Union Minister for Culture inaugurates one of its kind conference on Indian temple architecture ‘Devayatanam’

What is the News?

The Union Minister for Culture inaugurated one of its kind conference on Indian temple architecture, ‘Devayatanam’.

What is Devayatanam?

Organized by: Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of Ministry of Culture.

Purpose: It is a conference on the journey of Indian Temple Architecture.

Aim:

– To deliberate upon the philosophical, religious, social, economic, technical, scientific, art and architectural aspects of the temple.

– To initiate a dialogue on the evolution and development of the various styles of temple architecture such as the Nagara, Vesara, Dravida, Kalinga and others.

What are the key highlights from the conference?

Hindu temples are a combination of art and science which includes Shilpa sastra, vasthu sastra, geometry and symmetry.

For instance, Temples of Hampi are already featured in the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Further, the Government has proposed Hoysala temples of Belur and Somnathpur to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Major Styles of Temples: There are three major styles of setting up temples in India known as Nagara, Dravidian and Vesara. 

– Dashavatara Temple in Devgarh(UP) is of Nagara style which is prevalent between the Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains. 

– Kailasanathar temple in Kanchi (Tamil Nadu) is Dravidian style temple, developed on the land of Krishna and Kaveri River and 

– Papanatha temple from Karnataka is one of the examples of Vesara style (Vesara is a hybrid form of Nagara and Dravidian style).

Source: This post is based on the article “Union Minister for Culture inaugurates one of its kind conference on Indian temple architecture Devayatanam” published in PIB on 25th February 2022.