19 January 2017

Temple Architecture in the Himachal Pradesh


Throughout Himachal Pradesh, there are four distinct styles of hill temple architecture which mark out different eras of religious beliefs. Taking the style of the roof as the basis of distinction, the four types are:
            1. The 'pent' roof and verandah
            2. Pyramidical
            3. Pagoda fashion with successive wooden roofs one on top of the other
            4. A mixture of sloping and pagoda type roofs (known as Satluj valley style)

 Each geographical zone of the state has its own distinctive style of architecture. The low lying hills or the Shivalik hills have Shikhara, doomed and flat-roofed temples. The mid and higher hills have pent-roofed and pagoda roofed temples. The high mountainous areas have again flat-roofed temples but in a different style.

Pent Style
The pent roof temples are the most ancient. Some examples of this style are:
  • Lakshana Devi Temple at Bharmour (Chamba)
  • Shakti Devi temple at Chhatrari (Chamba)
  • Mirkula Devi Temple at Udaipur (Lahaul-Spiti)

Pyramidical Style
Pyramidical roofs are found in Jubbal valley. The classical examples in this style are:
  • Hateshwari Devi and Shiva temples at Hatkoti and Mahasu (Shimla)
  • Shiva temples at Deora in Jubbal (Shimla)

Pagoda Style
The pagoda style is the most interesting of all. It came to this region from Nepal, where it is common to most of the temples in Kathmandu. There are numerous pagoda-style temples in Mandi, Kullu, Shimla hills and Kinnaur regions of Himachal Pradesh. The classical examples in this style are:
  • Prashar temple (Mandi)
  • Hadimba temple in Manali (Kullu)
  • Tripura Sundari temple at Nagar (Kullu)
  • Triyugi Naryan temple at Dyar (Kullu)
  • Adi Brahma temple at Khokhan (Kullu)
  • Manu temple at Shanshar (Kullu)
  • Maheshwar temple at Sungra (Kinnaur)
  • Chagoann temple (Kinnaur)

Sutlej Valley Style
The fourth style (a fusion of pent roof and pagoda style) is generally found in the upper Satluj valley. Some examples of this style of temples are:
  • Bahna Mahadev Temple (kangra)
  • Dhaneshwari Devi at Nethar in Outer Seraj (Kullu)

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