Period
- The Nagara Style of Architecture in Northern India emerged from the 5th century CE onwards.
Basic Features of Nagara Style of Architecture
- Followed Panchayatana style of temple-making.
- Presence of assembly halls or mandaps in front of the principal shrine.
- Outside the garbhagriha, images of the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna were placed.
- No water tanks or reservoirs are present on the temple premises.
- The temples were generally built on upraised platforms.
- The porticos had a pillared approach.
- The types of shikharas present in the Nagara style of temple architecture are
- Rekha-prasad – They were square at the base and the walls curve inward to a point on the top.
- Phamsana – They had a broader base and were shorter in height than the Rekha-prasad ones. They slope upwards in a straight line.
- Valabhi – They had a rectangular base with the roof rising into vaulted chambers. They were also called wagon-vaulted roofs.
- The vertical end of the shikhara ended in a horizontal fluted disc, known as the Amalak.
- A spherical shape was placed above Amalak known as the Kalash
- Inside the temple, the wall was divided into three vertical planes or rathas. These were known as triratha temples.
- The ambulatory passageway or the pradakshina path around the sanctum sanctorum was covered.
- The temple premises did not have elaborate boundary walls or gateways.
