Amalaka
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In Indian architecture, the Amalaka is a round, cushion-shaped disc with vertical notches on the outer edge, which - usually together with a vase-shaped attachment ( kalasha ) - forms the upper end of a North Indian temple pillar or Shikhara tower. They are reserved for religious buildings such as Buddhist monasteries, Hindu temples and - in rare cases - Islamic grave monuments and mosques . Amalakas do not appear in the classical architecture of South India .
History and dissemination
Capitals and pillars
According to current knowledge, the earliest (preserved) amalakas come from Buddhist cave temples , where they sometimes appear above a bell-shaped lotus capital (e.g. Bedsa , entrance hall). They can also be found on Buddhist reliefs as pillar or column decoration . They later appear on Hindu columned monuments of the 4th and 5th centuries (e.g. Iron Column , Delhi ). The Buddhist as well as the early Hindu - Jain stone architecture know amalakas - sometimes in connection with kalashas - on pillars, but not as attachments on the originally flat roofs of temples.
Temple roofs
Only after the appearance of Shikhara towers in the 7th / 8th centuries Century (e.g. Naresar or Amrol ) amalaka ring stones form their crown. In the high medieval north Indian temple architecture ( Nagara style ) one finds these ribbed ring stones everywhere; some larger Shikharas with smaller accompanying towers ( urushringas ) have several amalakas (e.g. Lakshmana Temple , Kandariya Mahadeva Temple , 84 were counted in the latter). The largest amalakas crown the Shikara towers in the temple districts of Khajuraho and Bhubaneshwar or Puri ; they are five to eight meters in diameter and - like most of the smaller amalakas - are made up of several pieces. In contrast, they are unknown in the Central Indian Vesara style and in the South Indian Dravida style .
Club heads
The club ( gada ) assigned as an attribute to the Hindu god Vishnu ends in the representations that have appeared since the 6th century regularly in a knob, which is designed as a ribbed and multi-tiered amalaka .
Origin and meaning
The ring-shaped structure of the amalakas possibly suggests older models made of wood or straw with which the reed and grass roofs of round huts were held together at the top - but such things have not survived. Another theory is that such rings as a base should protect the Kalasha jugs from tipping over.
Stone amalakas are in a certain way similar to the slightly notched fruits of the Indian gooseberry ( Amla tree , Phyllanthus emblica or Emblica officinalis ) whose Indian name ( Sanskrit : amalaka or amlaki ) reveals an identical or similar name to the amalaka . The long traditional use as a medicinal plant in folk and Ayurvedic medicine is reflected in the officinalis suffix . Perhaps it was the healing properties that the fruits are said to have - and in some cases also proven - that were to pass over to the architectural Amalakas as a kind of protection or promise of happiness.
Older research also sees them as a lotus or sun symbol . Stella Kramrich and Adrian Snodgrass name a variety of other possible levels of origin and meaning. In any case , it can be assumed that this architectural element has a disastrous ( apotropaic ), even auspicious meaning.
Amalaka on Islamic buildings in India
Although Islam largely suppressed Hindu (ie “pagan”) architectural motifs, amalakas can also be found on some dome graves of Indo-Islamic architecture in Delhi - mostly in connection with the vase attachment ( kalasha ) , which is closely linked to the desire for immortality . B. on the mausoleum for Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq Shah I († 1325) in Tughlaqabad , the dome tomb called Lal Gumbaz (1397) in Jahanpanah , on Sheesh-Gumbad (around 1500) in the Lodi Gardens and on the - Also located in Jahanpanah - Mughal tomb for Sheikh Alauddin (1541/2). The domes of the Khan Masjid of Dholka (around 1400), the three main domes of the Friday Mosque of Ahmedabad (1424) or the numerous domes of the Friday Mosque of Champaner (around 1520) - all in Gujarat - were topped with amalakas and kalashas .
Many Muslims were quite superstitious - in any case, it is hardly conceivable that such elements were simply placed on the grave monuments and mosques by Hindu stonemasons without the express wish and knowledge of the client. However, it could also be that the symbolic meaning of the amalakas and kalashas had already been completely or partially lost at this time and that they were primarily understood as non-figurative-abstract and therefore permitted decorative elements.
Amalakas in Cambodia and Vietnam
From India, amalaka ring stones found their way into a few temple buildings of the Khmer in Angkor (Cambodia) and the Cham in Duong Long (Vietnam).
literature
- Stella Kramrich: The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 2007, ISBN 978-81-208-0222-3 , vol. 2, p. 348 ff.
- Adrian Snodgrass: The Symbolism of the Stupa. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1992, pp. 250ff, ISBN 81-208-0781-2 .
- George Michell: The Hindu Temple. Types and meaning. DuMont, Cologne 1979, ISBN 3-7701-1096-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Adrian Snodgrass: The Symbolism of the Stupa. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1992, pp. 250ff, ISBN 81-208-0781-2 .
- ↑ Stella Kramrisch: The Hindu Temple (= Stella Kramrisch [Hrsg.]: The Hindu Temple . Volume 2 ). 5th edition. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., Delhi 1946, ISBN 81-208-0224-1 , pp. 348 ff . (English, 466 pages, limited preview in Google Book Search).