// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Gopuram say? "Tower"ingly good.
1. Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam
2. Murudeshwar Temple
3. Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram
4. Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
5. Nallur Kandaswamy Temple
6. Angkor Wat
A gopuram or gopura is a monumental, usually ornate entrance tower of a Hindu temple in the Dravidian architecture of South India and Sri Lanka. In other parts of India, temple towers are generally more modest, whereas in the South, the gopuram is often the tallest structure in the temple complex. They also appear in temple design outside India, such as the Khmer architecture in Southeast Asia.
Gopurams function as gateways to the temple complex. Typically multistoreyed, their upper tiers repeat lower-level features on a rhythmically diminishing scale. Their exterior surfaces are adorned with intricate sculptures and detailed ornamentation. They are crowned by one or more kalasams, which are bulbous metal or stone finials. Their design and construction follow the classical rules laid down in Vaastu Shastra texts.
Ancient and early medieval temples featured smaller gopurams, which became a prominent element of Hindu temple architecture in the late Middle Ages. The gopuram's origins can be traced back to the Pallava dynasty. As temples expanded between the 12th and 16th centuries CE under the Pandya, Vijayanagara, and Nayak rulers, progressively larger gopurams were constructed along the outer enclosure walls.
The tallest gopuras are those of the Murdeshwar Temple, at 249 ft (76 m), completed in 2008,[1] and the rajagopuram of the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam at 239.5 ft (73.0 m), completed in 1987.[2]
Etymology
[edit]In historical linguistics, gopuram is derived from go (Sanskrit: गो) meaning 'cow', 'earth' or 'cattle', and puram (Sanskrit: पुरम्) meaning 'city', 'fortress' or 'enclosure'.[3] Originally, in Vedic and ancient urban layouts, a gopuram referred to a city gate or cow gate—a fortified gateway through which cattle entered the settlement/city walls. Over centuries, as Hindu temple architecture expanded in South India, the term evolved to describe the massive gateway towers set into temple enclosure walls (prākāra).[4] [5]
In the Tamil language, gopuram is interpreted as கோ (kō) meaning 'king' (or 'god') and புறம் (puram) meaning 'exterior' or 'outer palace wall'.[6] During the Sangam period, it was refrred in classical literature (e.g., Akananuru, Silappatikaram) as ஓங்கு நிலை வாயில் (ōnggu meaning high/lofty, nilai meaning standing/structure, vāyil meaning entrance), meaning 'lofty/towering threshold'.[7][8] [9]
In Telugu, the breakdown of కోపు (kōpu) meaning 'top' (or 'crest') and అరం (araṁ), meaning 'to exist' is a localized folk etymology. While kōpu in Telugu refers to a crest or top decoration, modern comparative linguistics generally treats gopuram as a loan word from Sanskrit/Tamil into Telugu rather than an independent native compound.[10][11] [12]
History
[edit]
Early to medieval development
[edit]The gopuram's origins can be traced back to the Pallava dynasty, who constructed the group of monuments at Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram.[13] The Cholas later developed this feature further, as seen in the 11th-century CE Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur; it features two multistorey gopurams that were significantly larger than earlier examples, though still dwarfed by the central vimana over the garbagriha (sanctum).[14] By the time of Pandya rule in 12th century, these gateways had become a dominant element of a temple's exterior.[15] The gopurams of the Thillai Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram are early examples of large gopurams begun in the mid-13th century and completed over subsequent generations.[16]
Later expansion and dominance
[edit]As temples complexes expanded between the 12th and 16th centuries CE under the Vijayanagara Empire, and Nayaka rulers, increasingly massive gopurams were constructed along the outer enclosure walls.[17][18][19] While gopurams originally served as secondary entrance markers, they eventually became the defining visual feature of South Indian temples. Their colossal scale and surrounding courtyards ultimately overshadowed the inner vimana, obstructing them from outside view.[17]
Architecture
[edit]
The gopurams are designed and constructed according to principles of Vaastu Shastra texts.[20] They are usually tapering oblong structures with ground-level, often richly decorated wooden doors that provide access. Above the entrance rises the tapering or "battered" gopuram tower, divided into multiple storeys (talas) that diminish in scale as they ascend.[17] The tower is usually topped with a barrel-vaulted roof crowned with finials (kalasam).[21] Their surfaces are exquisitely decorated with sculptures and carvings, painted with themes and scenes derived from Hindu mythology—particularly those associated with the temple's presiding deity.[19]
Gopurams function as gateways to the temple complex, and a temple may have multiple gopurams over the entrances of successively smaller walled enclosures, with the largest generally positioned on the outermost perimeter. The temple compound is typically square or rectangular, with gopurams built above at least the outermost enclosure wall, often facing the four cardinal directions.[18][17]
See also
[edit]- List of tallest Gopurams
- Candi bentar, split gateways for Indonesian Hindu temples
- Paduraksa, greater gateways to inner and more sacred areas in Indonesian Hindu temples
- Pagoda
References
[edit]- ↑ "Murudeshwar Temple Now Tallest Gopuram in Asia", April 2008
- ↑ "Towers" on temple website Archived 21 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine; Tamilwebworld
- ↑ Lienhard S., von Hinèuber O. (2007). Kleine Schriften: Supplement (in French). Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 414. ISBN 978-3-447-05619-9.
- ↑ Acharya, Prasanna Kumar (1927). A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture. Oxford University Press. pp. 182–184.
- ↑ Pramod, Chandra (1975). Studies in Indian Temple Architecture. American Institute of Indian Studies. pp. 42–48.
- ↑ Sellby, Martha A.; Indira Viswanathan Peterson (2008). Tamil geographies: cultural constructions of space and place in South India. SUNY Press.
- ↑ S. Sundararajan (1991). Ancient Tamil country: its social and economic structure. Navrang.
- ↑ Subrahmanian, N. (1966). Sangam Polity: The Administration and Social Life of the Sangam Tamils. Asia Publishing House. pp. 320–322.
- ↑ Zvelebil, Kamil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India. E. J. Brill. pp. 165–168.
- ↑ Vaachaspathy (1 June 2020). Bangaru Nanelu.
- ↑ Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003). The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 472–478. ISBN 978-0-521-77111-5.
- ↑ Burrow, Thomas; Emeneau, Murray B. (1984). A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary (2nd ed.). Clarendon Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-19-864326-5.
- ↑ "Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ↑ S.R. Balasubrahmanyam (1975), Middle Chola Temples, Thomson Press, pp. 16–29, ISBN 978-9-0602-3607-9
- ↑ Mitchell, George (1988). The Hindu Temple. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 151–153. ISBN 978-0-2265-3230-1.
- ↑ Harle, J.C. (1994). The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent (2 ed.). Yale University Press. pp. 320–325. ISBN 0300062176.
- 1 2 3 4 Michell, George (1988). The Hindu Temple. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 151–153. ISBN 0-226-53230-5.
- 1 2 Ching, Francis D.K.; et al. (2007). A Global History of Architecture. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 762. ISBN 978-0-471-26892-5.
- 1 2 "Gopura". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
- ↑ Ananth, Sashikala (1 January 2000). Penguin Guide to Vaastu: The Classical Indian Science of Architecture and Design (2 ed.). Mumbai: Penguin Publishing. ISBN 014027863X.
- ↑ Ching, Francis D.K. (1995). A Visual Dictionary of Architecture. New York: John Wiley and Sons. p. 253. ISBN 0-471-28451-3.
Further reading
[edit]- Dallapiccola, Anna L. (2002). Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-51088-1.
External links
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