garbhagriha
गर्भगृह garbhagṛhaThe 'womb-house', the innermost sanctum of a Hindu temple where the principal deity's image is enshrined.
Where this term appears
- Anatomy of a Hindu Temple: Gopuram to Garbhagriha Temples
The womb-house The most important room in a Hindu temple is its smallest, its darkest, and very nearly its emptiest. It is called the garbhagriha , and the name is exact.
- The Vastu-Purusha-Mandala: The Plan Behind the Temple Temples
That core is called the brahmasthana , "the place of Brahma." This is the most consequential point on the whole diagram, because the brahmasthana marks where the garbhagriha will stand.
- What is a Hindu Temple? Temples
The anatomy of a temple Walk the building again, slowly, and the parts have names. At the heart is the garbhagriha , the womb-chamber.
- Why do so many temples face east? Temples
The innermost room of a temple, the garbhagriha or womb-chamber, holds the main image, and in an east-facing temple that image is set to look east, out through the doorway, toward the point where the sun comes …
- Kamakhya: The Temple of the Goddess Temples
The garbhagriha , the womb-chamber at the heart of the temple, is a cave-like underground room.
- Tirupati: The Temple of Venkateshwara Temples
The sanctum, the Garbhagriha or womb-chamber, sits directly beneath the central tower.
- The Circle Open to the Sky Treatise
Hindu temples are, overwhelmingly, about enclosure — the dark womb-chamber, the garbhagṛha , the cave of the heart into which you descend to meet the deity.
- The Temple Is a Cosmos Treatise
The garbhagṛha — the "womb-chamber" — is small, dark, unadorned, and often almost bare.