CONTENTS Introduction 1 1. Chapter 1 History And Significance 5 1.1 Significance Of Temples In Idia 6 1.2 Rituals Of ‘Kumbh Mela’ 7 1.3 Char Dham 8 1.3.1 Badrinath 1.3.2 Ramanathaswamy Thirukoil 1.3.3 Jagannatha Puri 1.3.4 Temple Of Dwarka 1.4 Religious City Of Varanasi 11 1.4.1 Durga Temple 1.4.2 Sankat Mochan Temple 1.5 Vaishno Devi 13 2. Chapter 2 Architecture And Stylization 14 2.1 Architecture Of Hindu Temples 15 2.2 The Structure Of Hindu Temple 16 2.3 Evolution Of Architectural Styles 18 2.3.1 ‘Nagara’ Or The Northern Style 2.3.2 ‘Dravidian’ Or Southern Style 21 2.4 Distinct Features Of Northern Style 22 And Southern Style Temples 2.5 The Structural Components 23 2.5.1 The ‘Base’ Or The ‘Pitha’ 24 3. Chapter 3 Jaipur 26 3.1 Brief History Of Jaipur City 27 3.2 Major Temples Of The City 30 3.2.1 Chandpole Ke Hanuman Ji 32 3.2.2 Govind Dev Ji 32 3.3 Case Studies 33 3.3.1 Sitaram Ji Temple 35 3.3.3 Laxmi Narayan Temple 42 3.4 Conclusions 50 References 52