Science Behind the Structures of Hindu temples

Science Behind the  Structures of Hindu temples

Have you ever thought that Why do most of the Temples in India have a dome or conical shaped structure?

‘The dome’ or ‘conical shaped structures’ are actually classified into 5 types. We call this system as the Pancha-gopura system which accounts in Shilpa Shastra and Vayu Shastra of Atharva Veda.

What are those five? Here are they:

MAHA DWAARA GOPURAM: This is the entrance which you see. For famous and ancient temples, such gopurams are built all on the four sides of the enclosure of the place - on north, south, east and west - called as Uttara gopura, Dakshina Gopura, Maha nilaya gopura or East gopura and the Paschima Gopura respectively. Here, Gopuras are also called as Dwaaras sometimes.

1. AYANA GOPURAM: This can be seen only in special temples which comes after the Maha-dwaara-gopuram. A second entrance.

ANYA GOPURAM: This means the domes of all the other deities of the temple except the main deity. Anya means others.

GRUHA GOPURAM or AALAYA GOPURAM: This is the gopura of the threshold of the main deity.

STHAANA GOPURA: This includes at the entrance or at the exit of the town or village where the temple exists.

All these different gopuras must fulfill few conditions to make it a TEMPLE. Today we see that wherever a person finds empty space, he builds a temple out of it, just like that - which is wrong. Extremely wrong. Unlike other religions, we Hindus don’t build temples just to go and worship a BIG or a STATUE god. We just don’t bath the Lord’s sacred statue with various fluids like water, milk, turmeric paste, etc. There is scientific reason behind all these cultures we do.

Aagama Shastra explains that a temple must be built on the norms mentioned in it. Otherwise, both the temple and its surroundings will disappear in time and their traces even can’t be found. Remember, once a temple is built, you cannot destroy it, until is gets itself destroyed or ruined by the nature. But its the man’s duty to protect a temple. Like a crown on a king, a temple is there for an area/town/city/village.

A temple is an ultimate embodiment of the source of energy. And by the word energy, I mean that energy which is cosmic and will make you help yourself in controlling your senses, which might help you remain energetic or patient at diversified situations of your life. In a temple, not just you give energy from your body, but even your body gains energy from the deity.

But how? How is this ‘energy transmission’ being done?

The answer exists in five conditions.

CONDITION #1: We CANNOT build gopuram using simple sand and stones that are just available at us which don’t satisfy the norms of Aagama Shastra. Those materials or rocks which have the capability to capture and reflect the sound waves the most must be chosen. This, a civil engineer only knows. That’s why, once you enter any famous temple, you will observe silence and peace around you and the most fascinating thing is, we feel COOL and temperature in a temple is always less than the atmospheric temperature.

CONDITION #2: The structure of the gopuram is the most intricate one to see and must be chosen wise and built aerodynamically. Well, ancient sculptors are so good at making beautiful arts. Then why, they refuse to make such ‘same’ exquisite art on the gopuram? Why they show only their skill of various poses of men and women in the interior of the temple, why not on this gopuras? Well, some do, but most don’t. It is because, the light and the sound waves are so traversed around them that they don’t make any kind of harm to the statue of the residing deity under that gopura. Deity must be protected from all the five elements of nature and must be always guarded with care. You know? When you enter the Garbha-griha of a temple (which only the temple priests are restricted to do, and not others), you feel an increase in your body temperature? This is because the energy is being trapped in the deity and also, it is the centre of gravity of that temple (you can check this out).

CONDITION #3: The deities depicted on the gopura will indicate those deities of various forms of energy entering inside through their way. For example, if you see a deity named “Vaaraahi” which is a goddess having the head of a boar and in a saree of crimson red color, then it indicates that moisture, humidity and the temperature control of the room inside are being maintained at the feet of this deity. That means, for every form of energy entering, a presiding goddess will be carved, for that god/goddess is deemed to work to protect the Lord from any calamity entering from His/Her side. Some people might argue on this point that for few Vishnu temples, we see all statues of Lord Vishnu and his Dasavataaras on the gopura, but not different gods. You must remember, each God and his incarnations are all interpretations of various forms of innate energies only. (This is proved in Bhagavad Gita in Vishwarupa sandarshana yoga).

CONDITION #4: A gopura MUST be symmetric in any angle of primary points of view (excluding figures of deities). This means, we create a stable and subtle uniform energy collection.

CONDITION #5: The area of the base of the Gopura MUST be equal to the area around the prime deity where His energy is dimensionalized. That means, to have darshan (spiritual view) of the Lord’s deity, we must NOT be under the Garbha-griha’s gopura - we must be at its perimeter or beyond that. Only then energy transmission gets done uniformly. We all have iron in the haemoglobin of our blood which becomes magnetic under the cosmic energy of the gopura.

All the energy around i.e., from the fire, water, sun, sky, planets, air, earth, thunder, sound and people - all the energy is collected inside. Note that the tip of the gopura will be made out of metal to maximise the energy convergence.

Now, once this energy is collected from the most sacred deities and the blessings of the Prime deity, it has to be passed on to us. This is done by:

30% of it gets accumulated by concentrating on the deity with your eyes and praising the Lord wholeheartedly so that all of your body fills with vitality and pleasure and a nature of giving thanks to Him for giving you life and letting you what you are supposed to be. This is called as Darshana in sanskrit. After all, life and death are a game to Him. So we bow in respect and conclude to request Him to reside in our hearts and make us pure until we die. The more beautiful the idol, more interest in us to see and thus, more energy gain. This feeling of having the beauty of the idol is different for different perspective views of people.

60% of that cosmic energy is accumulated when you walk around the main gopura in a clockwise direction. This is called as Pradakshina in sanskrit. It means, here, not only we get 60% of energy but we also give 5% of it back to the Lord. This will be a part of the energy accumulation. In sanskrit, Pradakshina means a proper way of wishing and bowing to the Lord or in other words, accepting Him as a whole and wanting Him all our life.

70% of cosmic energy is accumulated when you do good deeds and speak about the Lord’s names. For uttering His name itself is gathering energy. And if we do it in a temple, we gather a lot of it. This is called as Aalaya Kriya. Chanting Lord’s name, meditating, smiling in peace, thinking of Him, chanting mantras and slokas, helping people around, doing our best to keep the temple clean and calm, etc., all come under this.

There is no 100% way of gathering all of that cosmic energy. Because, there is no gopura so invented to collect all of the energy. So how do we accumulate much? Very simple, instead of eating all on a go and swell to death, we can eat little by little everyday and become stronger. Same way, have your presence in temples as frequent as possible. That means, visiting a temple daily is surely an integral part of our life. It will cleanse our sorrows and sins make ready for the challenges of the world. More energy means more life and more patience. Visit a temple daily or at least once a week. Remember that.

That’s the story behind the ‘domes’ or ‘conical shaped’ structures.

Well, I can write more such stories on various elements of a temple. But, I need to conclude to not get you feel bored.

Let us try to reunite the roots of Hinduism and give the rishis and ancient sages, a thanksgiving. Please don’t overlook or underestimate any tradition. It has value. For generations, it must be passed on and our people must benefit. Temples symbolise what India was and has to be. They are mystical epitomes of wisdom. Let them be saved and honoured at their level.