[1000 CE]
The Rajarani Temple in Orissa, India
Located in eastern India south of Bengal, the kingdom of Orissa had various dynasties ruled from its capital, Bhubaneshwar. There are about seven thousand temples located in Bhubaneshwar and many were placed with a sacred pool at its center. As Hinduism matured and the dynasties gained more and more power, the temples grew in complexity and size. This helped facilitate the temple of the intricate rituals of prayer. The temples had a pyramid shaped roof on the madapas, which are halls in Hindu temples that had columns that supported intricate ceilings. The roof was this shape toe be harmonized with the rising shakhara [mountain peak], the rising tower in Hindu architecture, of the garbha-griga, the sanctum section of the temple.
For the Rajarani Temple, the outside reminded me of when we made the coke can cathedral. It looks very similar to the structure we used, with the center column being the tallest and the ones around it getting shorter as they move away from the center. The way it is made directs your focus to the heavens, which is intentional since it is a place of worship.
http://www.cvltvre.com/pg/sitesnsights/view/61633
The Lingaraja Temple in Orissa, India
The Lingaraja Temple was distinguished by its enormous size, but most importantly by its row of three jagmohans. Instead of the rituals and prayer being performed in one jagmohan, it was divided into separate sections so there could be many different rituals being performed at once and in harmony.
- It is the king of Bhubanshwar temples and literally means "the Phallus King."
- There was a primary jagmohan, which was a shrine in itself due to its fully designed exterior.
- The nat-madir ["dance hall"] was more open so the people praising could be seen.
- The bhog-mandapa ["collective ritual performance hall"] was most likely added to assist larger groups of people.
- Also included a 37.5 -meter-high rekha deul that had an amalaka that rested on lions, which indicated royal patronage. It is the highest of all four structures and has the most noticeable silhouette.
information from ching and roth
http://www.keyposters.com/poster/3586267.html
http://animized.blogspot.com/2008/11/ananta-vasudeva-temple-bhubaneswar.html
The world inscribed in the exterior vs. the interior
After reading about these temples and looking at various pictures of them, it made me think of the idea of the "dancing eye". They are made up of small column-like structures, which are then broken up by some ornamented design. Your eye does not rest easily on any one spot of the temple. The emphasis of design is clearly on the outside of these temples, opposed to the Pantheon in Rome, Italy, where the design is on the inside. In the Pantheon, the world is inscribed within the building and the exterior is somewhat bland. Although I haven't seen the inside of the Rajarani or Lingaraja temples, it is not a very large space and couldn't contain the columns or extensive decoration that the Pantheon has. The difference of the two buildings is that heaven or the world is inscribed on the exterior of the temples and the interior of the Pantheon.
http://www.valenciastonesarasota.com/stonehistory.html
http://traveholic.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/a-quick-temple-visit-at-bhubaneshwar/
information from ching and roth
