7. Episode 5: Gods and the City

The worship of the gods still plays an important role in India today. As already explained in the previous chapters the spatial arrangement of temples and shrines played a central role in the worship of gods. The underlying mandalas represent the connection from the divine world to the human world. Especially when temples are built the city is therefore included in the planning process, which is the topic of this chapter. After basic considerations about the design of temples the connection between city and temple is explained here by drawing on three important temple cities, namely Varanasi, Madurai and Srirangam. Varanasi was chosen, because it is until today the most important pilgrimage site for Hindus. In Madurai, the ancient city was dominated by the temple, and although the town walls were demolished in the nineteenth century the original layout of the city is not only visible in the layout of the town, the sacred routes and structures are still used by the inhabitants. Finally, Srirangam is discussed as a planned city. In this case the temple walls surround not only the temple precinct itself but also the residential quarters of the Brahmins in particular.