Temple Architecture

A named syllabus item — 'survey of artistic and cultural heritage'. Answer it by style, with two or three named examples under each.

1. Shikhara / Nagara (stone)

• Baijnath (Kangra), 1204 CE, built by the merchants Ahuka and Manyuka — the finest Nagara temple in HP.
• Basheshar Mahadev, Bajaura (Kullu), 8th–9th century.
• Laxmi Narayan group, Chamba, begun by Sahil Varman.
• Bhootnath, Panchvaktra, Triloknath, Ardhanarishwar — Mandi, which is called Choti Kashi for them.

2. Pagoda (tiered wooden roofs)

• Hidimba Devi, Manali, built 1553 by Raja Bahadur Singh — the best-known.
• Bhimakali, Sarahan (Shimla) — a tower temple in the Kath-kuni technique.
• Prashar (Mandi) — three-tiered; Tripura Sundari, Naggar.

3. Pent-roof and Kath-kuni

• Lakshana Devi, Bharmour and Shakti Devi, Chhatrari (Chamba) — 7th century, wooden, with brass images cast by Gugga under Meru Varman; the oldest surviving wooden temples in the region.
• Hateshwari Mata, Hatkoti (Shimla).
• Kath-kuni — the interlocked timber-and-dry-stone technique of the upper hills, seismically resilient and now recognised as vernacular heritage.

4. Rock-cut

• Masroor (Kangra), 8th century — fifteen monolithic rock-cut shrines, unique in north India, called the 'Ellora of the Himalayas'.
• Rock temples at Mandi and the Tabo cave shrines.

5. Satluj / Kinnauri style

Timber-bonded stone with slate roofs and carved galleries, seen at Bhimakali, and in the village temples of Kinnaur where Hindu and Buddhist iconography share one building.