Building for the gods

Published in The Pioneer

on Thursday 15th August 1996

      The Chakreshwar temple at Juhu, rebuilt in 1984 on the ruins of a 150 year-old temple, is one of its kind in the world.  The shikhar or dome of this temple dedicated to Lord Shiva has been designed on the pattern of  the now extant Hemmad school of temple architecture.  The temple was built by Hariprasad Sompura, one of the last exponents of this style of building.

      Brahmins by birth, the Sompuras, originally hail from Gujarat, and were earlier known as acharyas.  They derived the nomenclature from the Somnath temple which they helped to rebuild following periodic onslaughts from the marauding armies of Mahmud Ghaznavi and others.

      Around 200 families of these temple architects still exist in Gujarat, among whom the Mumbai-based Hariprasad Sompura is one of the leading lights.  After undertaking the construction of the temple at Somnath, the succeeding generations moved on from Somnath as Gujarat's rulers set up new capital cities and built more temples.  From Somnath to Chapanar, and from Patan to Palitana.  It was in 1943 that Hariprasad's father, Hargovindas left Palitana for Thane, having continued renovated the 198 Jain temples there. And ultimately, settled in Mumbai.

      The senior Sompura built the Tembinaka Jain temple at Thane.  While son, Hariprasad, beside providing a helping hand to his father, continued his studies and acquired post-graduate degrees in Gujarati and Hindi from the Bombay University.  He made his debut as a temple architect in 1969 with the construction of the Swami Nityanand Samadhi Temple at Ganeshpuri in Maharashtra.  So far, he has added up and impressive list of achievement having built 27 Hindu and Jain temples.

      A traditional Hindu temple consists of a garbhagriha or the sanctum sanctorum, kauli mandap or the place where the priest performs the puja, then comes the guda mandap, an enclosed structure with walls followed by the nirtya mandap's open space supported by pillars where dance performances were held in the past.  The last is the pravesh chauki or entrance.  "Almost all Hindu temples follow the same pattern," says Sompura, who has lectured extensively on his art at leading universities. "The only difference between the northern and southern styles is that in the north it is the shikhar or the dome which is dominant while in the south it is the Gopuram."

      Fifty three year-old Hariprasad has to his credit temples in Mumbai and its suburbs, Thane, Badlapur, Karjat, Mahad, Kasara, Dahanu and Sangamner (all in Maharashtra), Manglore, Goa, Bhiloda and Kutch in Gujarat and even a Jain temple at Allepey, Kerala.  Sompura has also held an exhibition on temple architect and sculpture at Jehangir Art Gallery in 1969.

      "Beginning work on a temple is an elaborate process, unlike other structures.  The plot is first divided into 81 equal squares followed by excavation for bhoomishuddhi (purifying the land).  During this strands of hair, pieces of bone and iron pieces in the dug up earth are removed.  Immediately, a time capsule is embedded with precious metals and stones taking into consideration that if in future the temple should become derelict and the devotees unable to undertake reconstruction or renovation, they can use this treasure for funds.

      It has intrigued devotees for ages that why temperature in temples are always controlled.  It's cool during the summer months and warm during winter.  Many attribute this to the divine presence.  "People feel that it is a miracle.  The sthapathi achieves this with the liberal use of sand for insulation.  At the entrance of the temple at the plinth level a layer of sand is used to cool down the incoming hot air," explains Sompura.

      But how does a temple built without cement and steel remain strong for centuries.  "Unlike the temples built in recent times, the earlier ones lasted for over 800 years.  Each piece of the pillar is carved separately and using a locking system the structure is erected.  The male stone is locked inside the female stone and thus creating a garland like structure," explains Sompura.

      Sompura uses limestone from Porbunder, sandstone from Makrana for his idols.  "Iron is never used in the construction of temple as according to the shastras it begins to rust limiting the life of a structure to a maximum of 80 years," he explains.

      Sompura has had many challenging jobs mostly involving renovation and reconstruction of old and derelict temples. For instance the 1200 year-old temple dedicated to Lord Krishna at Una , 120 kms from Somnath.  "Each stone of the temple was removed and numbered while leaving the main temple and the deity untouched.  New pillars were carved and the height increased by a feet so that the ceiling did not affect the deity.  The new temple was assembled over the old one," says Sompura.

      In 1978-79, Sompura took a challenging job - for it was turned down by others.  It was Dahanu's two storeyed 150 year-old wooden temple dedicated to Mahalaxmi.  It was an unenclosed temple supported by wooden pillars which had to be removed while keeping the upper floor undisturbed. Earlier, someone had removed some wooden pillars and installed brick pillars.  That didn't help for portion of the ceiling started collapsing.  The trustees were asked to demolish the temple and put up a new one.

      Sompura did the job at a cost of Rs. 3 lakh.  All the ground pillars were removed and stone pillars put up with out affecting the top floor.  The 58 pillars were spread over a space 100 ft by 60 ft.

      As Sompura began his work, the priest of the temple fled fearing his life.  "People thought I was a lunatic undertaking an impossible job.  I was left with a supervisor and a laborer.  I removed each pillar and put up a stone pillar in its place.  I followed the locking system and cemented it to make it strong," says Sompura.

      His future projects include the ninestoreyed Jivdani temple at Virar to be built of RCC and having modern amenities.  The Stone facade temple is likely to take five years to be completed and will cost Rs. 5 crores.  Besides, the sevenstoreyed structure in the Mukteshwar temple complex at Juhu, right opposite ISKCON temple.  At different levels, the building will have a sant durbar or leading Hindu saints, devi durbar abode of the goddesses, a floor with 12 jyotirlingas, a multi-religious library containing holy books of all religions and a prayer hall.

      The rewards from this traditional profession are not monetarily inspiring but Sompura still carries on assisted by his son, Sanjay, a student of architecture, and daughter, Purvi, who has to her credit a temple at Uttarkashi and specialises in temple interiors.