Temples of Purushottama Kshetra Puri

by Ratnakar Mohapatra | 2007 | 135,363 words

This essay studies the Temples of Purushottama Kshetra (Puri) which is renowned for its historic and religious significance, situated in Orissa (Odisha) by the Bay of Bengal. Purusottama-ksetra is famous for the Lord Jagannatha temple and numerous smaller temples, it showcases the distinctive Kalinga architectural style. The region serves as a key ...

4. Methods and Techniques of Temple Construction in Orissa

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4. Methods and Techniques of Temple Construction in Orissa:—Generally the temples were constructed in the places, which were considered more sacred from the religious point of view or at the sites where stood earlier shrines. After selection, the site was consecrated and the foundation stone of the temple was laid on an auspicious day. The building of a temple requires the cooperation of several classes of craftsmen (silpinis). Among the craftsmen responsible for the construction of a temple, the most important is the architectpriest (Stapaka). The architect-priest prepares the plan of the temple and his directions or suggestions were carried out by four classes of silpinis (craftsmen) viz:- Sthapati (designing architect), Sutragrahini (Surveyor), Taksaka (sculptor) and Vardhakin (builder-plasterer-painter). It was expected of the architect-priest (Stapaka) that he should be a Brahmana of high born family and well versed in sacred texts and rituals i.e. Vedas and Agamas. There is a reference to Sutradhara or Sutragrahini in the copper plate of early Ganga rulers. 2 The construction work also involves several processes like quarrying of stones, collection of other building materials, building it according to the plan, lifting of huge blocks of stones to the top of temple, embellishing the exterior walls with fine carvings etc. The Orissan temples are mostly built in stones. From the early phase of temple building activities, stone is used to ensure the permanence of the structures. The stones used in the temples, can be broadly divided into three rocktypes, laterite (Markada patharas), Khondalite (sand stones) and ultra basic (chlorite). Laterite is employed for laying down the foundation of temples and mostly for building the enclosure walls. The limited use of this stone is because it does not admit of any fine carving. The ultra-basic rocks, commonly known as chlorite (Muguni patharas), have been used for making the simhasana, cult-icons and occasionally the doorframes of the temples. The chlorite rocks combine hardness with easy workability and admit of very fine workmanship. The principal building stones are the Khondalites, which locally called Kanda patharas. Besides the stone temples, brick temples are also built in different parts of Orissa. A number of brick temples are noticed in the lower Prachi valley." When the temple was built of stones; these were quarried in the places of their availability and carried to the temple site. In the case of long distance, the huge block of stones was transported on land route by wheeled cart dragged by animals. Besides the land routes the stones were also carried along the rivers. Perhaps the 38

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carts were constructed by several logs and fitted with wheels. Elephants and bullocks were employed to drag the loaded cart. Among the sculptures of Konarka, it is interesting to find a bullock-cart and the objects it carries appear to be blocks of stones. From this it may be inferred that small pieces of stones were transported through bullock carts. There is one detached sculptures at Konarka, which gives an interesting glimpse into the whole of operation. It represents the dragging of a huge stone block by several persons. 44 The exact manners in which the construction of the temple proceeded and the heavy stone blocks were raised to great heights are not yet to be established with certainty. It is believed that the temple was buried with either sand or earth during the process of construction. After the completion of the temple the sand was removed from the interior. In course of the construction of a temple, on one side an inclined plane was made of earth or sand, through which the stones were dragged to the required height. This supposition of a slope for lifting of heavy stones, is of course, not without its disadvantages. M.M. Ganguly aptly points out; "even if we admit the possibility of an inclined plane, the question may still be asked as to how they could manipulate such huge blocks at all. There is another difficulty in the assumption of the inclined plane as the structure increases in height the line of the slope changes and hence this contrivance of the inclined plane is to be adjusted at every step of progress by changing the base and height of the plane, and the difficulty is all the more aggravated if the plane be made up of heaps of sand". 45 A sculptured panel inserted into the wall of the Siddha Mahavir temple at Puri, throws interesting light on the subject. The sculpture depicts a temple under the process of construction, where two masons are still working on the top of the unfinished gandi while four other workers are carrying up a rectangular block of stone over an inclined plane. The presence of three pillars to support the inclined plane, whose one end rests on the ground and the other end on the top of the temple, suggests that the slope was made of wooden planks and not of earth or sand."It indicates a few temples constructed on the support of wooden planks. Stones were quarred from the nearby hills. After being cut into blocks, some of being huge enough to make amalaka, ghanta etc, were dragged easily on the inclined plane. K.C. Panigrahi has referred that the inclined plane for the 39

