Surviving nature’s wrath
By Nemai Das

WHEN rescue workers descended on the cyclone-ravaged areas of coastal Orissa recently, an amazing sight met their eyes: across acres and acres of devastated land the only structures that stood their ground through the catastrophe were some Hindu temples.

Many of them, like the famous Jagannath Temple of Puri and the Sun Temple of Konarak, are more than 800 years old. As tourist attractions, they have served as subjects of study for religious scholars, art historians, photo-journalists, archaeologists and the like.

But few cared to figure out how these structures could have survived the vicissitudes of nature while modern-day buildings came crumbling down. Surely, there has to be more to this than divine intervention, as the locals would like to believe.

According to Bera, what escapes public perception is the traditional art of temple construction, simply because it has not been recorded or codified in written form. The skills are passed on from one generation to another among the so-called sthapatis, or temple architects.

"Each region in the country has its own community of sthapatis," he explains. "The Dravid sthapatis were from the South, the sampuras belonged to the West and the mahapatras were from the East. The North had its own sthapatis, but they do not exist anymore."

These traditional artisans abide by certain conventions, common to all regions. The most important is, of course, conceiving the temple according to the principles of vaastushastra — the philosophy that guides the planning and layout of all building constructions.

The other important convention is to visualise the temple as a human body — the dome or roof resembling the head, the passageways and boundary walls as the four limbs and the sanctum sanctorum positioned at where the heart ought to be.

"These concepts are credited to the sompuras of Gujrat, the artisans who had constructed the Somnath temple in the state," explains Sampad Jena, an Oriya civil servant posted in Bombay. "That is why they are still regarded as acharyas, or teachers among those in the profession."

As many as 200 families of these original temple architects still exist in Gujarat, but a majority of them migrated to other parts as Gujarat’s rulers set up new capital cities — from Somnath to Chapanar and Patan to Palitana.

Some of them settled down in neighbouring Maharashtra and designed amazing architectural wonders: the Tembinaka temple in Thane and the Swami Nityanand Samadhi temple at Ganeshpuri.

"The appearance of temples may differ, but at the core of design, the principles of khagol shastra (astronomy) holds a great bearing," informs Hariprasad Sompura, a 11th generation temple architect. "The longitude and latitude of the site selected determines the architecture."

Sompura points out that a traditional temple plan provides for the garba griha (sanctum sanctorum), kauli mandap (place where puja is performed), guda mandap (area enclosed by walls), nritya mandap (open space supported by pillars) and finally, the parvesh chauki (gate).

"Each stone incorporated in the temple construction is carved separately and made to stand with the use of an intricate locking system," explains Somura who recently renovated and reconstructed the 1,200-year-old temple dedicated to Lord Krishna in Una.

Iron was never used in the construction of temples because it tends to rust and, according to scriptures, limits the life of a temple to 80 years. "The ancients were looking 1,000 years ahead, if not at perpetuity," says Sompura.

"They did not use cement as lime and mud served their purpose. The artisans worked with certain herbal juices or vaspatiras wherever lime was not freely available. All those structures have stood the test of time."

Apart from ensuring permanence, the artisans also devised methods to control the temperature inside the temples. During peak summers, it was never too hot inside and in winters, not too cold.

"The sthapatis achieved this with the liberal use of sand on the walls for the purposes of insulation," explains Sompura. "You will still see a layer of sand at the plinth when you enter any old temple. This is primarily to keep outside heat from entering the premises."