Shikhara (
IAST: Śikhara), a
Sanskrit word translating literally to "mountain peak", refers to the rising tower in the
Hindu temple architecture of
North India, and also often used in
Jain temples. A shikhara over the garbhagriha chamber where the presiding deity is enshrined is the most prominent and visible part of a Hindu temple of North India.[1][2]
In
South India, the equivalent term is
vimana; unlike the shikhara, this refers to the whole building, including the sanctum beneath. In the south, shikhara is a term for the top stage of the vimana only, which is usually a dome capped with a
finial;[3] this article is concerned with the northern form. The southern vimana is not to be confused with the elaborate gateway-towers of south Indian temples, called gopuram, which are often taller and more prominent features in large temples.
Forms
Shikhara can be classified into three main forms:[4]
Latina. The latinashikhara has four faces, which may include projections or ratha within each face. All the elements run smoothly up the face in a curve. They are also sometimes called "homogeneous" shikhara, as opposed to the next two types, which may be called "heterogeneous".[5] It is the most common form of a shikara.[6]
Sekhari. The sekhari shape has added engaged (attached) sub-spires or spirelets called urushringa, echoing the main shape. These may run up most of the face. There may be more than one size of these, sometimes called secondary and tertiary. Tertiary spirelets are typically near the ends of the face or on the corners.[7]
Bhumija. The tower has miniature spires, in horizontal and vertical rows, all the way to the top,[8] creating a grid-like effect on each face. The tower is generally less strongly vertical in overall shape, often approaching a pyramidal shape. This shape is mainly found in the northern
Deccan and West India.[7]
History
The Mahabodhi Temple in 150–200 CE. Recent images of the plaque
[1][2]
The early history of the Hindu shikhara is unclear,[10] but the
BuddhistMahabodhi Temple at
Bodh Gaya has a straight-sided shikhara tower over 55 metres (180 feet) high, with an
amalaka near the top. The current structure dates from the
Gupta Empire, in the 5th–6th century CE. When the temple acquired its shikhara tower, today considered more characteristic of
Hindu temples, is uncertain.[11] However, the current structure of the Mahabodhi Temple may represent a restoration of earlier work of the 2nd or 3rd century CE.[9]
Ernest Havell traced the origin of shikhara to Ancient
Mesopotamia and referred to the royal fortress palaces of similar forms depicted in the stele of Naram-Sin.[12] A plaque from
Kumrahar dated 150-200 CE, based on its dated
Kharoshthi inscriptions and combined finds of
Huvishka coins, already shows the Mahabodhi Temple in its current shape with a stepped truncated pyramid and a
stupafinial on top, together with devotional images of the
Buddha and the elephant-crowned
Pillar of Ashoka next to the entrance.[13] It is thought that this shape of a truncated pyramid was derived from the design of the stepped
stupas which had developed in
Gandhara, as seen in the stupas of
Jaulian, with an elongated structure formed of a succession of steps with niches containing Buddha images, alternating with
Greco-Roman pillars, and topped by a stupa.[9][14]
By at least 600 CE in
Odisha,[15] and perhaps somewhat later in the
Deccan Plateau and West India,[16] the Latina form of the shikhara is well-established, with an
amalaka disk-stone at the top, and then a
kalasha urn. There is often a
sukanasa feature over the entrance door.[17]
The forms with smaller subsidiary spires begin in the 10th century,[18] and from then on tend to predominate. The
Khajuraho Group of Monuments has several early forms from early in the century, though Latina ones reappear after about 1050, in examples like the
Vamana Temple.[19] The bhumija spire probably first appears around 1000-1025, with other temples begun in the 1050s, such as the
Shiv Mandir, Ambarnath.[20]
The Nagara style is more prevalent in northern India, within which, the shikhara is recognized as a high curved shape. In the north-east, the local term
deul or
deula is more often used, both for towers and often the whole temple. In
Odisha, a
Rekha Deula is the sanctum and the tower over it; gandi is also a term for the upper tower only, equating to shikhara. The curve is also very slight until the top, and the amalaka rather large, typically supported by four lion sculptures facing out.[21] Of the many temples in
Bhubaneswar, only the
Rajarani Temple has significant spirelets.[22]
The
Vesara style, a synthesis of Nagara and Dravidian, is seen in
Karnataka and most commonly in
Hoysala and later
Chalukya temples. In the vesara style, the tower moves towards a lower conical shape, with highly ornate carving.
The
Dravidian style is prevalent in southern India, in which the equivalent of the shikhara is the
vimana. The superstructure above the sanctum is typically more like a four-sided
pyramid in overall shape, consisting of progressively smaller storeys of pavilions (talas), with a profile that is normally straight than curved. The Dravidian superstructure is generally highly ornate.
In every style of shikhara/vimana, the structure culminates with a "
kalasha", or urn for offerings, or water-pot, at its peak.
Hardy, Adam, Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation : the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries, 1995, Abhinav Publications,
ISBN8170173124, 9788170173120,
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Harle, J.C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art,
ISBN0300062176
Michell, George (1988), The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms, University of Chicago Press,
ISBN978-0226532301