Iconic Temples
The great temples of the subcontinent, one by one: their deities, their history, their architecture, and the living worship that fills them.
Some temples are worth studying individually, because each solves a different problem. Konark was built as a chariot for the sun, with stone wheels that work as sundials, and its main tower collapsed. Tirupati receives more pilgrims than almost any religious site on earth and runs on a scale closer to a city than a shrine. Jagannath at Puri has wooden images that are ritually replaced, and a chariot festival that gave English the word juggernaut.
Each of these carries a documented history alongside a traditional one, and the two do not always agree. Construction dates, patrons and rebuildings are recorded in inscriptions; the temple’s own account of its origin usually reaches further back.
These pages give both, kept clearly apart.