7. Characteristic Features of Common Temples

The Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa instructs that some common factors should be maintained in the construction of a temple which are briefly discussed in the 88^th chapter of the third part of Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa. According to this work, the door of a temple should be placed in the middle portion and the height of the door should be double of its width.^[1] The door should be made with a special kind of wood of a special kind of tree which is included in deva-kula i.e., family of trees of heaven or higher value.^[2] The doors should be decorated with some auspicious figures.^[3] The idol which would be installed in the garbhagṛha i.e., the inner chamber of the temple, with its pedestal, should be lesser by one eighth of the door^[4] as the idol could be installed in the particular place without any difficulty. The steps of the temple should be even in numbers and they should not be very narrow or very wide.^[5]

According to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā, two images of doorkeepers should be placed in a temple^[6] and the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa says that both sides of the steps of a temple should be decorated with the statue of two lions.^[7] The Sun temple of Konark is a great example of this Architecture as two statues of lions can be noticed in both the sides of the staircase. It is important to note that the Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa states that the top of a temple should not be skull shaped or pointed. Instead, the top of a temple should be made evenly and is to be decorated with some auspicious figures.^[8] The śṛṅga i.e., the peak of the temple should be white washed with lime and the kaṭi i.e lower part of the temple should be painted by different colours.^[9]