Eternal India Encyclopedia

ARCHITECTURE

Eternal India

encyclopedia

the Hoysala Kings flamboyantly set about evolving entirely new

patterns for their places of worship. Firstly, they planned temples

and shrines within which were situated more than one cenral gar-

bagriha or inner cella. These cella, even upto 5 in number in some

temples, were grouped along one end of a large common mandapa.

Further the plan of each of these cellas was an elaborate star

shape, seemingly defying the sanctity invested in the square by the

Hindu art canons. On analysis however, one finds that the builder

had derived even their complex stellar outline from the purity of the

square. This was achieved by rotating the square around its fixed

centre, and turning its diagonal through a series of equal angles. The

resulting outline of the intersecting corners of so many superim-

posed squares emerges as a star. The number of its points and their

proportions could be varied merely by changing the angle through

which the diagonal was turned at every step.

TIRUMALA TEMPLE

A major part of the temple is built completely in the Vijayanagar

style. The main temple is a masterpiece of South Indian architec-

ture. It has a glittering gold-covered

Vimanam,

rising over the

sanctum. The temple complex consists of three main enclosures or

'prakarams'.

The first is the

'sampangi prad.akshin.am'

or the outer-

most gate within which are exquisitely crafted statues and the gold

covered towering pillar called the

'dhwajastambham'

. The

'Kalyan-

amandapam'

in this enclosure houses the

'vahanas'

or sacred ve-

hicles.

The second enclosure the

'vimana pradakshinam'

contains the

sacred well, kitchen and several important shrines.

The innermost enclosure, the

'Vaikunta pradakshinam'

opened only once every year.

Beautiful gold-covered gates guard the entrance to the main

sanctum sanctorum.

The

'Swayambhu'

or naturally

formed 2m high idol of Sri Ve-

nkateshwara

depicts

the

Lord's

standing image on a lotus. Of its four

arms the two at the back carry the

'Shankha'

or conch and the

'chakra'

discus while on the chest are the

images of Goddesses Lakshmi and

Parvati. The jet black idol is a glit-

tering mass of gold and jewels.

Most striking is the fabulous dia-

mond crown which is said to be the

costliest single ornament ever made

in the world.

Temple structures are broadly

divisible into 5 parts viz. the plinth

called the

upapitha,

the basement called the

adhistana,

pillar called

the

stambha,

the entablature called the

prastara

and the top portion

called the

sikhara.

In a mandapa the adhistana is identical with that of a temple and

the pillars are made of the items mentioned above.

The pillar or

stambha

is sometimes square and at other times

octagonal. The pillar is always raised by a base

asvapada.

It is

formed of three cubical parts called

'saduram'

and of two prismatic

parts with facets called

'rattai'.

Normally in a modern pillar a little ornament called

nagabandha

resembling the hood of a cobra is seen.