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Lingaraja temple extended as far as Khandagiri hill covering a distance of near about 4 miles.47 The above proposition is theoretically sound but in practice it is not easy task. This inclined plane system was not problem for miniature temples or temples of small height. But it was definitely a problem for temples of moderate and extreme heights. In these cases, as said earlier, the temples were gradually buried under earth as they progressed in height. Small blocks of stones were lifted manually. The temple was buried in such a manner that a winding patha is created around the temple. The path was spacious enough to allow the cart to pass. It is easier to drag the cart on the path than on a straight inclined ramp as suggested by some scholars. The walls of the temple rise straight upto a particular point, the stone slabs have been placed one upon the other. After placing the stones in position outlines of the carvings were drawn. On some of the temples where carvings have not been completed the outlines, they are still discernible. Secondly, sometimes a particular sculpture covers different blocks and it is due to the carvings on the body of the structure itself. After the completion of the vimana, the mukhasala (pidha deula) was constructed in the same manner. 48 The bottom ceiling or garbha muda of the jagamohana internally has four square sized pillars, which support its huge pyramidal superstructure. 49 The constructional method of the architects was simple. The masonry is of in the dry order; mortar has not been used in the joints. The stones are "held together mainly by a system of counterpoise, the weight of one acting against the pressure of another, much of the stability being a matter of balance and equilibrium. The stones have been properly cut and their faces have been so finely dressed that when placed one upon the other, the joints are hardly noticed. At places iron dowels have been used to keep the stone slabs in proper position. In later temples as at Konarka, the Orissan architects made use of iron beams. The iron beams have been used as supports under the false-roof and under the architraves, which are placed above the doorways. They vary in length to suit the purpose for which they were intended. The iron of these beams is pure wrought iron. The manufacture of the heavy iron beams reveals the smelting and forging abilities of the iron workers of those days. 40

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It is unfortunate that the architects responsible for the construction of the temples did not care to leave their names on record. Even the prominent temples like Jagannatha, Konarka and Lingaraja remain anonymous. Vidya Dehejia finds its answer in the ancient Indian concept of art as a craft. Art was considered as a hereditary vocation. It was learned and perused like any other profession. The architects and sculptors of an area formed a guild and the service of the guild were requisitioned for the construction of the temples.50 Therefore, the members of the guild were collectively responsible for the construction, which did not warrant any name or names to be placed on record. The Orissan temple style did not represent a fixed type. In the course of its evolution, as the building tradition was handed down from one generation to another, some changes are obvious. But inspite of the stylistic change that distinguishes one phase from another, we find a remarkable continuity in the development of the style till it reaches the climax. We can divide the course of evolution of temple architecture into five phases corresponding to the five principal dynasties that ruled Orissa from the sixth century AD to the sixteenth century AD. The Orissan temples were executed by the Kalinga School of architects. Most of the art historians have taken help of architectural features and decorative motifs of the Orissan temples to arrive at a tentative chronology and dating. The literary works like Ekamra Purana, Svarnadri Mohadaya, Ekamra Candrika, Kapila Samhita and the Madalapanji are not very dependable sources to workout the chronology of the Orissan temples.51

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