Ep. 201 - How Hindu Temples Are Really Designed with Dr. A. Srivathsan

Summary

Dr. A. Srivathsan, architectural scholar (PhD IIT, Ex CEPT University) decodes Hindu temple design with Kedar. Sacred materials, forbidden entry, ornament as completion, Ram Mandir's politics and how young architects are breaking temple boundaries. Why was wood holier than stone? Why were temples never public? A must listen for anyone into Indian architecture, sacred geometry, caste politics and the future of how we build spaces of worship.

Topics discussed in the episode

• What is different about designing a sacred space versus any other building

• Swayambhu temples and how the most sacred places manifest on God’s own will

• Why certain sites are considered sacred (rivers flowing north, islands formed by rivers)

• Are temples truly public spaces? The history of caste based exclusion

• Gandhi’s condition for inaugurating the Lakshmi Narayan temple in Delhi (1939)

• The relationship between sacredness and architecture (two schools of thought)

• Sacred dimensions and the complex calculations before a temple is built

• Why wood was the most preferred material (and stone was once taboo)

• The role of ornamentation: not decoration, but completion

• Why contemporary architects are uncomfortable with figurative art in temples

• Is Western architecture influencing Indian temple design?

• The role of a modern architect versus a traditional Sthapati

• Temples as outcomes of community negotiations and politics

• Crowd management and queue design in modern temples

• Contemporary innovations: monolithic structures, perforated boundary walls, temples as social spaces

• Ram Mandir: the two impossible design constraints and why the architecture disappoints

• The future of temple design: variety, inclusivity and new architectural language

Reference notes

• https://thinkmatter.in/2024/10/23/constructing-the-sacred-a-srivathsan/

• https://www.architectandinteriorsindia.com/lists/2718-hari-krishna

• https://www.archdaily.com/78415/shiv-temple-sameep-padora-associates

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalith

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stucco

• https://thewire.in/politics/gandhi-vivekananda-tagore-and-temple-consecration

• https://thebetterindia.com/121013/chithira-balaram-dalit-temple-travancore/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaikom_Satyagraha

• https://crdf.org.in/people/a-srivathsan

• https://home.iitd.ac.in/

• https://www.spa.ac.in/departments/urban-design

• https://seed.edu.in/faculty/dr-a-srivathsan/

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3yRtO5gAAAAJ&hl=en

• https://cept.ac.in/news/1069/prof-srivathsan-co-edits-book

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/srivathsan-aravamuthan-profile/