India is a deeply religious country. Most of of the population, followers of Hinduism are about 80% of the population, 13% of Muslims still live here, while the rest profess Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Christianity, and so on. The country's constitution allows any religion, and it is thanks to such tolerance, which, it must be said, is more than one thousand years old, that we have a chance to see the ancient temples of India and completely new masterpieces of architecture ...
Every year, millions of tourists come to this mysterious country in search of spiritual enlightenment, wisdom, wishing to gain inexhaustible health or ask the ancient gods for the fulfillment of desires. Whatever the purpose of your trip, do not miss the opportunity to get to know the religious diversity of India.
Cave temples of Ellora
The largest complex of cave temples in India is located in the village of Ellora, 30 kilometers west of the city Aurangabad Maharashtra. In total, there are 34 temples and monasteries in Ellora: twelve are Buddhist, five are Jain, and the rest are Hindu.
The main attraction of the entire complex is the Kailasanatha rock temple dedicated to Shiva. For more than a hundred years, several thousand workers carved this masterpiece from a monolithic rock with the simplest tools. It will take you several hours to explore the complex, but, no doubt, getting to know one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites is worth it.
Kandarya Mahadeva, Khajuraho temple complex
In the temple architecture of India, the Khajuraho complex remains unique. A thousand years ago, under the generous patronage of the Rajput kings of the Chandela family, 85 temples, magnificent in form and richly carved, were built near the unremarkable village of Khajuraho.
In an astonishingly short span of 100 years (AD 950 to 1050), all the temples were completed in a single creative effort. Today, out of 85 original temples, only 22 have survived the ravages of time, and now they show the world a hymn to the joy of life and creativity, the final merging of man with his Creator.
The most curious of them is Kandarya Mahadeva, dedicated to the god Shiva. It cost 100 years and was erected in the 11th century. After a couple of centuries, the temple was abandoned and for more than 700 years the impenetrable jungle hid this masterpiece of Indian medieval architecture.
But when the colonialists discovered the temple, they were in no hurry to draw attention to the find. The fact is that the outer and inner walls are decorated with sculptures depicting scenes of an erotic nature of a very diverse content. What once scared Europeans away now attracts tourists here. Today, Khajuraho is referred to only as the "Temple of Love", and the complex itself is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Somnath temple
One of the 12 holiest temples in India. It is located on the coast of the Arabian Sea, in the Saurashtra region of the state of Gujarat. According to legend, it was built by the god of the moon (hence the second name "Temple of the Moon") in gratitude to Shiva for lifting the curse.
Six times the temple was completely destroyed, but each time it was restored. Last time it was rebuilt in 1947. Every year, many pilgrims from all over India rush here, worship here takes place in the form of Jyotirlingam - a pillar of light penetrating the Earth, which only spiritually developed individuals can see.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple (Varanasi)
The Kashi Vishwanath Temple or "Golden Temple" is located on the West Bank of the Ganges River in the holy city of Varanasi. One of the 12 jyotirlingams is located here (this hard-to-pronounce word means a shrine where Lord Shiva is worshipped).
People from all over India strive to get to Varanasi at least once in their lives, for a Hindu, visiting a temple and bathing in the Ganges is one of the ways to get out of the cycle of samsara. It is almost impossible for a non-Hindu to get inside. From the third floor of a neighboring building, you can see the domes, the decoration of which took almost a ton of gold.
Jagannath Temple in Puri
It is not difficult to understand from the title that the Temple is located in the city of Puri, in the eastern part of the state of Orissa. It is dedicated to one of the forms of Krishna to the deity Jagannath. For every Hindu, it is one of the four places of pilgrimage that should be visited during a lifetime.
The entrance to the temple is closed to non-Hindus, even Hindus of other faiths cannot enter there. Europeans are strictly prohibited from entering, because according to the prediction, representatives of the white race will try to steal a wooden statue of the god Jagannath.
However, there is a way out: the temple building can be viewed from the roof of the neighboring library, and the wooden statues of the gods stored inside can be seen at the annual Chariot Festival in Puri, when the statues will be transported around the city on huge chariots.
