Indian Temple Research Articles

Real-time IAQ assessment inside an Indian temple and evaluation of associated health risks to three different exposure groups through inhalation

Real-time IAQ assessment inside an Indian temple and evaluation of associated health risks to three different exposure groups through inhalation

PASSIVE DESIGNS AND THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF THE TEMPLES IN THE WARM-HUMID CLIMATIC ZONE OF SOUTH INDIA

Religious beliefs, traditional wisdoms, rituals, and cultural practices all play an important part in environmental and biodiversity protection. Conservation of environment and natural resources has long been an element of cultural ethics that can be observed in the vernacular architecture of India, practiced in different parts of the country. The Indian Temple architecture is a manifestation of these socio-cultural-environmental values which are conceptualized and constructed in unique ways integrating passive features which keeps on educating and inspiring generations after generations. These timeless Temples through their passive architectural elements and harmonic aesthetic qualities enable the societies to perceive themselves as part of a spiritual network and to connects them to their biophysical surroundings. Hence, the present research explores the passive architectural features and thermal performance of the naturally ventilated south Indian Temples, located in warm and humid climate zone, and how these passive features can be implemented in the present day’s buildings to achieve thermal comfort. The research deploys a qualitative descriptive comparative analysis method. It delves into case studies of two Temples located in Kerala, having warm-humid climate, to investigate the passive architectural features and thermal performance. Data collection is done through field visits to these two Temples: Iringole Kaavu Bhagavathy Temple (old) and Thottuva Temple (new). Measurements of environmental parameters are also collected during field-surveys. The study concludes that the adaptation of passive architectural features, in response to the local climatic conditions, are paramount and beneficial to improve the thermal performance of the structures and thermal comfort of the users. Hence, it is argued that the passive climate-responsive architectural features of the south Indian Temples, suitable to the local geoclimatic and cultural conditions, need to be continued to follow in the present and future generation of buildings.

La Bayadère’s Nikiya vs. the Indian Hereditary Dancing Caste

Marius Petipa’s 1877 La Bayadère, inspired by F. Taglioni’s Le Dieu et La Bayadère as well as the opera Les Bayadères, presents the story of Indian temple dancer Nikiya and her navigation of a love triangle, ending in murder and tragedy. The character of Nikiya was inspired by Indian Bharatanatyam dancers, also known as temple dancers or Devadasis. Europe's primary exposure to this classical dance form occurred in 1838, when a troupe of “Devadasis” visited Paris on a tour of Europe, leading to several choreographers' Western adaptations in ballet. France, in particular, 's fascination with Indian culture can be correlated with France's loss of Indian territory to Great Britain in the previous century. However, most of Europe indulged in the exotic Indian "other." But Western recreations of Indian culture all too often misconstrued reality with a fantasized Oriental world. How does Nikiya's character contrast from the authentic Bharatnatyam dancers that inspired her creation?Nikiya's costuming, choreography, casting, and pieces of her plotline stray from the Indian culture and temple dancers she derives from. I use archival footage of the Bolshoi Ballet's 2013 performance of La Bayadère as well as footage of Bharatanatyam dance from Tanjore Balasaraswati's form, which upholds the traditions of the dance style. In addition, I use historical recounts covering Marius Petipa, the Devadasi European tour of 1938, Bharatanatyam dance, colonialism in India, and Indian-influenced ballets. I review Marius Petipa's diary entries as a primary source in my research. Ultimately, I argue that the only way for Western audiences to appreciate Indian temple dance was through the creation of the Westernized Nikiya.

Emerging Architectural Paradigms in South Indian Temples: A Chronological Analysis

This research delves into the intricate evolution of Indian temple architecture, spanning centuries of cultural and religious transformations. Originating in the Vedic/Aryan civilization, worship centered on natural elements with a simple square altar. A pivotal shift occurred with the introduction of idol worship, marking the genesis of temple architecture evolution. Initially, rock-cut structures featured a garbagriha and semi-open portico, retaining the windowless garbagriha from rock-cut temples. The Chalukya era saw experimentation, notably at Durga in Aihole and Pattadakal, earning the latter the title "Cradle of temple architecture" due to Nagara and Dravida style exploration. Pallavas contributed to the Dravidian vimana prototype, as seen in Mahabalipuram's monolithic rathas. Cholas refined the vimana, erecting the Brihadeshwara temple in Tanjore with a mortar-less construction. Pandyas added Gopurams, reflecting emotional ties. Hoysalas introduced star temples with intricate carvings, featuring single to multiple garbagrihas in various styles. The Vijayanagara era introduced Amman temples and Kalyana mantapas. Nayakas refined Dravidian architecture with concentric prakaras and tall gopurams. In the 20th century, transformative shifts like the Isha Center in Coimbatore embody inclusivity, challenging traditions, and fostering diverse spiritual environments. Key Words: Indian temple architecture, Cultural transformations, religious evolution, vedic/Aryan civilization, rock-cut structures.

