Hinduism The development of templesreligion

The Gupta period was marked by the rapid development of temple architecture. Earlier temples were made of wood, but freestanding stone and brick temples soon appeared in many parts of India. By the 7th century, stone temples, some of considerable dimensions, were found in parts of the country. Originally, the design of the Hindu temples may have borrowed from the Buddhist precedent, for in some of the oldest temples the image was placed in the centre of the shrine, which was surrounded by an ambulatory path resembling the path around a stupa (a religious building containing a Buddhist relic). Nearly all surviving Gupta temples are comparatively small; they consist of a small cella (central chamber), constructed of thick and solid masonry, with a veranda either at the entrance or on all sides of the building. The earliest Gupta temples, such as the Buddhist temples at Sanchi, have flat roofs; however, the sikhara (spire), typical of the North Indian temple, was developed in this period and with time was steadily made taller. The massive and tall tower of the Buddhist temple of Bodh Gaya, which was in existence in the 7th century, represents the culmination of Gupta temple architecture.

The Buddhists and Jains had made use of artificial caves for religious purposes, and these were adapted by the Hindus. Hindu cave-temples, however, are comparatively rare, and none have been discovered from earlier than the Gupta period. In the Pallava site of Mahabalipuram, south of Chennai (Madras), a number of small temples were carved in the 7th century from outcroppings of rock; they represent some of the oldest religious buildings in the Tamil country.