravida, Bhumija, Kalinga, and Varata.
Samarangana Sutradhara, sometimes referred to as Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra, is an 11th-century poetic treatise on classical Indian architecture written in Sanskrit language attributed to Paramara King Bhoja of Dhar. The title Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra is a compound word that literally means "architect of human dwellings", but can also be decomposed to an alternate meaning as "stage manager for battlefields" – possibly a play of words to recognize its royal author.
Lakkundi, also referred to as Lokkugundi, was a major city prior to the 14th century, and is now a village in Gadag District of Karnataka, India. By 10th century, it was already a major economic and commerce center with mint operations for South India, one mentioned in Kannada and Sanskrit inscriptions and texts. By 12th century, many Hindu and Jain temples had been consecrated here, along with public infrastructure such as stepwells and water reservoirs. Among the major temples are the Brahma Jinalaya (oldest), Mallikarjuna, Lakshminarayana, Manikeshwara, Naganatha, Kumbheshvara, Nanneshwara, Someshwara, Narayana, Nilakanteshwara, Kasivisesvara, Virabhadhara, Virupaksha, and others. As its importance and wealth grew, Lakkundi became one of the capitals of the Hoysala Empire.
Shilpa Shastras literally means the Science of Shilpa. It is an ancient umbrella term for numerous Hindu texts that describe arts, crafts, and their design rules, principles and standards. In the context of Hindu temple architecture and sculpture, Shilpa Shastras were manuals for sculpture and Hindu iconography, prescribing among other things, the proportions of a sculptured figure, composition, principles, meaning, as well as rules of architecture.
Bhumija is a variety of north Indian temple architecture marked by how the rotating square-circle principle is applied to construct the shikhara on top of the sanctum. Invented about the 10th-century in the Malwa region of central India during the Paramara dynasty rule, it is found in Hindu and Jain temples. Most early and elegant examples are found in and around the Malwa region, but this design is also found in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Deccan and some major Hindu temple complexes of southern and eastern India.
Hindu architecture is the traditional system of Indian architecture for structures such as temples, monasteries, statues, homes, market places, gardens and town planning as described in Hindu texts. The architectural guidelines survive in Sanskrit manuscripts and in some cases also in other regional languages. These texts include the Vastu shastras, Shilpa Shastras, the Brihat Samhita, architectural portions of the Puranas and the Agamas, and regional texts such as the Manasara among others.
The Kasivisvesvara temple, also referred to as the Kavatalesvara, Kashivishveshvara or Kashi Vishvanatha temple of Lakkundi is located in the Gadag district of Karnataka state, India. It is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Gadag city, between Hampi and Goa. The Kasivisvesvara temple is one of the best illustrations of fully developed Kalyana Chalukya style of Hindu architecture.
Apart from the architecture of Rajasthan, the most notable forms of the visual art of Rajasthan are architectural sculpture on Hindu and Jain temples in the medieval era, in painting illustrations to religious texts, beginning in the late medieval period, and post-Mughal miniature painting in the Early Modern period, where various different court schools developed, together known as Rajput painting. In both cases, Rajasthani art had many similarities to that of the neighbouring region of Gujarat, the two forming most of the region of "Western India", where artistic styles often developed together.
The Brahmeshvara temple, also referred to as the Brahmeshwara or Brahmesvara temple, is a 12th-century Hindu temple with Hoysala architecture in Kikkeri village, Mandya district of Karnataka state, India. Along with two other major historic temples within the village, the Brahmeshvara temple is one of many major ruined temples with notable artwork in Kikkeri area close to the more famous monuments of Shravanabelagola.
Chaya Someswara Temple, also known as the Chaya Someshvara Swamy Alayam or the Saila-Somesvara temple, is a Saivite Hindu temple located in Panagal, Nalgonda district of Telangana, India. It was built around the mid 11th-century during the rule of the Kunduru Chodas, supported and embellished further by later Hindu dynasties of Telangana. Some date it to late 11th to early 12th-century.
Jain art refers to religious works of art associated with Jainism. Even though Jainism has spread only in some parts of India, it has made a significant contribution to Indian art and architecture.
The Nannesvara Temple, also referred to as the Nanneshvara temple, is an 11th century Hindu temple in Lakkundi, Gadag district, Karnataka. It is notable for being the earliest known imperial-style temple of the Kalyana Chalukyas, one with significant influences from both North Indian and South Indian schools of Hindu architecture. It stands immediately west to the much larger and more ornate Kasivisvesvara twin Temple in a similar style.
The Architecture of Gujarat consists of architecture in the Indian state of Gujarat.
The Kumbharia Jain temples is a group of five Jain temples in the Kumbhariya, Banaskantha district in Gujarat, India. Constructed from 1062 to 1231 CE during the reign of the Chaulukya dynasty, they are noted for their elaborate architecture.
Chitra or citra is an Indian genre of art that includes painting, sketch and any art form of delineation. The earliest mention of the term Chitra in the context of painting or picture is found in some of the ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism and Pali texts of Buddhism.
Nagara Style or Nagara architectural style is a Hindu style of temple architecture, which is popular in Northern, Western and Eastern India, especially in the regions around Malwa, Rajputana and Kalinga. Temples classified as Nagara Style are found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
