Krishna Mandapa

Built Environments & Structures Premodern Culture

A open-air bas relief sculpture in Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, attributed to the reign of the Pallavas. It is 8.8 meters in length and 3.6 meters in height and depicts everyday scenes of pastoral life.

More Definitions

pitched roof

A roof form featuring one or more inclined surfaces rising to meet at a ridge, point, or wall surface. The…

Agastya Teertha

A manmade lake in the vicinity of the Badami Cave Temples, it constructed during the reign of the Early Western…

Panchayatana

A layout in traditional Hindu temple architecture in which the central shrine is surrounded by four subsidiary shrines, each at…

ridge beam

Longitudinal beam along the top of a pitched or vaulted roof. The ridge beam is a load-bearing structural member of…

prakara

Straight enclosure wall surrounding the shrine and other structures, and demarcating pathways around them, in Dravida-style temples of South India.…

Groyne

A long, rigid hydraulic structure constructed perpendicular to the seashore or riverbank to interrupt flow of water. They are usually…

Garbhagriha

Translating to 'womb chamber' from Sanskrit, it is the innermost sanctuary in Jain, Buddhist and Hindu temples, within which the…

vimana

Shrine enclosing the inner sanctum or garbhagriha in the Dravida-style Hindu or Jain temples of South India; multi-shrine complexes may…