India's Hindu temple architecture is developed from the creativity of Sthapathis and Shilpis, both of whom belong to the

larger community of craftsmen and artis ans called Vishwakarma (caste). A small Hindu temple consists of an inner sanctu m, the garbha graha or womb-chamber, in which the idol or deity is housed, often called circumambulation, a congregation hall, and sometimes an antechamber and porch. The garbhagriha is crowned by a tower-like shikara. All the Hindu temples in India follows the architecture defined in Shilpa Shastr as. However, there are artistic variations in terms of construction of shikara d epending on regional culture. Contents [hide] 1 Design 2 History 2.1 Historical Chronology 3 Glossary 3.1 Jagati 3.2 Antarala 3.3 Mandapa 3.4 Sreekovil or Garbhagriha 3.5 Sikhara or Vimanam 3.6 Amalaka 3.7 Gopuram 3.8 Urushringa 4 Different styles of architecture 4.1 Nagara architecture 4.2 Dravidian architecture 4.3 Badami Chalukya architecture 4.4 Gadag Architecture style 4.5 Kalinga architecture style 4.6 Maru-Gurjara temple architecture 4.7 Contemporary architecture 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Design[edit] Main article: Vastu Shastra Dodda Basappa Temple at Dambal, Karnataka is a unique 24-pointed, uninterrupted stellate (star-shaped), 7-tiered dravida plan, 12th century CE History[edit] The temple is a representation of the macrocosm (the universe) as well as the mi crocosm (the inner space). The Magadha empire rose with the Shishunaga dynasty in around 650 BCE. The Ashta dhyayi of Panini, the great grammarian of the 5th century BCE speaks of images t hat were used in Hindu temple worship. The ordinary images were called pratikrit i and the images for worship were called archa (see As. 5.3.96 100). Patanjali, th e 2nd-century BCE author of the Mahabhashya commentary on the Ashtadhyayi, tells us more about the images. Deity images for sale were called Shivaka etc., but an archa of Shiva was just c alled Shiva. Patanjali mentions Shiva and Skanda deities. There is also mention of the worship of Vasudeva (Krishna). We are also told that some images could be moved and some were immoveable. Panini also says that an archa was not to be so ld and that there were people (priests) who obtained their livelihood by taking care of it. Panini and Patanjali mention temples which were called prasadas. The earlier Shatapatha Brahmana of the period of the Vedas, informs us of an ima ge in the shape of Purusha which was placed within the altar. The Vedic books de

scribe the plan of the temple to be square. This plan is divided into 64 or 81 s maller squares, where each of these represent a specific divinity. Historical Chronology