Temple of Tirumala Venkateswara
Erected in honor of one of the forms of Vishnu, the sanctuary is located on the hills of Tirumala in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeast India and covers an area of more than two hectares.
Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is the most visited religious building in the world, it is also called the “Hindu Vatican”. Every day it is visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims, and on holidays several hundred thousand people come here.
It is also the richest Hindu temple. As a sacrifice to Vishnu, pilgrims often bring their hair, which is shaved off in a barbershop in the area. About 15 tons of hair are collected per year, which are sold, which makes a profit of more than a million dollars.
The following facts are also noteworthy: once 162 diamonds worth $230,000 were found in a donation box, and the largest diamond donated to the temple weighed 2.5 kilograms and cost more than $8 million.
Meenakshi Temple
The delightful temple complex is located on a square in the heart of Madurai city of Tamil Nadu and covers an area of 6 hectares. The building was erected in honor of the wedding of Shiva and Meenakshi, one of the avatars of Parvati. This event is celebrated every year to this day.
The whole colorful world of Hinduism is represented in the Meenakshi temple: the walls are covered with figures of gods, mythical animals, guards, priests, musicians, men and women. The scale and diversity are amazing. It is interesting to visit both adults and children. About 15 thousand people visit the temple every day.
Temple of Kedarnath
The Shiva temple is located in the picturesque upper reaches of the Himalayas in the village of Kedarnath. This is one of the most significant shrines of Hindus, the location of one of the 12 jyotirlingas. Here, complete cleansing from sins is granted and thousands of pilgrims rush here from all over the world.
From Gaurikund, the ascent can be made either on horseback or on foot. The entrance to the sanctuary is open only 6 months a year: from the last week of April or the first week of May until the Diwali holiday, which is celebrated in November-December. The rest of the time, the paths leading to the temple are covered with snow, and it is not possible to make this path of 14 kilometers.
Harmandir Sahib (Amritsar, Golden Temple)
Harmandir Sahib is the main shrine of the Sikhs, as well as the most famous golden temple in India. It is located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab, in the center of the sacred lake Amritsar, into which pilgrims plunge before entering the temple.
The walls of the building are covered with gold plates and precious stones, and the interior decoration is even richer than the exterior. Sikhs preach equality and unity of all religions, so free admission is open to everyone, you just need to wash your feet and put on a hat. More than 20,000 people visit the Harmandir Sahib daily.
The temple has a free dining room where anyone, whether a tourist or a pilgrim, can eat simple Indian food. Here you can stay for the night, for this there are special bedrooms.
Lotus Temple
One of the most striking sights of Delhi, one of the greatest architectural structures, one of the most beautiful temples in India! The building is a huge blooming lotus flower of 27 marble petals, surrounded by nine pools of water.
The prayer house was built on donations from adherents of the Baha'i Faith, which preaches the unity of all religions, and after 6 years of construction in 1986, the temple was opened to everyone. Entrance is completely free, loud conversations, photography and video filming are prohibited inside the Lotus temple, but meditation is welcome.
A peaceful atmosphere, silence and soft light will help the traveler to renounce external stimuli, discard all anxieties and listen to his own thoughts. inner world in order to find harmony with oneself and, as a result, with everything that exists.
Temples of India: Buddhist and Jain temples of India, Ajanta temples, Ellora temples, Mahabodhi temple, Golden Temple.
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Ajanta
Ajanta is a man-made cave monastery, consisting of twenty-nine temples and the cells of hermit monks adjacent to them. It is located in the very heart of the country, but at the same time, even in our time, it is difficult to access, because you need to walk more than ten kilometers from here to the nearest settlement.
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Pattadakal
Few monuments in Karnataka can boast of being included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are only two of them - the ruins of Vijayanagara and the temples of Pattadakal. Pattadakal has a rich past - at the beginning of the 7th century, it took over from Aihole and became the capital of the young and powerful Chalukya kingdom.
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Humpy
Hampi is a set of buildings headed by the Virupaksha temple. This is a fairly well-known place, which is mentioned in the Ramayana. This work tells about the events that took place in Hampi. Why go here? To see sculptures, temples, statues representing the history of India at its best. This is quite a significant piece of the history of the country.
