Trimurti Manifestation in Hindu Temples

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Human being has been looking for a place to demonstrate "the sacred" from the beginning of his creation. Thus, he created such special places to object the Spirit of God in there. Temples are one of these places.
"Temples" in Hinduism are places for manifestation of "Avatar " of gods. People gatherat the temples to obeisance in front of them and offer their votive such as flowers, incense, candy, holy water and so on. These manifestations are seen in the form of different arts such as paintings and sculptures and son on inside the temples. But in this paper, we are just going to study sculptures. During the last centuries, they could be seen in caves and temples but now you can see many of them in present temples, residential areas and Hindu’s homes. Hinduism which is the ancient ceremonies of the Indian subcontinent is still the dominant religion of India. Most of the artworks in this subcontinent issomehow related to this religion. Most of the artworks in this subcontinent were related to Buddhist and Hindu sculptures and architecture for centuries (from the third century BC to the 5th and 6th century AD). Temples, stone, metal or wooden statues, reliefs of multiple gods, paintings on the walls of caves and temples can be seen in abundance in different parts of India. Studying them from beginning till now shows that despite many changes that occurred in raw materials, dimensions and decorations; same tradition has been respected in their creation.
In this respect, the main focus in on Trimurti temples. This trinity rooted in Hindi ancient beliefs and represents a new idea of connection and oneness of creation, preservation and destruction that returns to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, respectively. These believes can be seen in multiplicity of temples on each of the manifestations so that the multitude of their temples can be justified based on the role that they had played in universe.
This study is based on field observations during travel and library studies to investigate these manifestations. Case examples in this study include Alfanta Caves, Ajanta, Ellora and "important temples of Shiva" and "Vishnu" and "Brahma" in various parts of India.

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