| Hindus conceived
Temples as places to which the Godminded may repair to escape from the detractions and
disturbances of mundane life and commune with the Spirit by meditating on God's image and
singing His name. They were designed to create the environments congenial to the expansion
of their mind and soul above and beyond the drab realities of life, into a region where
the temporal pre-occupations of man dropped off and he stood in his nakedness before God,
as God made him. They were constructed and
equipped with the best treasures of the fine arts. All branches of the fine arts of
our country are divided into two main parts-secular and religious. In the field of
architecture,
construction of edifices, we have different sastric rules that govern the construction of
household and other dwelling places on the one hand and that of places of worship on the
other. The Agamas like the famous Parameswara Samhita, Marichi Samhita and others, deal
with the Pancharatragama mode of worship, giving minute details of the construction of
shrines, Vimanams and objects of worship. |