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Mahabodhi Temple
Mahabodhi temple - world famous Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. It is located exactly on the very spot where Gautama Siddhartha attained enlightenment and became the Buddha. The temple complex includes the holy Bodhi tree, which grew from the seed of the Sri Maha Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka.
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Meenakshi Temple
Shiva is one of the main deities of the Trimurti triad (along with Vishnu and Brahma). He is the supreme god in Shaivism and one of the central characters in the pantheon of Hindu deities. Once Shiva married the goddess Parvati, and together they began to personify the male and female aspects of creative energy.
For more than one thousand years, almost all confessions in the world have peacefully coexisted in the ancient lands of India. In matters of religious tolerance, the country can only be envied. That is why the temples of India, as the main confirmation of this, are so diverse and unique. Whether it be modest Himalayan sanctuaries, cave monasteries of Ajanta, golden-domed temples of Varanasi or architectural masterpieces of Hampi, they are still beautiful and original.
The largest complex of cave temples in India is located in the village of Ellora, Maharashtra. The main value of the complex is the monolithic temple of Kailasanath, dedicated to the god Shiva. For more than a century, the temple has been carved into the rock using primitive tools. And it turned out to be a delightful masterpiece, graceful and skillful - just a feast for the eyes. By the way, besides him, there are about a few dozen temples in Ellora.
On the coast of the Arabian Sea rises one of ancient temples countries - Somnath - "Temple of the Moon". According to legend, the god of the moon himself erected it to Shiva in glory. In fact, the temple was destroyed several times and rebuilt again. Somnath is very valuable in Hinduism. They say spiritual developed person in the process of prayer, instead of carved stone walls, he can see pillars of fire piercing heaven and earth.
The medieval Shaivist temple of Khajuraho, better known as the "Temple of Love", was in oblivion for about 700 years, shrouded in impenetrable jungle. It was first discovered by European colonizers. They opened it and were horrified: the outer and inner walls of the temple were completely decorated with erotic sculptures of the most obscene nature. Nowadays, the beauty of Khajuraho is not only admired, but also called a World Heritage Site.
The most visited religious building in the world is also in India. This is the temple of Tirumala Venkateswara, the so-called Hindu Vatican.
The decoration of the domes of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi took almost a ton of gold. Every self-respecting Hindu dreams of visiting the Golden Temple and swimming in the sacred waters of the Ganges (on the western bank of which the temple is located). And it is very problematic for representatives of other religions to get inside. It remains to be content with the external decoration of Kashi Vishwanath, which, in general, is also quite a lot. By the way, the situation is similar with the Jagannath temple in Puri. There is a belief here that every white-skinned, barely getting into the temple, will immediately try to steal its main shrine - the statue of the god Jagannatha - one of the forms of Krishna.
One of the most modern temples in India is located right in the capital. The temple has a rather original design imitating a lotus flower. So the sanctuary is called - the temple of the Lotus. Unlike its more strict counterparts, this temple is open to everyone and absolutely free.
The most visited religious building in the world is also in India. This is the temple of Tirumala Venkateswara, the so-called Hindu Vatican. Surprisingly, temple visitors often leave their hair here as a donation. And since tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the temple every year, there is plenty of hair here: 15 tons per year, to summarize. In total, the income from the sale of hair is at least a million USD.
) article. Where we will tell a little and show in many places in India where such temples are still preserved more or less intact.
The temples of love in India are located in abundance in the temple complex of Khajuraho, an ancient abandoned city that has been swallowed up by the jungle for centuries. This is what owes its safety in comparison with more affordable analogues.
For the first time, our city of Khajuraho, as the capital of the state of Chandella, is mentioned in the records of Abu Rihan al-Biruni, an Arab traveler of the early 11th century. Although reliable information about the time of construction has not been preserved, it is believed that the temples were erected in the period from 950 to 1050. AD, during the reign of the Rajput dynasty, when Khajuraho became the religious center of the state.
During the subsequent Muslim conquest of India, many Hindu temples were destroyed, but Khajuraho has survived to this day, although only 22 of the original 85 structures remain intact.
