Artist: Unknown
Title: Khandariya Mahadeva temple
Material: Structural stone temple
Site: Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India
Current Location:
Period/Date: Ca. 11th century under the Chandella Dynasty
Iconography/Iconology:
Stylistic Comments: This plan shows the characteristics of the fully
developed northern, or Nagara style of temple architecture. Most Hindu temples
are oriented on an east-west axis with the entrance facing the east. Although
not shown in the plan, the temple rests on a tall base which separates the
realm of the scared, in which the temple occurs, from that of the mundane.
Rising above the base, the eastern stairs leads one to the top of a tall
plinth and into the first of a series of pillared halls known as mandapas.
From there one progresses towards the interior shrine. The interior shrine
portion of the temple, or vimana, consists of an antechamber known as the
antarala, a circumambulatory passage, and the inner chamber, or garbhagriha,
which houses the main image.
