Experiencing the Hindu Temples of India Adopting Phenomenology as an Approach Case of Kandariya Mahadev Temple, Khajuraho and Lingaraj Temple, Bhubaneshwar

Abstract

We come across various objects in our day-to-day life, and each of these objects leaves some traces in our memory that help us recall them, we somehow consciously or unconsciously associate with these objects. Similar is the case with Architectural spaces, we just don’t enter a building for a specific purpose or use but we encounter them, start moving toward them, relate to their context and form, and hence our whole body moves obliquely creating a drama through the entire space. Phenomenology is the interpretative study of these human experiences with their environment. There could be a phenomenological study of anything that a human being can live through in any way, may it be a relationship, sociability, light, a place, a landscape, and hence also architecture. This thesis explores the experiences that architecture generates using two identified temples of the North Indian Temple Style. Phenomenology as a method, uses the first-hand experiences of the researcher to examine the characteristics of the phenomenon under consideration. Temples have been built in Hindu Asia for a long time and are still being built every day. These Temples form a bridge between the world of the human and the adobe of the Gods and strengthen the social and spiritual life of the community who built it. It is not just a setting for performing certain practices based on certain beliefs, it is a complex system of symbolisms associated with the philosophical notion of the community and still serves as a place for everyday religious activities. Discussing these complex-cultural systems is equally about continuity as is transformation. North Indian Temple architecture reached its climax in terms of its form and ornamentation with the Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneshwar in the Kalinga School and The Kandariya Mahadev Temple in the Khajuraho School of the 11th century, which was later interrupted by the Mughal invaders. Data collection tools like mapping, writing, sketching, and observations, are used to identify and analyze the key features which contribute to the sense of the place and add to the experiences and to come up with inferences. Architecture is the art of creating spaces and these spaces are created to be lived in and experienced. While filling the gap between the utopian world of education and the practical real world, the sensitivity of creating spaces that cater to the human senses fades away. The study provides a new perspective to look at Temple spaces and helps reinforce the significance of human experiences in spaces without which they seem dull and dead.