Structural Temples of Gujarat

SR No.: 006728
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kantilal F Sompura
Publisher: Gujarat University Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 868
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 31 MB

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The Component Parts of the Full-Fledged Temple
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(b) Mandapa: This is the place from where the glimpse of the consecrated deity of the garbhagriha can be had. It is a pillared hall in front of the doorway of the garbhagriha. Some of the earlier temples have no mandapa; or they show that the mandapa, was a detached building isolated from the sanctuary and in some cases it is found added subsequently.
Later on it became the custom to unite the two isolated buildings i. e the garbhagriha, an abode of the deity and the maṇḍapa, the prayer hall, thus forming an intermediate chamber or vestibule called antarāla also known as Korimaṇḍapa.
Elegantly carved pillars form an essential part of the mandapa. They are so arranged geometrically that they leave the octagonal area or nave at the centre and outside this central area they are so spaced that they form a pillared aisles. The pillars of the maṇḍapa are exquisitely decorated in a high and low relief.
Percy Brown has vividly described the architectural style of the Mandapa, The shafts of the pillars rarely taper, but are divided horizonatly into decorative zones or drums, the upper being less in diameter than the lower, so that they diminish by stages, to finish in a bracket-capital or Sira. Surrounding the nave the pillars are provided with an extension or attic of dwarf-pillars also bearing bracket-capitals, the interval between the upper and lower Siras being fild by inclined struts or braces each carrying an image, usually a female figure, carved in high relief. These attic pillars, with the architrave above, while raising the height of the nave, also support the central dome, which consists of a shallow bowl-shaped ceiling formed by a succession of overlapping courses, the joints being so concealed in intricate carving that the whole appears as if moulded in one piece."17
(c) Antarāla:- It is a vestibule in form of an intermediate chamber which usually connects the two isolated parts of the 17. IABH p. p. Ch. XXIV p. 144
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