43 Facts About Hindu temples

The symbolism and structure of a Hindu temples temple are rooted in Vedic traditions, deploying circles and squares.

Spiritual principles symbolically represented in Hindu temples are given in the ancient Sanskrit texts of India, while their structural rules are described in various ancient Sanskrit treatises on architecture .

Hindu temples come in many styles, are situated in diverse locations, deploy different construction methods and are adapted to different deities and regional beliefs, yet almost all of them share certain core ideas, symbolism and themes.

The current state and outer appearance of Hindu temples reflect arts, materials and designs as they evolved over two millennia; they reflect the effect of conflicts between Hinduism and Islam since the 12th century.

Susan Lewandowski states that the underlying principle in a Hindu temples temple is the belief that all things are one, that everything is connected.

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Some Hindu temples have served as a venue to mark festivals, to celebrate arts through dance and music, to get married or commemorate marriages, the birth of a child, other significant life events or the death of a loved one.

In political and economic life, Hindu temples have served as a venue for succession within dynasties and landmarks around which economic activity thrived.

In Bhakti school of Hinduism, temples are venues for puja, which is a hospitality ritual, where the deity is honored, and where devotee calls upon, attends to and connects with the deity.

Ancient builders of Hindu temples created manuals of architecture, called Vastu-Sastra ; these contain Vastu-Vidya and Sastra meaning system or knowledge in Sanskrit.

Large Hindu temples have pillared halls, called mandapa — one of which, on the east side, serves as the waiting room for pilgrims and devotees.

An important principle found in the layout of Hindu temples is mirroring and repeating fractal-like design structure, each unique yet repeating the central common principle, one which Susan Lewandowski refers to as "an organism of repeating cells".

Hindu temples temple is a symbolic reconstruction of the universe and the universal principles that enable everything in it to function.

The central core of almost all Hindu temples is not a large communal space; the temple is designed for the individual, a couple or a family – a small, private space to allow visitors to experience darsana.

The ancient Hindu temples had grand, intricately carved entrances but no doors, and they lacked a boundary wall.

The Hindu temples temple has structural walls, which were patterned usually within the 64-grid, or other geometric layouts.

Apart from specialist technical competence, the manuals suggest that best Silpins for building a Hindu temples temple are those who know the essence of Vedas and Agamas, consider themselves as students, keep well verse with principles of traditional sciences and mathematics, painting and geography.

Hindu temples served as nuclei of important social, economic, artistic and intellectual functions in ancient and medieval India.

Burton Stein states that South Indian Hindu temples managed regional development function, such as irrigation projects, land reclamation, post-disaster relief and recovery.

Some Hindu temples had large treasury, with gold and silver coins, and these Hindu temples served as banks.

John Guy and Jorrit Britschgi state Hindu temples served as centers where ancient manuscripts were routinely used for learning and where the texts were copied when they wore out.

Inscriptions from the 4th century CE suggest the existence of schools around Hindu temples, called Ghatikas or Mathas, where the Vedas were studied.

In south India, 9th century Vedic schools attached to Hindu temples were called Calai or Salai, and these provided free boarding and lodging to students and scholars.

The Hindu temples linked to Bhakti movement in the early 2nd millennium, were dominated by non-Brahmins.

Some Hindu temples have operated their kitchens on a daily basis to serve the visitor and the needy, while others during major community gatherings or festivals.

Hindu temples are found in diverse locations each incorporating different methods of construction and styles:.

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The Hindu temples are carved from a single piece of rock as a complete temple or carved in a cave to look like the interior of a temple.

The Elephanta Caves consist of two groups of caves—the first is a large group of five Hindu temples caves and the second is a smaller group of two Buddhist caves.

The Hindu temples caves contain rock-cut stone sculptures, representing the Shaiva Hindu temples sect, dedicated to the god Shiva.

Typical, ancient Hindu temples temple has a profusion of arts – from paintings to sculpture, from symbolic icons to engravings, from thoughtful layout of space to fusion of mathematical principles with Hindu temples sense of time and cardinality.

Scholars theorize that those ancient temples of India, later referred to as Hindu temples, were modeled after domestic structure – a house or a palace.

Destruction, conversion, and rebuildingMany Hindu temples have been destroyed, some, after rebuilding, several times.

Some Hindu temples were converted into mosques, or parts used to build mosques.

Cave-style Hindu temples that were carved inside a rock, hidden and rediscovered centuries later, such as the Kailasha Temple, have preferentially survived.

Many Hindu temples were rebuilt as mosques between 12th and 18th century CE.

North Indian Hindu temples are referred to as Nagara style of temple architecture.

Many these Hindu temples are not more than 500 years old, and are a unique blend of original Goan temple architecture, Dravidian, Nagar and Hemadpanthi temple styles with some British and Portuguese architectural influences.

Goan Hindu temples were built using sedimentary rocks, wood, limestone and clay tiles, and copper sheets were used for the roofs.

South Indian Hindu temples have a large gopuram, a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of the temple.

The Chola Hindu temples include Nataraja temple at Chidambaram, the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, the Brihadeeshwarar temple at Tanjore, Brihadeeshwarar temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the Airavatesvarar Temple of Darasuram which are among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Hundreds of Hindu temples are scattered from Siem Reap to Sambor Prei Kuk in central Cambodian region.

Between 1100 and 1500 additional Hindu temples were built, but abandoned by Hindus and Buddhists as Islam spread in Java circa 15th to 16th century.

In Bali, the Hindu temples temple is known as "Pura", which is designed as an open-air worship place in a walled compound.

Thailand has many notable Hindu temples including: the Sri Mariammam temple in Bangkok, the Devasathan, the Erawan Shrine, Prasat Muang Tam, Sdok Kok Thom and Phanom Rung.