According to historians, the temple complex survived due to the fact that the inhabitants of Khajuraho, fearing an invasion from the north by Afghan tribes, left the city in the 14th century, services ceased, and gradually the jungle swallowed up both the city itself and the approaches to it.
Only in 1838 did the British military engineer D.S. Bart accidentally discovered this unique group of temples. Currently, the monuments have been impeccably restored, but excavations at the site of the former capital of Chandella continue to this day.
The temples of Khajuraho are amazing:
- And numerous sculptures: thousands and thousands of bas-reliefs densely cover the entire outer surface of buildings.
- And the filigree work: body shape, posture, movement, facial expressions are truly amazing, and the drawing of details is amazing for such majestic structures.
- And the variety of plots depicted: here are everyday sketches, and battle compositions, and various animals, and, of course, beautiful erotic scenes, executed with rare, amazing frankness and the smallest detail.
The origin and purpose of the temples are disputed to this day.
It is impossible not to mention the local legend that tells about the appearance of these structures with elegant sensual sculptures. In ancient times, a beautiful girl Emavati, the daughter of a Brahmin, lived in Khajuraho. One evening she was bathing in the river Rati. The god of the moon saw the young beauty, and inflamed with passion for her, seduced her.
From this union was a child is born named Chandravarman. But Emavati was rejected by her relatives and was forced to hide in the dense jungle, where she raised her son, becoming not only a mother for him, but also a teacher in all worldly affairs.
It was this boy who eventually became the founder of the great dynasty of rulers of Chandella (probably killing all the offenders of his mother - or, judging by the bas-reliefs, without killing ...), and in the name of his mother he built many temples that glorify the power of human passion, the beauty of a woman and the greatness of love .
It is not known how true the legend is, but it can only be said for sure that the temples of the group do not belong to any one religion. Some of them are dedicated to Vishnu, some to Shiva, others to Jaina Tirtankaras, but the commonality of architecture and composition suggests that this is still a single complex.
So let's see how the ancients knew how, and envy 🙂
Or, as Osho Rajneesh says:
Khajuraho is incomparable to anything. There are hundreds of thousands of temples in the world, but none like what can be seen in Khajuraho. Everything in the temples of Khajuraho is mysterious. It must have taken hundreds of years and thousands of craftsmen to create each one. I have never come across anything that can be called so perfect. Even the Taj Mahal has its flaws, Khajuraho does not. Moreover, the Taj Mahal is nothing but beautiful architecture; Khajuraho is the whole philosophy and psychology of the New Man. I am trying to make its beauty a reflection of the hearts of my sannyasins. Not only the beauty of stone statues, but the beauty of human reality. The beauty of people who are able to love, who are really so alive that they infect the whole world with this fullness of life.
Based on materials http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/2281209/post152287092/
In the 5th century BC n. e. The Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids extended its power to the northwestern part of India. The ruins of Taxila, located at modern city Rawalpindi (now Pakistan). The construction of Taxila was carried out in two stages. More ancient city built spontaneously, without any order. Subsequently, the chaos was changed by a clear grid of quarters. During the study of Taxila, many remarkable sculptures were discovered, the appearance of which combines the features of Indian, Persian and ancient Greek art, because at the end of the 4th century. BC e. the state of the Achaemenids was destroyed by Alexander the Great, and conquerors, the Greeks, came to India.
The power of the Greeks in North India was opposed by the Mauryan Empire, which was headed by King Chandragupta. Its capital was the city of Pataliputra (modern Patna), located on the banks of the Ganges, the second largest river in India. The Greek geographer Megasthenes left us a description of the ancient capital. He says: “At the confluence of the Ganges River with another, there is a city that is 80 stadia long and 15 stadia wide (that is, its area is something about 48 km 2. It is very similar in shape to a parallelogram surrounded by a wooden wall in which holes for shooting arrows.In front of the wall is a ditch, designed to protect and receive the sewage of the city.This ditch surrounds the whole city, reaches 600 feet in width and 30 cubits in depth, and the wall is crowned with 570 towers and has 64 gates. "Now in Putney you can see the remains of ancient buildings.
