Panchayatana

Floor plan of the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in the temple district of Khajuraho

As Panchayatana or Pancayatana ( Sanskrit : pancha = five '; yatana = God') which rarely realized ideal shape is a Hindu the most TEMPLE consisting of a central main temple and four smaller side shrines, in the corners of the platform ( Jagati stand) , designated. While the entrance of the main temple is mostly oriented to the east, sometimes also to the west, the two temples on the entrance side are often oriented to the north or south.

The five-part Panchayatana scheme with its sacred buildings pointing upwards and in all four cardinal directions ultimately has cosmic or universal dimensions and implications.

panchayatana puja : Ganesha (in the center), Shiva (top left), Devi or Durga (top right), Vishnu (bottom left) and Surya (bottom right)

Examples

• Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh , Uttar Pradesh
• Lakshmana Temple in Khajuraho , Madhya Pradesh
• Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in Khajuraho
• Brahmeswara Temple in Bhubaneswar , Oriya
• Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneswar
• Arasavalli Temple at Srikakulam , Andhra Pradesh
• Sun temples of Martand , Jammu and Kashmir
• Nabaratna Temple in Pantchupi
• Shiva Temple in Tumbadi , Karnataka
• Shri Gondeshwar Temple in Sinnar , Maharashtra

See also

Dakshineshwar Temple in Kolkata

In Hinduism there was also the tradition of the communal worship of five deities ( panchayatana puja ), which takes place mainly in a family setting , which is attributed by some to the teacher and philosopher Adi Shankara (around 800). Whether this form of worship is possibly older than the architectural panchayatana system can no longer be clearly determined.

The sometimes five-towered temples of Bengal may also be based on the panchayatana scheme. More recently, some temple buildings that go further in terms of their architectural differentiations have emerged - e. B. the Dakshineshwar temple in Kolkata from the middle of the 19th century with its nine side shrines ( navaratna ).

literature

• George Michell: The Hindu Temple. Architecture of a world religion. DuMont, Cologne 1991, p. 150, ISBN 3-7701-2770-6 .
• Henri Stierlin: Hindu India. Temples and sanctuaries from Khajuraho to Madurai. Taschen-Verlag, Cologne 1998, p. 115 u. Pp. 130ff, ISBN 3-8228-7298-9 .
• Marilia Albanese: Ancient India. From the origins to the 13th century. Karl Müller-Verlag, Cologne undated, p. 151, ISBN 3-89893-009-2 .
• Shwata Vardia: Building Science of Indian Temple Architecture. Dissertation, Universidade do Minho 2008 [1]

Web links

• Arasavalli Temple in Andhra Pradesh - Information