Building Materials and architecture tools
The size and the nature of the structure will determine the various kinds of building materials to be employed at different stages of its construction. Generally, the use of iron, considered the crudest of metals, is strictly avoided within the temple structure, as iron tends to get rusty and endangers the stability and the life of the structure. The stone which has a far longer life and is less corrosive is the major building material employed in temple construction. (There are elaborate methods for testing and grading the stones, and more about that in the final part) The main structure and the dome are invariably constructed of tested stone.
The Building materials like stone, brick, mortar, wood, etc., are selected for the main body of the temple, whereas elements like gold and silver are being used for final ornamentation. Marble is not used in Southern structures. Materials like simulated marble, plastic, and asbestos, strictly, are not acceptable building materials. Only organic materials are used in temple architecture. The traditional Indian temples of stone, it is said, are designed to last for 800 years, unlike RCC structures which are guaranteed for 80 years.
Some of the tools that could help the Indian architect to design a temple and for achieving the pattern of its growth and of movement:
Increasing particularity (principle of articulating the temple exterior as a matrix of interconnected shrines)
Aedicular density, meaning to move shrine images to get closer together
Proliferation and fragmentation, meaning the repetition of a given type of designs and patterns culminating in a grand architectural composition. And, fragmentation is breaking up the whole into minor individual designs.
Central emphasis: the cardinal axes of the Vimana as also those of the Mantapa become increasingly dominant, at various levels
Using an increased sense of movement through various patterns which convey a sense of emergence and expansion
Staggering, where the forms become progressively more staggered creating certain visual architectural effects; say, from Vimana or Mantapa as a whole, through pillars to the moulding of the pilasters.
Continuity and alignment: This ensures horizontal continuity with the vertical structure; say, with each Tala (or the phase or the level) of the Vimana rising one over the other
Abstraction: Here the shrine-imagery, particularly in the shapes of moulding, develops away from the depiction of timber and thatch construction. The temple-structure is transported from the non-essentials towards its idealized form.
Assimilation: The elements or details, which, are at first scattered are systematically composed and assimilated with each other into a framework that finally defines the temple architecture
Thus, the temple-construction, which generally follows an evolutionary process combines in itself the stages of differentiation and fusion; creation and dissolution; and, emergence and blending. Although such dynamic processes are at once conflicting and complimentary, they all are harmonized in a meaningful composition to achieve the final and the idealized image of the temple. The process is also analogous to the emergence from the unity of the the seed to the diversity of the tree with many branches.
Sources and references:
Google Images
Comments