Chandragupta's grandson, King Ashoka, converted to Buddhism. His name is associated with the spread of this religion, which significantly supplanted the more ancient Brahmanism. Along with the new religion, a new type of religious buildings is also spreading - the so-called stupas, stone cases that hide a Buddhist shrine in themselves. Such attractions are found everywhere in India and other countries. Such a building was built in the city of Amaravati in the II century. BC e.
Now in this city you can see its ruins. Another famous attraction of Amaravati is a Hindu temple, famous for its sculptural decoration. Particular attention is drawn to local bas-reliefs depicting apsaras - celestial dancers.
More often, the residential buildings of India - from a hut to a luxurious palace - were made of wood, and only places of worship were made of stone, and in some of their details they imitated wooden architecture. An important place in the Indian cultural heritage is occupied by cave temples, Buddhist and Hindu. The caves were artificial, they were carved into the rock, and on their ceilings one can see imitation of wooden bantins. The most famous sights of this type are the cave temple complexes of Ajanta, Ellora and the caves of Elephanta Island. All of them were created in the 7th - 8th centuries. n. e. Ajanta is a Buddhist landmark, the walls of its caves are covered with bright frescoes. The temples of Ellora, located not very far from Ajanta, are dedicated to Hindu deities. In the thickness of the rock, halls were carved here, which reached a depth of 40 m and were located one above the other, forming two or three floors. The walls of the halls and galleries that connected them are decorated with numerous sculptural images of gods and heroes. The ceilings in the caves are supported by thick columns whose bases and capitals are covered with intricate sculptural patterns. Indian sculpture is very peculiar, it cannot be confused with anything else. Shiva, the god who created the world with the help of dance, was depicted by the artists as multi-armed, thanks to which they managed to convey the powerful rhythm of his dance. Other deities were also sometimes depicted as multi-armed and multi-headed, but no matter how many limbs the stone gods and heroes have, they always look alive and mobile.
Another extremely interesting type of Indian monuments are rock temples, that is, temples that look like a building, but they are not made of bricks or even large blocks of stone. They are carved from solid rock. Some argue whether such temples can be considered architectural monuments, or whether they are sculptural monuments, because the internal volume in them either plays a very small role, or even is completely absent. All attention is paid to the exterior decoration, which is no less striking than the decoration of the caves in Ellory.
Such monuments include five small structures, the so-called Raths, which can be seen in the city of Mahabalipuram on the sea coast near Madras. Giant blocks of golden color were used for their construction.
Each of the Rathas is not like the other, but together they form a harmonious ensemble, which organically complement the sculptures of animals: a bull, a lion and an elephant. These animals look like they accidentally wandered into the temple complex. The rathas themselves are stone models of wooden structures traditional for India, all the small details of which are recreated with jewelry accuracy. The complex also includes a stone relief, which is 9 m high and 27 m wide. It depicts the ascent to the earth of the sacred river Ganges.
The pinnacle of Indian rock architecture is considered to be built in the 8th century. n. e. Kailasanatha temple in Ellori. With its general features, the temple resembles the rathi of Mahabalipuram, but on a much larger scale. The construction of the pyramidal structure of the temple began from above. It seemed to be gradually released from stone captivity, starting with a ribbed dome and ending with an eight-meter plinth, which was surrounded by three-meter high relief figures of sacred lions and elephants. In addition to this main temple, the complex includes other buildings. All of them are so densely covered with sculptures that it is impossible to find even a meter of a smooth wall.
Starting from the IX century. Indians no longer cut their temples out of solid rock, but make them up from large blocks of hewn stone, but this does not have a significant effect on appearance architectural monuments, which, as before, are more reminiscent of sculptures. Separate stone blocks were fastened with metal brackets or with the help of wooden wedges, which were hammered into special holes. Temples were built according to a single system. The main structure of the complex was a cubic sanctuary crowned with a tall tower in the ensemble. Sacred relics were hidden from strangers in a small inner room of the sanctuary. Galleries or a multi-column hall were built along the way, where believers gathered. The cubic sanctuary is called Vimana, the tower above it is called shikhara, the place for believers is called mantapam. Gradually, the northern and southern type of temple structures took shape. In the south, the towers were built in a pyramidal form, as in the earlier monuments of Mahabalipuram.
