Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c57.55

v1.c57.55

We are concerned in this section with the first type. The chādyas are pillared halls like Sabhā-maṇḍapas; though are not identical both of them take a common architectural origin. The different architectural origins of the Hin u Temple really centre round the superstructure, hence the evolution of the Hindu temple is the evolution of the superstructure. The accessory buildings like maṇḍapas (attached or detached) gopurams, prākāras and so many other allied structures are only the side-developments of that upsurge to which these devotional places had given the motivating force consequent upon the development of the Bhakti cult to which the enormous temple-building activity and magnetic religious fervour for undertaking a pilgrimage to these places, really owed their impetus. All this was the out come of that Pauranic Dharma in which the foundation and dedication of temples and the enshrinement of the cult-deities was the main inculcation.