Tigawa temple
Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Tigawa temple, also called the Kankali Devi temple, is a small Gupta stone temple, c. 5th century CE. It stands at Tigawa in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh. It has a flat roof, a square sanctum and a porch held up by pillars. This is the simplest, earliest form of the structural temple, built up from cut stone. It is among the first temples to show the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna at the doorway.
Example
On the door frame at Tigawa, c. 5th century CE, Ganga stands on a makara (a crocodile-like creature) and Yamuna stands on a tortoise. Their job is to purify the devotee who enters.
Don't confuse with
- Gupta temple at Sanchi (Temple 17): the same flat-roofed type, but it stands inside a Buddhist stupa complex. It does not have the river-goddess doorway that marks Tigawa.
Related concepts
- Gupta art
- Sarnath school of art
- Mudras
- Abhaya mudra
- Bhumisparsha mudra
- Dharmachakra mudra
- Dhyana mudra
- Varada mudra
- Vitarka mudra
- Anjali mudra