Establishing Hindu Temples🔗

The temple is conceived as the physical form of God. The garbhagriha (womb room) represents the head and the gopura (tower) the feet of the Deity.

The sukanasi or ardhamantapa (small enclosure in front of the garbhagriha) is the nose; the antarala is the neck; the various mantapas are the body; the prakaras are the hands. Vertically, the garbhagriha represents the neck, the shikhara (superstructure over the garbhagriha) the head, the kalasha (finial) the tuft of hair (shikha).

The mystical ceremony of prana pratishta, breathing life into matter, creates a living deity having its own independent intelligence. Only living incarnations can perform this rare, mystical process. In regular temples, priests invoke the deity's energy through mantra prathishta or sacred chants.