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A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to whom it is dedicated.[1][2] Hindu temple architecture, which makes extensive use of squares and circles, has its roots in later Vedic traditions, which also influence the temples' construction and symbolism. Through astronomical numbers and particular alignments connected to the temple's location and the relationship between the deity and the worshipper, the temple's design also illustrates the idea of recursion and the equivalency of the macrocosm and the microcosm.[3][4][5] 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.[6][7][8]
The spiritual principles symbolically represented in Hindu temples are detailed in the ancient later Vedic texts, while their structural rules are described in various ancient Sanskrit treatises on architecture (Bṛhat Saṃhitā, Vāstu Śāstras).[9][10] The layout, the motifs, the plan and the building process recite ancient rituals, geometric symbolisms, and reflect beliefs and values innate within various schools of Hinduism.[3] A Hindu temple is a spiritual destination for many Hindus, as well as landmarks around which ancient arts, community celebrations and the economy have flourished.[11][12]
Hindu temple architecture are presented in many styles, are situated in diverse locations, deploy different construction methods, are adapted to different deities and regional beliefs, and share certain core ideas, symbolism and themes.[13] They are found in South Asia, particularly India and Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, in Southeast Asian countries such as Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia,[14][15] and countries such as Canada, Fiji, France, Guyana, Kenya, Mauritius, the Netherlands, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries with a significant Hindu population.[16] The current state and outer appearance of Hindu temples reflect arts, materials and designs as they evolved over two millennia; they also reflect the effect of conflicts between Hinduism and Islam since the 12th century.[17] The Swaminarayanan Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey, between the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, was inaugurated in 2014 as one of the world's largest Hindu temples.[18]
- ^ Stella Kramrisch (1946). The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 135, context: 40–43, 110–114, 129–139 with footnotes. ISBN 978-81-208-0223-0.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help), Quote: "The [Hindu] temple is the seat and dwelling of God, according to the majority of the [Indian] names" (p. 135); "The temple as Vimana, proportionately measured throughout, is the house and body of God" (p. 133). - ^ George Michell (1977). The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. University of Chicago Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 978-0-226-53230-1.; Quote: "The Hindu temple is designed to bring about contact between man and the gods of Hinduism religion" (...) "The architecture of the Hindu temple symbolically represents this quest by setting out to dissolve or decrease the boundaries between man and the divine".
- ^ a b Stella Kramrisch (1946). The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 19–43, 135–137, context: 129–144 with footnotes. ISBN 978-81-208-0223-0.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ^ Subhash Kak, "The axis and the perimeter of the temple." Kannada Vrinda Seminar Sangama 2005 held at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on 19 November 2005.
- ^ Subhash Kak, "Time, space and structure in ancient India." Conference on Sindhu-Sarasvati Valley Civilization: A Reappraisal, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, 21 & 22 February 2009.
- ^ Stella Kramrisch, The Hindu Temple, Vol 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0222-3, pp. 346-357 and 423-424
- ^ Klaus Klostermaier, "The Divine Presence in Space and Time – Murti, Tirtha, Kala"; in A Survey of Hinduism, ISBN 978-0-7914-7082-4, State University of New York Press, pp. 268-277.
- ^ George Michell (1977). The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. University of Chicago Press. pp. 61–76. ISBN 978-0-226-53230-1.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
susanlchap4was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ M.R. Bhat (1996), Brhat Samhita of Varahamihira, ISBN 978-8120810600, Motilal Banarsidass
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
bsteinwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ George Michell (1988), The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226532301, pp. 58-65.
- ^ Alice Boner (1990), Principles of Composition in Hindu Sculpture: Cave Temple Period, ISBN 978-8120807051, see Introduction and pp. 36-37.
- ^ Francis Ching et al., A Global History of Architecture, Wiley, ISBN 978-0470402573, pp. 227-302.
- ^ Brad Olsen (2004), Sacred Places Around the World: 108 Destinations, ISBN 978-1888729108, pp. 117-119.
- ^ Paul Younger, New Homelands: Hindu Communities, ISBN 978-0195391640, Oxford University Press
- ^ Several books and journal articles have documented the effect on Hindu temples of Islam's arrival in South Asia and Southeast Asia:
- Gaborieau, Marc (1985). "From Al-Beruni to Jinnah: idiom, ritual and ideology of the Hindu-Muslim confrontation in South Asia". Anthropology Today. 1 (3). Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland: 7–14. doi:10.2307/3033123. JSTOR 3033123.
- Eaton, Richard (2000). "Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States". Journal of Islamic Studies. 11 (3): 283–319. doi:10.1093/jis/11.3.283.
- Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, ISBN 978-9004061170, Brill Academic, Chapter 1
- Robert W. Hefner, Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0691050461, pp. 28-29.
- ^ Frances Kai-Hwa Wang (28 July 2014). "World's Largest Hindu Temple Being Built in New Jersey". NBC News. Retrieved 3 December 2016.