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 architecture are made with Indian rock-cut architecture, including many Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples.
The Khajuraho Group of Monuments are a group of Hindu and Jain temples in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India. They are about 175 kilometres (109 mi) southeast of Jhansi, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Khajwa, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from Rajnagar, and 49 kilometres (30 mi) from district headquarter Chhatarpur. The temples are famous for their Nagara-style architectural symbolism and a few erotic sculptures.
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 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 Chandelas of Jejakabhukti was an Indian dynasty in Central India. The Chandelas ruled much of the Bundelkhand region between the 9th and the 13th centuries. They belonged to the Chandel clan of the Rajputs.
Shikhara, a Sanskrit word translating literally to "mountain peak", refers to the rising tower in the Hindu temple architecture of North India, and also often used in Jain temples. A shikhara over the garbhagriha chamber where the presiding deity is enshrined is the most prominent and visible part of a Hindu temple of North India.
Vesara is a hybrid form of Indian temple architecture that combines Dravidian Southern Indian site layouts with shape details characteristic of the Nagara style of North India. 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 Style was popular in central India, particularly in between the Vindhya Range and the Krishna River. It is one of six major types of Indian temple architecture found in historic texts, the others being Nagara, Dravida, Bhumija, Kalinga, and Varata.
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.
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.
Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Hindu Sun temple at Konark about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast from Puri city on the coastline in Puri district, Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasingha Deva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty about 1250 CE.
The following outline is provided as an overview of, and topical guide to, India:
Bhoramdeo Temple is a Hindu temples dedicated to the god Shiva in Bhoramdeo, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. It comprises a group of four temples of which the earliest is a brick-temple. The main temple is the Bhoramdeo temple built in stone. The architectural features with erotic sculptures has given a distinct style akin to the Khajuraho temple and the Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, and hence the Bhoramdeo complex is known by the sobriquet the "Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh".
The Duladeo Temple is a Hindu temple in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India. The temple is dedicated to the god Shiva in the form of a linga, which is deified in the sanctum. 'Dulodeo' means "Holy Bridegroom". The temple is also known as "Kunwar Math". The temple faces east and is dated to 1000–1150 AD. It is the last of the temples built during the Chandela period. The temple is laid in the seven chariot plan (saptarata). The figurines carved in the temple have soft expressive features unlike other temples. The walls have a display of carved celestial dancers (apsara) in erotic postures and other figures. As part of the Khajuraho Group of Monuments, the temple was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986.
A Jagamohana, also rendered Jagamohana is an assembly hall in Hindu temple architecture, especially found in the region of Odisha.
Deula is an architectural element in a Hindu temple in the Kalinga architecture style of the Odishan temples in Eastern India. Sometimes the whole temple is also referred to as Deula. The word "deula" in Odia language means a building structure built with a particular style that is seen in most of the temples from Odisha. Deul is also used in English, though the deul temples are also of a different form in the Manbhum region of Western Bengal.
Chandel or Chandela is a Rajput clan from India. Families belonging to this clan ruled several kingdoms in north India and held various feudal estates. The most notable of these were the Chandelas of Jejakabhukti, who ruled the Bundelkhand region.
The Vishvanatha Temple is a Hindu temple in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located among the western group of Khajuraho Monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The temple is dedicated to Shiva, who is also known as "Vishvanatha", meaning "Lord of the Universe".
Arasavalli Sun Temple is a temple for Lord Surya, the solar deity, at Arasavalli in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Arasavalli Village 1 km east of Srikakulam. It is believed that the temple was built in 7th century CE by King Devendra Varma, a great ruler of Eastern Ganga Dynasty of Kalinga. The present structure is largely a result of 18th-century renovations. The temple was built in Rekha deula style of Kalinga Architecture like Puri Jagannath temple of Odisha. This temple is considered one of the oldest sun temples in India. The temple is one of the two major temples who worship Lord Surya in India. The other two are the Konark Sun Temple, Odisha and Martand Sun Temple, Jammu and Kashmir.
In Hindu temple architecture a sukanasa or sukanasi is an external ornamented feature over the entrance to the garbhagriha or inner shrine. It sits on the face of the sikhara tower as a sort of antefix. The forms of the sukanasa can vary considerably, but it normally has a vertical face, very often in the form of a large gavaksha or "window" motif, with an ornamental frame above and to the sides, forming a roughly triangular shape. In discussing temples in Karnataka local authors tend to use "sukanasi" as a term for the whole structure of the antarala or ante-chamber from the floor to the top of the sukanasa roof above.
Rajput architecture is an architectural style associated with the forts and palaces of the many Rajput rulers. Many of the Rajput forts are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and popular tourist attractions.
