The Hindu temple is a culmination of various architectural and design elements that come together to form a composite whole and as the temples evolved from a single-celled, flat-roofed structure to a more elaborate building, many new elements were added. The module investigates the decorative programme of the door frame just outside the sanctum sanctorum (garbha griha) of the temple. The richness of the forms that beautify the entrance to the very heart of the temple is so exquisite that it merits a special inquiry. The module through research articles and an interview decodes the door frame of the temple, element by element, and interprets its significance in the temple complex through the use of sacred texts and iconography, as well as existing modern literature on the Nagara Hindu temples starting from the Gupta period and up to the medieval period.
Surabhi Sharman
Surabhi Sharman is a postgraduate student of History of Art at the National Museum Institute, New Delhi. She has a postgraduate degree in Arts and Cultural Management from King's College, London, and an undergraduate degree in History from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi.