Describe the Hindu Kandarya Mahadeva temple, focusing on its design and symbolism
Please provide the best answer for the statement
1) The Kandarya Mahadeva Temple at Khajuraho, the capital of the Chandella dynasty, represents the epitome of northern Indian Hindu architecture. Its rising towers are meant to suggest the peaks of the Himalayas, home of the Hindu gods; this analogy would have been even clearer when the temple was painted in its original white gesso
2) The plan is a double cross, with arms extending north and south from the east–west axis. At the first crossing is the mandapa, the columned assembly hall. At the second crossing is the garbhagriha, or “womb chamber,” the symbolic sacred cavern at the heart of the sacred mountain/temple.
3) A wall of erotic sculptures rises alongside the chamber. (Hindu religion and art are infused with a deep respect for sexuality, evident even in religious architecture.) Here also rests the cult image of the Brahman, in this case the lingam, or symbol of male sexuality, of Shiva, the first, or formless emanation of the Brahman.
4) Although it is actually almost completely dark, the garbhagriha is considered by Hindu worshipers to be filled with the pure light of the Brahman. The towers of the temple rise from east to west, as if gathering around the central tower, known as the sikhara, that rises to a height of more than 100 feet above the garbhagriha. The height of the temple seems designed to gather the energy of the worshipers to a single, soaring point.
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