Hindu Temples

India is known as a land of great spirituality for a long time. Historically it referred to the territory bound by the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas. These artistic architectures contribute to the Indian cultural heritage.

Hindu temples are designed to dissolve the boundaries between the divine and the human beings.Hindu Temples is a place where one can transcend the world of man. It's a place for spitritual enlightement and education.Temples are found everywhere in India, in villages and in towns.

History of Hindu Temples

The earliest temples were built with perishable materials like timber and clay. Cave-temples, temples carved out of the stone or built with bricks came later. Heavy stone structures with ornate architecture and sculpture belong to a still later period.

Hindu Temples Architecture Styles
Broadly speaking, these can be bifurcated into the northern and the southern styles. The northern style, is distinguished by the curvilinear towers. The southern style, known as the dravida, has its towers in the form of truncated pyramids. A third style, vesara by name, is sometimes added, which combines in itself both these styles.

The earliest temples in north and central India which have withstood the vagaries of time belong to the Gupta period, 320-650 A. D. Among the earliest surviving temples in South India are found in Tamil Nadu and northern Karnataka. In the west (northern Karnataka) the Aihole and Pattadakal group of temples (5th to 7th centuries) show early attempts to evolve an acceptable regional style based on tradition. During the next thousand years (from600 to 1600 A.D.) there was a phenomenal growth in temple architecture both in quantity and quality. In the north, the chief developments in Hindu temple architecture took place in Orissa (750-1250 A.D.) and Central India (950-1050 A.D.) as also Rajasthan (10th and 11th Century A.D.) and Gujarat (11th-13th Century A.D.).

List of ancient hindu temples that have been a symbol of faith and religion for ages: