Temples

The Hindus believe in the concept of God as a single absolute reality. But the different aspects of this supreme God can be realized in the form of different demigods and goddesses. Thus Hindus worship God in his personal form every day.

The religious life of a Hindu is centered on the devotion to God. There are rituals and practices which had been developed in order to assist him in this. The most common form of worship is Puja. To worship the God, Hindus visit temples, even though it is not mandatory in Hinduism. Temples are considered to be the house of the God. You can find either one or more deities in the same temple.

Temple Architecture

Vedic temple architecture emphasizes the need for the temple to be in tune with the surroundings. Sculptures carved in rock are the typical feature of the temples at this time. Even modern temples follow a part of this style.

Later, huge pyramids started forming a part of Hindu temples, of which two prominent styles are:

• Naagra Style- followed mostly in Northern India, with slightly curved pyramids.
• Dravidian Style- followed mostly in Southern India, with stepped pyramids.

Different sates in India have different kind of architectural styles.

The most important part of a temple is the sanctum sanctorum (Garbha- Griha), where the murti (depiction of the deity) is present.

Elements of worship in a temple

The most common elements of worship in a temple are:

• Darshan ( gazing up on the murti)
• Puja ( offering food, flowers etc to God)
• Bhajan ( Singing prayers to please the God)
• Pradakshina ( Walking around the sanctum sanctorum)
• Prasad ( The objects which are offered to god, then consumed by the faith that the blessings are in that object)

Norms of the temple

To keep the purity of the temple, the visitors are supposed to follow certain norms.

• Wear modest clothes.
• Foot wears are not allowed
• Consumption of non vegetarian food, alcohol is not allowed.
• Women having their menstrual cycle are not supposed to enter the temple.
• Should not enter the sanctum sanctorum or touch the murti with out permission.

These norms also differ from temple to temple and from region to region.

Temple Management

In ancient times, kings or the most respected families used to take care of the management of the temples. Now there are local committees or boards which are managing and maintaining them. The controls over most of the ancient temples have been taken by Archeological Survey of India.

Important Temples in India

There are a lot of temples spread across different states of India. A great amount of details of them are available through the internet.