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Hindu temple architectureΒ as the main form ofΒ Hindu architectureΒ has many varieties of style, though the basic nature of theΒ Hindu templeΒ remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, theΒ garbha grihaΒ or womb-chamber, where the primaryΒ MurtiΒ or the image of a deity is housed in a simple bare cell. Around this chamber there are often other structures and buildings, in the largest cases covering several acres. On the exterior, the garbhagriha is crowned by a tower-likeΒ shikhara, also called theΒ vimanaΒ in the south andΒ Meru towerΒ inΒ Balinese temple. The shrine building often includes an ambulatory forΒ parikramaΒ (circumambulation), aΒ mandapaΒ congregation hall, and sometimes anΒ antaralaΒ antechamber and porch between garbhagriha and mandapa. There may further mandapas or other buildings, connected or detached, in large temples, together with other small temples in the compound.[1]
Hindu temple architecture reflects a synthesis of arts, the ideals ofΒ dharma, beliefs, values and the way of life cherished under Hinduism. The temple is a place forΒ Tirthaβpilgrimage.[2]Β All the cosmic elements that create and celebrate life in Hindu pantheon, are present in a Hindu templeβfrom fire to water, from images of nature to deities, from the feminine to the masculine, fromΒ kamaΒ toΒ artha, from the fleeting sounds and incense smells to Purushaβthe eternal nothingness yet universalityβis part of a Hindu temple architecture.[2]Β The form and meanings of architectural elements in a Hindu temple are designed to function as the place where it is the link between man and the divine, to help his progress to spiritual knowledge and truth, his liberation it callsΒ moksha.[3]
The architectural principles of Hindu temples in India are described inΒ Shilpa ShastrasΒ and Vastu Sastras.[4][5]Β The Hindu culture has encouraged aesthetic independence to its temple builders, and its architects have sometimes exercised considerable flexibility in creative expression by adopting other perfect geometries and mathematical principles inΒ MandirΒ construction to express the Hindu way of life.