Temples in Texts on Architecture (स्थापत्यशास्त्रेषु देवालयाः )

Introduction

Temples are truly the essence of Sanatana Dharma. The focus of Vaidika Sanatana Dharma was the Yajna Samstha but gradually the place of Yajna was taken over by the institutions of temples and allied rituals like puja, japa and vrata. The antiquity of temples as places of worship dates back at least to the Early Historic Period (6th century BCE) which coincides with the Second Urbanization in India. A few scholars assert that the form of Sanatana Dharma as practiced since the beginning of the Common Era revolves around the institution of temples. The archaeological evidences for temples date back to the 3rd century BCE but this does not negate the fact that temples were being constructed in the land of Bharata at least since the 6th century BCE. There are copious references to temples in literary as well as epigraphical sources (inscriptions). In this article we will be discussing some major literary references to temples.

Varahamihira's Brihat Samhita (वराहमिहिरस्य बृहत संहिता )

Varahamihira 's Brihat Samhita is the oldest available text which includes details about the construction of temples in its fifty-sixth adhyaya titled Prasadalakshanadhyayah. and is approximately dated to the 5th-6th centuries CE. Varahamihira states in the opening shloka of this adhyaya that after one constructs water tanks (salila) and lays out gardens (arama) one must undertake the task of building a temple to augment one 's own glory and religious merit. (Brihat Samhita 56.1). A person who aspires to attain the lokas through Ishta and Purta Dharmas must engage himself in the erection of temples so that he may procure the merits of both (Brihat Samhita 56.2). Varahamihira lays down that the site of the proposed temple must be divided into sixty-four squares and its middle door must be located in one of the cardinal quarters (Brihat Samhita 56.10). Succeeding shlokas of the text furnish details about the various constituent parts of the temple.

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