In the north, the temples had a different look. The tower was rendered with soft rounded outlines. From above, they were crowned with a dome, the shape of which resembled the fruit of a lotus, a sacred plant. A grandiose monument of northern Indian architecture is the temple complex in the city of Bhubaneswar. This is not even a complex, but a whole separate temple city. Once it had 700 temples. Not all of them have survived to our time, but even now Bhubaneswar makes an indelible impression. Its towers do not resemble stone structures, which they actually are, but a forest of some exotic plants, such as cacti. The most elegant temple of Bhubaneshwar is the Lingoranj Temple, built at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries. His shikhara is 40 meters high.
The sculptures that cover the temples of Bhubaneshwar are perceived from afar as a continuous small pattern. But when you come closer, you see that this pattern is made up of individual sculptural images that are distinguished by liveliness and ease of gestures. Some of them are not devoted to a religious theme, but depict everyday scenes.
Temple of the sun god Surya. General form. 13th century 
The pinnacle of South Indian medieval construction is considered to be the Brihadeshwar temple at Tanjur, built at the same time as Lingoranj. The pyramidal shape of its main tower is striking in its regularity, which is not violated even by sculptures that cover the walls with a solid carpet, but are completely subordinate to the general silhouette of the building. The Brihadeshwara tower is divided into 13 tiers and reaches 63 m in height. In the niches of the lower tier, there are giant statues of Shiva, to whom the temple is dedicated.
A special place among Indian monuments is occupied by the temple of the sun god Surya in the village of Konarak, the construction of which dates back to the 13th century. The Surya Temple, more than any other structure, is a sculpture temple. It depicts the chariot of the sun god. The stone platform on which the temple stands, decorated with wheels carved from stone. There are 24 wheels in total. Ancient craftsmen also carved horses out of stone, which were supposed to pull the chariot.
Minaret Qutb - Minar in Delhi. XIII century..In the XII century. Northern India falls under Muslim rule. The old Indian building tradition was incompatible with the ideology of Islam. In the XIII century. there are many attractions of the new architectural style. Mosques, minarets and madrasahs are being built, flat ornament replaces sculpture. At this time, a huge minaret Qutub Minar was being built in Delhi. It reaches a height of 73 m, and the diameter of its base is 16 m. The minaret is a round tower built of red and golden sandstone. The slender vertical of the minaret is divided into tiers by narrow patterned stripes.
During the reign of the Muslim dynasty of the Great Moghuls in India, secular architecture developed. By order of the ruler, entire cities were erected, decorated with palaces and parks. Agra, built in the 16th century, became the pearl among Indian cities. specially as the residence of the Great Mughals. Among its attractions are the palace of the rulers, the Agra fortress - a fort, the so-called pearl mosque, and the most famous of all the Taj Mahal mausoleums.
A very interesting monument of Indian construction is the city of Jaipur, named after Jai Singh, the ruler who built it in the first half of the 18th century. Jai Sing was a highly educated man, mathematician and astronomer. He created the project of the new city with his own hand. To do this, he ordered to get the plans of modern European cities to him, in order to take into account the experience of European colleagues. But the plan of Jaipur is not a copy of any city that existed before. Jai Sing created his own plan, Jaipur is still considered one of the most convenient cities in the world. He is not deprived of architectural works. Among them are the palaces of Jai Sing, one of which has the poetic name of the Palace of the Winds, and the astronomical observatory, which was used by the founder of the city. Jaipur is one of the last creations of the Indian civilization of the pre-colonial period. In the XVIII century. The country falls under the rule of the British.
The oldest architecture of India, dating back at least five millennia, has found its most perfect embodiment in the majestic temple buildings located throughout this vast country ...
The ancient temples of India embody all the diversity of religious traditions, either replacing one another, or coexisting side by side for many centuries, supporting and complementing each other. It was these traditions that created the colorful and so impressive for Europeans many-sided image of Indian civilization.
