Temple architecture and its symbolism
A Hindu temple is not just a building — it is a map of the universe and a model of the human body, with God at its heart. Walk through a temple with the eyes of its architects and see what every part means.
The womb-house
[Traditional account]
At the centre of every temple is the garbhagṛha — the "womb-house" — a small, dark, square chamber where the deity resides. It is deliberately simple and dim: one leaves the bright, busy world and approaches the source, as a soul returns inward. Above it rises the tower — the śikhara in the north, the vimāna in the south — pointing to the heavens like a mountain. Many temples are designed as Mount Meru or Kailasa, the cosmic mountain at the centre of the world.
A temple shaped like a person
[Traditional account]
The Agamas and Shilpa Shastras describe the temple as the body of the deity — and of a human being. The sanctum is the heart, the tower the head, the entrance the feet. And beneath every temple plan lies a hidden figure, a cosmic being pressed into the earth…
The journey continues for members
- The Vastu Purusha Mandala
- Three great styles
- Walking inward
- Symbol and science
- What we can learn
Sources
- Mayamata
- Manasara
- Brihat Samhita — Varahamihira, on temples and vastu
- Stella Kramrisch — The Hindu Temple (1946)
- Adam Hardy — The Temple Architecture of India (2007)