dvarapala
द्वारपाल dvārapālaA door-guardian: the great armed figures placed in pairs to flank the thresholds and gateways of a temple, guarding the passage through the gopuram toward the garbhagriha.
Where this term appears
- The Court of Vishnu Treatise
Vishnu, like Shiva, is never alone — but where Shiva's retinue is a wild cremation-ground host, Vishnu's is an ordered celestial court, and it carries the most…
- The Temple Is a Cosmos Treatise
Move up to the doorways, and you meet the dvārapālas , the door-guardians — the great armed figures, often fanged and fierce, who flank every significant threshold, one on each side, weapons ready.