Mandapa
Gupta-Tempel.jpg)
.jpg)
_in_Hoysaleshvara_Temple_at_Halebidu.jpg)
_in_Pattabhirama_temple_in_Hampi.JPG)
In Indian architecture , the term mandapa ( Sanskrit : मंडप; also known as mantapa or mandapam ) describes a pillared hall that is open to the side and is in front of the cella ( garbhagriha ) of a Buddhist , Hindu or Jain temple. In Odisha's architecture , these vestibules are usually referred to as jagamohana , natamandir or boghamandir .
function
The mandapa probably originally served mainly as a covered shelter for the believers, as they were not allowed to enter the sanctuary area of the temple (cella or garbhagriha) even in strong sunlight or in thunderstorms or monsoon rains . In later times the mandapa is viewed as a place of meditation in which the believer gathers spiritually before he performs the sacrificial ceremonies ( puja ) in the actual sanctuary under the guidance of brahmins . The connection of several mandapas, which are also stepped at floor level, lengthened and increased the path of the believer from the outside world to the cult image or lingam in the garbhagriha , the actual goal of his temple visit.
Emergence
Although no Hindu temples from the time before the birth of Christ have survived, one must assume that such existed. They were probably one-room and windowless buildings made of perishable building materials such as reed, wood and clay - comparable to the residential huts that can still be found in many rural areas of India. The lighting and ventilation of these buildings took place exclusively through the always unlocked and open entrance. A vestibule made of wooden pillars and covered with branches and leaves may have provided some protection from the elements in many of these structures.
development
North India
Some of the early Buddhist cult or living caves had vestibules in the form of a portico about 2 m deep and up to 10 m wide (mandapa) . It was not until the time of the Gupta Empire (approx. 350-550) that Hindu cave temples ( Udayagiri ) also received free-standing stone porches. At the same time, the first (preserved) free-standing temples in North India ( Gupta Temple ) were built, most of which had laterally closed vestibules ( antaralas ) (e.g. Amrol ) or laterally open or half-open vestibules equipped with Jali windows (e.g. . Tigawa ), which also in the 5th / 6th Century - especially with covered walkways - could still be made of wood (e.g. at the Dashavatara temple in Deogarh ).
With the construction of the Kalika Mata Temple in the Fort of Chittaurgarh , a development began - according to current knowledge - that was to be groundbreaking for the later North Indian temples: the vestibule and sanctuary area were designed approximately the same in size and shape and connected to one another so that on the outside it is only possible to identify which component is involved from the roof structure. The structural principles developed here culminated in the 10th and 11th centuries in the buildings of Khajuraho (e.g. in the Lakshmana Temple , the Vishvanatha Temple and the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple ).
A peculiarity of northwest India is the development that probably began in the 11th or 12th century from Gujarat towards the multi-storey mandapas (e.g. Navlakha temple , Gujarat; Adinath-Jain-Tenpel from Ranakpur , Rajasthan ; Jagdish temple in Udaipur , Rajasthan ; Dwarkadhish Temple in Dwarka , Gujarat).
Central and South India
In most of the regions of Central and South India (with the exception of Aihole ) such harmonization and merging of the components did not take place. The mandapas remained architecturally largely independent components, but they could take on huge dimensions. The largest mandapas in terms of area are found in the South Indian temple architecture of the Pallava and the Chola and subsequent dynasties.
placement
A small vestibule ( antarala ) or a vestibule (mandapa) is regularly located in front of the entrance to the garbhagriha (“mother's womb chamber”, the holy of holies of a temple). In the heyday of North Indian temple architecture ( Khajuraho , Bhubaneshwar ) several mandapas ( mukhamandapa or ardhamandapa = "entrance hall"; mahamandapa = "great hall", often also referred to as "dance hall") were added, so that the greater part of the temple area consisted of mandapas .
Indonesia
The mandapa differs from the word mondop , a cube-shaped building inside a Buddhist wat . The word pendopo for pavilions in Javanese architecture is also derived from mandapa .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Volwahsen, Andreas (1993): India: Buildings of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains , Cologne: Taschen, p. 141.