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OPENING SHOT ||||| STRUCTURES<br />
THE ARCHITECTURAL<br />
WONDER THAT IS<br />
THE GOPURAM<br />
THERE ARE TEMPLES. And then there are<br />
temples with gopurams. Gigantic towers at<br />
the entrances of temples in south India, the<br />
richly ornate gopurams are sights to behold.<br />
Some of them overshadow the temples inside<br />
and go back to the 12th century, beginning<br />
with the advent of the Pallava dynasty in<br />
what is now Tamil Nadu. Humans, divine<br />
beings, mythical animals – you will find all<br />
these and more carved on the gopurams.<br />
Each region has its own style of the<br />
structures but there is one commonality:<br />
they all follow a theme derived from Hindiu<br />
mythology. The theme is usually associated<br />
with the deity of the temple inside the<br />
complex. Here are four gopurams that we<br />
liked in the southern states.<br />
Clockwise from top:<br />
Attractive gopurams<br />
in Andhra Pradesh<br />
(Shri Venkateshvara<br />
temple); Tamil Nadu<br />
(Manargudi temple);<br />
Kerala (Vishnu<br />
temple in Kochi);<br />
and Karnataka<br />
(Virupaksha temple)<br />
40 ||||| SEPTEMBER <strong>2016</strong>
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