In this article, we have tried to describe the most famous and revered ancient temples in India. Almost all of them are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and are cultural treasures of all mankind.
Big stupa in Sanchi
The stupa, or burial place of the remains of the Buddha, is of great importance in the religious life of many Hindus. The most famous and revered of them is located in Sanchi, located in Central India. It was built in the third century BC. and perfectly preserved its appearance.
Today, the Sanchi stupa has undergone restoration. The dome in the form of a hemisphere symbolizes the vault of the sky, and the upper part symbolizes Mount Meru, sacred to Buddhists. Inside the building, according to legend, is part of the remains of the Buddha.
The sanctuary is surrounded by a massive stone wall with four elaborately carved ceremonial gates, which are one of the most famous symbols of India.
Ajanta temple complex
The Ajanta temple complex is one of the most ancient cave temples in India, where not only stone-carved columns and wall decorations have been preserved, but also numerous frescoes with magnificent colorful images.
It consists of 29 cave halls, the most ancient of which were built in the 1st-3rd centuries AD. Temple buildings here coexist with monastic cells, as they were created by monks who sought solitude from the bustle of the world.
Each of the halls has a square shape, the ceiling is supported by stone columns decorated with rich carvings. On the sides of the central hall are small cells in which the monks lived.
Cave temples of Ellora
The most beautiful temple complex, including Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples, is located near the village of Ellora (Maharashtra).
Impressive stone structures are carved from a single rock in the middle of a mountain range that surrounds them from all sides like the walls of a giant bowl.
One of the most revered examples of Dravidian architecture is located here - the Kailash temple, where you can see giant statues of the gods Vishnu, Shiva, the goddess Lakshmi and other representatives of the Hindu pantheon carved from stone.
Khajuraho Temple
One of the most famous and visited temples by Europeans is Khajuraho, dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva the destroyer. It is located in the state of Madhya Pradesh and bears the name of Kandarya Mahadeva.
This temple is famous for its stone carvings, representing thousands of different subjects of erotic content, made with amazing art and naturalism.
The temple buildings themselves are amazingly beautiful, and the spicy stone carvings attract tens of thousands of tourists here who want to see the famous "stone Kama Sutra" with their own eyes.
In February and March, the annual festival of Indian traditional dance is held here. the best time to visit the temple complex of Khajuraho.
Lingaraja Temple
The Lingaraja temple in Orissa is one of the most impressive buildings of the phallic cult of Shiva. Built in the 9th century AD, today it is a grandiose temple complex, the central tower of which is 55 meters high and shaped like an ear of corn.
The tower is covered with carvings depicting female figures intertwined with figures of various animals. A granite lingam about 8 meters high is installed in the main sanctuary.
Hindus believe that it belongs not only to Shiva, but also to Vishnu - this feature makes the Lingaraja temple unique and one of the most revered in India.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple (Varanasi)
Located in the ancient Indian city of Varanasi (Benares), the temple of Kashi Vishthwanath was repeatedly destroyed, but each time it was restored again. Today it is one of the most sacred places for every Hindu.
The walls of the temple are covered with gilding, on which about 800 kg of gold was spent. Unfortunately, the temple is located in the middle of dense urban development, and in order to see its golden roof, tourists need to climb to the third floor of a neighboring building.
Inside the temple, in a recess trimmed with pure silver, is its main shrine - the Adi Visheshvara lingam, guarded by a silver cobra.
Temple of Venkateswara
The Temple of Venkateshwara, which is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Southeast India, covers an area of more than two hectares. This is one of the most visited sanctuaries in the world, called the Hindu Vatican and dedicated to the god Vishnu.
The temple was erected over a thousand years ago on one of the seven hills of Tirumala (the Sacred Mountain). At least once in a lifetime, every adherent of the Hindu religion must visit it.
The luxury of decorations and decoration of the temple amazes not only believers, but also tourists: the central vimana tower is covered with pure gold, interior decoration also made of gold and precious stones.
The Temple of Venkateswara is distinguished not only by the exceptional wealth of donations, but also by their originality. Believers sacrifice their own hair to Vishnu, the total weight of which reaches about 15 tons per year.