‘From all quarters of the Indian world’: the temple at Rameshvaram, Hindu kings, and Dutch merchants

AbstractOn Rameshvaram island in the south-east corner of India lies one of Hinduism's most important temples—the Rāmanāthasvāmi, one of the four dhams (‘holy abodes’) and the site of two Śiva-liṅgas said to have been consecrated by Rāma himself. A temple has existed here since at least the eleventh century, although most of the present temple dates to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when the island was protected by the Setupati rulers of nearby Ramnad. In several of the long corridors and halls for which this temple is famous are brightly painted life-sized standing images of over 100 male figures attached to columns. Though such images are characteristic of many south Indian temples from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there are far more at Rameshvaram than at any other south Indian temple. This article examines the number, location, and significance of these numerous standing images within this temple. By exploring the significance of the temple as a long-standing site for the royal performance of devotion, this article seeks to address whether the great number and identity of the life-sized donor images can be explained by both Purāṇic ideas of kingship and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Dutch observations of the pan-Indian status of the temple.

The Nomenclature of Indian Temple Types

The Nomenclature of Indian Temple Types

Nicholas Roerich’s Himalayas as the ‘Treasury of Spirit’

Nicholas Roerich, as a historian and archeologist, explores the roots and origins of Russian culture, and that quest brings him to India. In 1900s in his art and writings he is increasingly drawn to Indian themes and subjects. The first Indian themes in Roerich’s art were, perhaps, the two illustrations to his own philosophical fairy tale narrating the story of a woman called Devassari Abuntu who professed Buddhism and lived in the company of birds and spoke their language. Meanwhile, Roerich’s interest in India deepens. He proposes to have an ancient Indian temple transported to St. Petersburg and becomes a member of the committee set up in 1909 to supervise the building of the first ever Buddhist temple in the same city, incidentally the first Buddhist temple to be ever built in Europe.

The Indian temple and modernity

The Indian temple and modernity

Containing Murder in a South Indian Temple

On 3 September 2004, during the Pavitrotsava temple festival which serves to erase all ritual mistakes committed during the previous year, the manager of the Varadarāja Perumāl temple in Kanchipuram was brutally murdered. This murder constituted both a criminal act and a religious offence. In outlining its aftermath, this article analyses the highly dynamic responses to this multifaceted transgression, which depend on and signal the interaction between political power and religious authorities specific to time and place.

The Modern Courtesan: Gender, Religion and Dance in Transnational India

This article exposes the role of expressive culture in the rise and spread of late twentieth-century Hindu identity politics. I examine how Hindu nationalism is fuelled by an affective attachment to the Indian classical dancer. I analyse the affective logics that have crystallised around the now iconic Indian classical dancer and have situated her gendered and athletic body as a transnational, globally circulating emblem of an authentic Hindu and Indian national identity. This embodied identity is represented by the historical South Indian temple dancer and has, in the postcolonial era, been rebranded as the nationalist classical dancer—an archetype I refer to as the modern courtesan. I connect the modern courtesan to transnational forms of identity politics, heteropatriarchal marriage economies, as well as pathologies of gender violence. In so doing, I examine how the affective politics of ‘Hinduism’ have functionally weaponised the Indian dancing body. I argue that the nationalist and now transnationalist production of the classical dancer-courtesan exposes misogyny and casteism and thus requires a critical feminist dismantling. This article combines ethnographic fieldwork in classical dance studios in India and the United States with film and popular media analysis to contribute to critical transnational feminist studies, as well as South Asian gender, performance and media studies.

