Mandir facts for kids
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Hindu temple or Mandir is referred to a place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to deities. It is considered the house of the god to whom it is dedicated.
Hindu temples come in many styles, are situated in diverse locations, deploy different construction methods and are adapted to different deities and regional beliefs, yet almost all of them share certain core ideas, symbolism and themes. They are found in South Asia, particularly India and Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and countries such as Canada, Fiji, France, Guyana, Kenya, Mauritius, the Netherlands, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries with a significant Hindu population. The current state and outer appearance of Hindu temples reflect arts, materials and designs as they evolved over two millennia; they also reflect the effect of conflicts between Hinduism and Islam since the 12th century. The Swaminarayanan Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey, between the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, was inaugurated in 2014 as one of the world's largest Hindu temples.
Purpose
Hindus believe that gods and goddesses will answer the prayers of the faithful and inspire spiritually. For them, the temple also acts as a contact between the gods and goddesses and the worshipers. They also believe that the gods and goddesses will grant their wishes and protect them from danger.
Forms and designs of Hindu temples
Almost all Hindu temples take two forms: a house or a palace. A house-themed temple is a simple shelter that serves as a deity's home. The temple is a place where the devotee visits, just like he or she would visit a friend or relative. The use of moveable and immoveable images is mentioned by Pāṇini. In the Bhakti school of Hinduism, temples are venues for puja, which is a hospitality ritual, where the deity is honored, and where devotee calls upon, attends to and connects with the deity. In other schools of Hinduism, the person may simply perform japa, or meditation, or yoga, or introspection in his or her temple. Palace-themed temples often incorporate more elaborate and monumental architecture.
Styles
Hindu temples are found in diverse locations each incorporating different methods of construction and styles:
- Mountain temples such as Masrur
- Cave temples such as Chandrabhaga, Chalukya and Ellora
- Stepwell temple compounds such as the Mata Bhavani, Ankol Mata and Huccimallugudi
- Forest temples such as Kasaun and Kusama
- River bank and sea shore temples such as Somnath
- Step well temples
In arid western parts of India, such as Rajasthan and Gujarat, Hindu communities built large walk-in wells that served as the only source of water in dry months but also served as social meeting places and carried religious significance. These monuments went down into the earth towards subterranean water, up to seven storeys, and were part of a temple complex. These vav (literally, stepwells) had intricate art reliefs on the walls, with numerous murtis and images of Hindu deities and water spirits. The step wells were named after Hindu deities; for example, Mata Bhavani's Stepwell, Ankol Mata Vav, Sikotari Vav and others. The temple ranged from being small single pada (cell) structure to large nearby complexes. These stepwells and their temple compounds have been variously dated from late 1st millennium BCE through 11th century CE. Of these, Rani ki vav, with hundreds of art reliefs including many of Vishnu deity avatars, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Indian rock-cut architecture evolved in Maharashtran temple style in the 1st millennium CE. The temples are carved from a single piece of rock as a complete temple or carved in a cave to look like the interior of a temple. Ellora Temple is an example of the former, while The Elephanta Caves are representative of the latter style. The Elephanta Caves consist of two groups of caves—the first is a large group of five Hindu caves and the second is a smaller group of two Buddhist caves. The Hindu caves contain rock-cut stone sculptures, representing the Shaiva Hindu sect, dedicated to the god Shiva.
Images for kids
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The Nataraja Mandir, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.
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A Mandir in Norway. This one is Slemmestad, and belongs to the biggest Hindu community in Norway.
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A Mandir which later became a Buddhist Temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
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Mandir at Mysore Palace, Southern India.
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Elements in a Hindu temple architecture.
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Hindu temple sites cover a wide range. The most common sites are those near water bodies, embedded in nature, such as the Bhutanatha temple complex at Badami, which is next to a waterfall.
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Ancient India produced many Sanskrit manuals for Hindu temple design and construction, covering arrangement of spaces (above) to every aspect of its completion. Yet, the Silpins were given wide latitude to experiment and express their creativity.
