Indian architecture is rooted in the history, culture, and religion of India. Among several architectural styles and traditions, the best-known include the many varieties of Hindu temple architecture and Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Rajput architecture,Mughal architecture ,South Indian architecture and Indo-Saracenic architecture. Early Indian architecture was made from wood, which did not survive due to rotting and instability in the structures. Instead, the earliest existing architectures are made with Indian rock-cut architecture, including many Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples.
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. This chamber often has an open area designed for movement in clockwise rotation for rituals and prayers. Around this chamber there are often other structures and buildings, in the largest cases 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. There may be other mandapas or other buildings, connected or detached, in large temples, together with other small temples in the compound.
The Dilwara Temples or Delvada Temples are a group of Śvētāmbara Jain temples located about 2+1⁄2 kilometres from the Mount Abu settlement in Sirohi District, Rajasthan's only hill station. The earliest were built by Bhima-1 and supposedly designed or at least financed by Vastupala, Jain minister of Dholka. They date between the 11th and 16th centuries, forming some of the most famous monuments in the style of Māru-Gurjara architecture, famous for their use of a very pure white marble and intricate marble carvings. They are managed by Seth Shri Kalyanji Anandji Pedhi, Sirohi and are a pilgrimage place for Jains, and a significant general tourist attraction. Although Jains built many temples at other places in Rajasthan, the Dilwara temples are believed to be the most impressive.
The Sun Temple of Modhera is a Hindu temple dedicated to the solar deity Surya located at Modhera village of Mehsana district, Gujarat, India. It is situated on the bank of the river Pushpavati. It was built after 1026-27 CE during the reign of Bhima I of the Chaulukya dynasty. No worship is offered now and is protected monument maintained by Archaeological Survey of India. The temple complex has three components: Gūḍhamanḍapa, the shrine hall; Sabhamanḍapa, the assembly hall and Kunḍa, the reservoir. The halls have intricately carved exterior and pillars. The reservoir has steps to reach the bottom and numerous small shrines.
Taranga is a Jain pilgrimage center near Kheralu in Mehsana district, Gujarat, India, with two compounds of Jain temples that are important examples of the Māru-Gurjara style of architecture. The Ajitnatha temple, was constructed in 1161 by the Chaulukya king Kumarapala, under the advice of his teacher, Acharya Hemachandra. Both the main sects of Jainism are represented, with adjoining walled compounds: the Svetambara compound consists of 14 temples in all, and there are also five Digambara-affiliated temples at Taranga hill.
A Jain temple, Derasar or Basadi is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is essentially restricted to temples and monasteries, and Jain buildings generally reflect the prevailing style of the place and time they were built.
The architecture of the Indian state of Rajasthan has usually been a regional variant of the style of Indian architecture prevailing in north India at the time. Rajasthan is especially notable for the forts and palaces of the many Rajput rulers, which are popular tourist attractions.
Shri Mahavir Ji is an important and prominent Jain pilgrimage site situated in Shri Mahaveerji town in Hindaun Block, Karauli district in Rajasthan. Given the importance of the religious place, the Indian Railways has specifically developed a railway station under West Central Railway zone by the name of Shri Mahaveerji railway station which is 10 minutes drive from the temple and temple authorities have arranged for regular buses from the station to the temple. The temple is visited by millions of Jain and Hindu devotees every year.
Ranakpur Jain temple or Chaturmukha Dharana Vihara is a Śvētāmbara Jain temple at Ranakpur dedicated to Tirthankara Rishabhanatha. The temple is located in a village of Ranakpur near Sadri town in the Pali district of Rajasthan.
The Hutheesing family is a Jain family from the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. Several temples and charitable institutions in Ahmedabad have been built or founded by members of this mercantile family. Krishna Hutheesing, a sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, was a member of this family by marriage.
The Palitana temples are the large groups of Jain temples located on Shatrunjaya hills near Palitana in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. Also known as Padliptapur of Kathiawad in historic texts, the dense collection of over 800 small shrines and large temples here has led many to call Palitana as a "city of temples". It is one of the most sacred sites of Svetambara tradition within Jainism. These temples were built in and after the 11th century CE.
The Brahma Jinalaya, sometimes called as the Greater Jain Temple of Lakkundi, is an early 11th-century Mahavira temple in Lakkundi, Gadag District of Karnataka state, India. The temple is attributed to Attiyabbe, the wife of the local governor Dandanayaka Nagadeva. It faces east, has a mukhamandapa, a gudhamandapa and its sanctum is covered by a sur-temple style vimana superstructure. The temple is notable for its reliefs depicting Jaina artwork, statues of the Tirthankaras and the two Hindu statues of Brahma and Saraswati inside its inner mandapa.
Kumbhariya is a village of historical, archaeological and religious importance with cultural heritage in Danta Taluka of Banaskantha district, Gujarat, India.
Shri Digamber Jain Atishya Kshetra Mandir, Sanghiji is an ancient Jain Temple in Sanganer, Rajasthan made of red stone. The ancient Shri Digamber Jain temple of Sanganer is 16 km from Jaipur.
Māru-Gurjara architecture or Solaṅkī style, is the style of West Indian temple architecture that originated in Gujarat and Rajasthan from the 11th to 13th centuries, under the Chaulukya dynasty. Although originating as a regional style in Hindu temple architecture, it became especially popular in Jain temples, and mainly under Jain patronage later spread across India, then later to diaspora communities around the world.
The Khed-Roda Group of Monuments include eighth-ninth century dated seven Hindu temples built during Gurjara-Pratihara or Rashtrakuta period. It also include a reservoir (Kund) and a stepwell. They are located between Raisingpura (Roda) and Khed Chandarani villages, 18 km from Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat, India. It is located on the bank of the seasonal stream which merges Hathmati river downstream.
The Mahavira Jain temple is built in Osian of Jodhpur District, Rajasthan. The temple is an important pilgrimage of the Oswal Jain community. This temple is the oldest surviving Jain temple in Western India and was built during the reign of Mahārāja Śrī Vatsarāja of Imperial Pratihāras. The temple is visited by both Jain and Hindu.
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.
Rajput architecture is a architectural style notable for the forts and palaces of the many Rajput rulers, which are popular tourist attractions, many of the Rajput forts are UNESCO World Heritage Site.