KAJIAN RELASI ARSITEKTURAL CANDI HINDU ERA MATARAM KUNO DALAM KAITANNYA DENGAN VĀSTUŚĀSTRA

Abstrak - Berbagai prinsip dan tradisi arsitektur klasik India telah dikumpulkan dan dilestarikan dalam kajian yang dikenal sebagai Vāstuśāstra. Cabang keilmuan klasik India ini merupakan perwujudan arsitektural dari nilai-nilai Hindu ideal, dan karena itulah ide-ide di dalamnya memiliki pengaruh signifikan terhadap arsitektur keagamaan dalam wilayah budaya India Raya yang mencapai Pulau Jawa kuno. Meskipun pengaruh India dapat dikenali dalam desain candi Hindu Jawa era Mataram Kuno, seberapa jauh vāstuśāstra India dijadikan panutan lebih sulit untuk diamati, mengingat bahwa candi Jawa memiliki sejumlah elemen arsitektural yang tidak ditemukan dalam vāstuśāstra maupun kuil India. Dengan mengidentifikasi dan membandingkan bagian-bagian vāstuśāstra yang relevan serta purwarupa India kuno dengan peninggalan candi Jawa, maka dapat terlihat elemen arsitektural yang merupakan bagian dari kontinuitas lingkup budaya India serta bagian yang merupakan local genius. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode komparasi kualitatif dengan pendekatan historis dan tekstual. Penulis berfokus pada sosok serta penataan sosok dan rupa. Penelitian ini mengumpulkan dan membandingkan berbagai bagian vāstuśāstra yang relevan serta contoh-contoh India dari studi pustaka untuk dibandingkan dengan data dari enam sampel candi era Mataram Kuno, tiga dari masa tua dan tiga dari masa tengah.Perbandingan oleh penulis menunjukkan sejumlah hasil. Pertama, sosok candi Hindu Jawa era Mataram Kuno sesuai dengan bentuk dasar kuil Hindu India sebagaimana yang dituturkan dalam vāstuśāstra, dengan tujuh bagian vertikal yang disebut Upapīṭha, Adhiṣṭhāna, Pada, Prastara, Gala, Śikhara, dan Stūpi. Namun begitu, sejumlah detil arsitektural dari elemen-elemen tersebut memiliki perbedaan yang kentara dengan desain tipikal India serta penuturan dalam vāstuśāstra. Sebagai contoh, Kala-Makara Jawa tidak mengikuti Toraṇa-Makara India sebagaimana yang dituturkan dalam Mānasāra. Beberapa elemen Jawa bahkan tidak memiliki purwarupa India sama sekali. Kedua, tata massa dan tata ruang candi Jawa memiliki perbedaan yang lebih kentara lagi dengan kuil India. Pada kasus orientasi, candi Jawa dapat menghadap barat atau timur sementara sebagian besar kuil India menghadap timur. Sementara itu dalam perihal penataan massa, penataan tipikal Jawa dengan satu candi utama yang berhadapan dengan jejeran tiga candi sekunder sama sekali tidak ditemukan di India. Sebaliknya, penataan India yang memiliki Maṇḍapa di depan menara kuil utama juga sama sekali tidak terlihat pada candi Jawa.Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa relasi antar candi Jawa dan vāstuśāstra tampaknya renggang dan fleksibel; kitab vāstu pada tataran tertentu digunakan pada aspek bentuk dasar, namun tidak diikuti dalam detil pengolahan. Para perancang candi Jawa mengikuti dan mengabaikan berbagai bagian vāstuśāstra sesuai kondisi. Kondisi ini bisa jadi disebabkan oleh perbedaan material maupun perbedaan selera yang membentuk local genius. Perancang Jawa tidak pernah sekedar membangun imitasi akurat kuil India di pulau Jawa, rancangan candi Jawa menunjukkan adanya kreativitas dan sifat selektif dalam meyikapi pengaruh asing sehingga tercipta rancangan inovatif yang unik. Pada fase klasik tua, pengaruh India masih dapat terlihat sedemikian rupa sehingga candi dapat dianggap sebagai suatu fenomena India yang dilokalkan. Namun seiring waktu dari masa pembangunan Candi Prambanan hingga seterusnya, purwarupa India menjadi semakin sulit dideteksi sehingga candi menjadi produk arsitektur yang sepenuhnya lokal.