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Chaturbhuj Temple at Orchha, is noted for having one of the tallest Vimana among Hindu temples standing at 344 feet.
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The Golden Temple at Vellore is gilded with 1500 kg of pure gold.
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Illustration of Chitrardha style of art work in a Hindu temple.
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Jagannath Temple at Puri, one of Char Dham: the four main spiritual centers of Hinduism.
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Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Kolkata
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Saptakoteshwar Temple, Goa.
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An aerial view of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, from the top of the southern gopuram, looking north. The temple was built by the Pandyan Empire.
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Pashupatinath Temple from the other bank of Bagmati river, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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Art relief at the Hindu temple Banteay Srei in Cambodia.
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The Prambanan temple complex in Yogyakarta, the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia and the second largest Hindu temple in Southeast Asia.
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Partially ruined Mỹ Sơn Hindu temple complex, Vietnam.
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Sri Mariamman Temple, Bangkok
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The 5th-century Ladkhan Shiva Temple, in the Aihole Hindu-Jain-Buddhist temple site, in Karnataka.
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Plan of 5th-century temples in Eran, Madhya Pradesh.
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The early 6th-century Dashavatara Temple in the Deogarh complex has a simple, one-cell plan.
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1880 sketch of the 9-square floorplan of the same temple (not to scale or complete). For better drawings:
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Layout of Cave 3 temple of the 6th-century Chalukyan-style Badami cave temples
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A 7th century Chalukyan-style temple ceiling, also in Aihole.
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Rani ki vav is an 11th-century stepwell, built by the Chaulukya dynasty, located in Patan. The stepwell remains well-preserved, but is partly silted over.
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The Somnath temple in Gujarat was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Here it is shown in 1869, after having been ruined by order of Aurangzeb in 1665. These ruins were demolished and the temple rebuilt in the 1950s.
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The Kashi Vishwanath Temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb al-Din Aibak in 1194 CE. Since then, it has been demolished twice (in the 1400s, and 1669 CE) and rebuilt four times (in the 1200s, twice in the 1500s under Akbar, and in the 1800s). Shown is the current 1800s temple, with the white domes and minaret of the co-located 1600s Gyanvapi Mosque in the background. The tonne of gold for the temple roof was donated by Ranjit Singh in 1835.
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An 1832 reconstruction of the 1500s temple Akbar funded. James Prinsep based the reconstruction on the foundations of the Gyanvapi Mosque. Many Hindu temples were rebuilt as mosques between 12th and 18th century CE.
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Ruins of the Martand Sun Temple after being destroyed on the orders of the Sultan of Kashmir, Sikandar the Iconoclast, in the early 15th century, with demolition lasting a year.
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In the 14th century, the armies of Delhi Sultanate, led by Malik Kafur, plundered the Meenakshi Temple and looted it of its valuables; it was rebuilt and expanded in the 16th century.
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Kakatiya Kala Thoranam (the Warangal Gate) built in the 12th century by the Kakatiya dynasty; the Warangal Fort temple complex was destroyed in the 1300s by the Delhi Sultanate.
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Artistic rendition of the Kirtistambh, a surviving portion of the 10-11th century Rudra Mahalaya Temple. The temple was partly destroyed by the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khalji, in 1296 CE, with part converted into a mosque and further parts destroyed by Ahmed Shah I in the fifteenth century.
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Exterior wall reliefs at Hoysaleswara Temple. The temple was twice sacked and plundered by the Delhi Sultanate in the early 14th century, and abandoned in the mid 14th century.
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The 12th-century Mahadev Temple is the only Kadamba-period temple building to survive the Goa Inquisition.
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The Ganesh temple of Hindu Temple Society of North America is the oldest Hindu temple in the Western hemisphere, in Flushing, Queens, New York City.
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Swaminarayan Akshardham in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., is the largest Hindu temple in the Western hemisphere.
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BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto, Canada.
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BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Los Angeles, United States.
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BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Houston, United States.
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See also
In Spanish: Mandir para niños