Spectroscopic and chromatographic investigation of the wall painted surfaces of an 18th century Indian temple, New Delhi

Understanding and building knowledge about color pigments, their history and development have always been a matter of great interest through scientific exploration in the complex system of identification. The characterization of historical works of art is complicated due to the association of several other elements that influence the recorded observations. This entails investigations with multi-analytical techniques to identify the archaeological pigments and confirm their characteristics. The spectroscopic techniques especially Raman spectroscopy and Infrared spectroscopy are very useful for the identification of such materials. In the present communication, the pigments of an historical 18th century wall painting were investigated with micro-Raman spectroscopy, FTIR-ATR & FTIR-KBr, and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive x-ray micro-analysis (SEM-EDX). The temple is an exquisite Hindu architecture with valuable artworks still surviving in New Delhi. The results demonstrated the use of red ochre contaminated with carbon for red, yellow ochre for yellow, green ochre for green color and gypsum for the white color in decorations. Lapis lazuli was identified as a pigment for blue probably sourced from Afghanistan through trade on the silk route. The stratigraphy of layers showed the use of lime as a priming layer. FTIR spectroscopy revealed the minor transformation of proteinaceous binding material into calcium oxalate in the paint layer. GC–MS results indicated the possible use of beeswax as a binder for pigments which was further support by FTIR analysis. The analytical data also reveals the trade and resources available in that period.

Saturated Space, Signs of Devotion in South Indian Temples

In this article, I investigate the significance of contemporary Tamil temple signs that have been laid, hung, and sometimes painted over earlier stone inscriptions. I am particularly interested in the following questions: What is the purpose of these old and new signs? And how does their existence contribute to the devotional program of a temple? While signs appear everywhere within a temple complex and come in a wide variety of materials, I argue that their impact is not found at the level of an individual signboard. Instead, the significance of southeast Indian temple signs is found in the fullness of the walls and their non-linear refrains to events, values, communities, and scenes for the worship of the deity. To make this argument, I draw from affect theory, material studies, and especially concepts of accumulation and saturation.

Biographies of South Indian Temple Inscriptions

This paper is a preliminary investigation of South Indian temple inscriptions from the perspective of their production and of their physical character – as material objects and as documents produced for particular purposes, making history and having histories of their own. I explore this topic through several case studies of groups of inscriptions engraved on the walls of Hindu temples in Tamilnadu, at different points in medieval history, from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. I consider the oral, material and performative processes that resulted in the production of inscriptions and investigate their ‘afterlives’. This paper tries to make sense of the mixed functions and statuses of South Indian temple inscriptions – as both objects and texts, as authoritative yet often illegible or ephemeral, as highly local yet engaged with cosmopolitan (royal, professional, legal) and even transcendental realms – to explore the intersection of material culture and religious life.

Nation building and religion in post-reform Vietnam: a case study of the Mariamman temple

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the complex and dynamic dimensions of projects to nationalize the Mariamman Hindu temple in Ho Chi Minh City. It aims to show how the reform-era Vietnamese state has consistently used a range of bureaucratic and discursive techniques to construct narrative practices, architectural structures and personnel bodies to transform the Indian temple into part of ‘a socialist state’. These techniques include transnational negotiation and flexibility in Vietnamese socialism. Consequently, the temple now operates along the lines of a civil secular office, following the state’s laws and policies of religious organizations and buildings. A critical and interdisciplinary reading of archival resources, narratives and fieldwork interviews with current and former temple personnel provides core evidence about postcolonial socialist adjustability in the state management of religion in Vietnam since 1986. This argument challenges scholarly perceptions about the resilience of nationalism in Vietnam in its increasingly transnational engagements and within the global market.

Маравиджайя Будды и образ Паршванатхи. Параллелизм буддийской и джайнской иконографии в скульптуре Индии

The report deals with similar compositional schemes in the art of different religions of AncientIndia on the example of two iconographic schemes: Triumphing Buddha over Mara (Maravijaya or “Temptation of the Buddha by the demon Mara”) and the temptation of Pārśvanātha by the demon Meghmal. With varying degrees of detail, this plot is presented in the iconographic program of various Indian temple complexes.The plot of these two scenes — Buddhist and Jaina — is similar: the demonic forces are trying to get the meditating ascetic out of his concentration, to break down in various ways, preventing enlightenment. Demonic figures, located around a large central figure, are the personifications of various passions with which a person who chooses an ascetic feat has to fight. An important feature of the compositions analysed in the report is the presence of images of musicians playing different instruments. The value of these images will be paid special attention. Historically, the development of the art of the three major religions of early medieval India went in parallel (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism). Temples of different religions often coexisted in one complex, the most striking example being the rock-cut complex of Ellora, where Buddhists, Jains and Hindu coexisted during centuries in early medieval period. In the first centuries B.C. in Mathura, temples of Buddhists, Jains, Shaivites,Vishnuites, and even admirers of the Nagas were neighbours; in Badami and Aihole, Jain temples coexist with Hindu sanctuaries. If you look at the Jaina reliefs of the cave temples of Udaigiri and Khandagiri of Orissa, you can see that they bear the imprint of the pictorial tradition of the Buddhist monuments of Sanchi and so on.The choice of the same composite schemes for the realization of similar ideas is a characteristic feature of Indian art of the time of religious iconography formation, when successfully found solutions were borrowed,migrating from one religion to another. This concerns not only visual art, but also architecture.

Shapes, Patterns and Meanings in Indian Temple Architecture

Art, in many contexts, is seen to have symbolic meanings, pertaining to the context and contributing to it positively. When the shapes and patterns used to create art, starts to acquire meaning contextually, it transcends into 'symbolism'. Therefore art contributes in the overall understanding of the structure and ambience. Also, shape evolving into patterns is, more often than not, an algorithmic process. These patterns in consideration are characterised to be fractal in nature. Therefore a logical connection can be made between patterns and their meanings, that is, fractals and symbolism. In Hindu religious architecture, the shapes have a set of meanings, their combinations have certain meanings, and the patterns evolved from them have, either a higher metaphorical meaning or a totally new interpretation. In this paper, symbolic art has been considered in the context of Hindu religious architecture and attempts to link the independent disciplines of 'symbolism' and 'fractals' in this context.

Jewels Set in Stone: Hindu Temple Recipes in Medieval Cōḻa Epigraphy

Scholarship abounds on contemporary Hindu food offerings, yet there is scant literature treating the history of food in Hinduism beyond topics of food restrictions, purity, and food as medicine. A virtually unexplored archive is Hindu temple epigraphy from the time that was perhaps the theological height of embodied temple ritual practices, i.e., the Cōḻa period (ninth-thirteenth centuries CE). The vast archive of South Indian temple inscriptions allows a surprising glimpse into lived Hinduism as it was enacted daily, monthly, and annually through food offerings cooked in temple kitchens and served to gods residing in those temples. Through analyzing thousands of Tamiḻ inscriptions from the tenth through the fourteenth centuries CE, I have gleaned information concerning two distinct material cultural facets. (1) The practice of writing these rare but remarkable recipes which themselves are culinary textual artifacts has allowed us to access (2) Hindu food offerings of the past, also complex, sensory historical artifacts. In exploring these medieval religious recipes for the first time, I aim to show: the importance that food preparation held for temple devotees, the theological reality of feeding the actual bodies of the gods held in these temples, and the originality of the Cōḻa inscriptional corpus in bringing about a novel culinary writing practice that would be adopted more extensively in the Vijayanagara period (fourteenth-seventeenth centuries CE). This study, a radical new attempt at using historical sources inscribed in stone, sheds new light on medieval Hindu devotees’ priorities of serving and feeding god. The examination of this under-explored archive can help us move our academic analysis of Hindu food offerings beyond the hitherto utilized lenses of economics, sociology, and anthropology. Further, it contributes to our understanding of medieval temple worship, early culinary studies, and the history of food in India.

Indian Temple Flower Waste Utilization and Sustainable Management

Indian Temple Flower Waste Utilization and Sustainable Management

Modelling and analysis of South Indian temple structures under earthquake loading

The gopuram (multi-tiered entrance gateway) and the mandapam (pillared multi-purpose hall) are two representative structural forms of South Indian temples. Modelling and seismic analysis of a typical 9-tier gopuram and, 4- and 16-pillared mandapam of the 16th century AD Ekambareswar Temple in Kancheepuram, South India, are discussed. The seismic input is based on a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis of the archaeological site. Two modelling strategies, namely lumped plasticity and distributed plasticity modelling, and three analysis approaches, namely linear dynamic, non-linear, static and dynamic analyses were adopted for the seismic assessment of the gopuram. Unlike slender masonry towers, the vulnerable part of the gopuram could be at the upper levels, which is attributable to higher mode effects, and reduction in cross section and axial stresses. Finite element and limit analysis approaches were adopted for the assessment of the mandapam. Potential collapse mechanisms were identified, and the governing collapse of lateral load, calculated based on limit theory, was compared with the seismic demand as a safety check. Simple relations, as a means of rapid preliminary seismic assessment, are proposed for the mandapam.