Stone Man

        In February this year, a 25ft by 50 ft stone-carved temple was assembled on Pune's M. G. Road within a month.  Fifty carvers worked for three months in Dharangadhra (Gujarat) to complete the temple dedicated to Jadhavji Maharaj, a 17th century saint.  The carvings rendered, the pillars, floor pieces, ceiling, the walls were all transported to Pune by a truck and assembled by 10 men.  And the man who achieved this rare feat was the famed Mumbai temple architect.

        Hariprasad Hargovindas Sompura.  The red sandstone temple built at a cost of Rs. 25 lakh has images of Lakshmi Narayan and Vishnu.

        Fifty-four-year-old Sompura has made temple architecture his forte and is recognised as one of the few practitioners of this extant art from.

        Though temples have been part of our culture for hundreds of year, the study of temple architecture remains neglected and unrecognised.

        The construction of a traditional Hindu temple is an elaborate process, which involves tremendous knowledge, acquired skill passed on from father to son and surprisingly, based on scientific principles.

        In the city, many may not be aware that the Chakreshwar temple at Juhu, built in 1984 on a 150-year-old ruined temple, is one of its kind in the world.  The shikhar or dome of this Lord Shiva temple has been designed according to the extant Hemmad School of temple architecture.  It has taken generations of temple architects in Maharashtra to evolve their own style, which came to be known as the Hemadpanthi school.  During the Moghul invasion in the 16th century, it was the temples which were targeted for destruction.  The destruction began with the domes, leaving no signs of the exquisite style.

        'Brahmin by birth, Sompuras, originally from Gujarat, were earlier known as acharyas.  Formerly called sthapathi, They derived their name from the famous Somnath temple of Gujarat, 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, of which Mumbai-based Hariprasad Sompura is among the leading lights.

        After undertaking the construction of the temple at Somnath, which was obviously at the behest of the rulers, the succeeding generations changed their place of residence suiting the movement of the rulers.

        As Gujarat's rulers set up new capital cities, they too moved.

        From Somnath to Chapanar, and from Patan to Palitana.  It was in 1943 that HARIPRASAD father, Hargovindas left Palitana having continued the traditional work of renovating the 108 Jain temples there, for Thane.  And ultimately, settled in Mumbai.

        Yet, for centuries, temple architecture has continued, the skill surviving with the sthapathis (temple architects) designing the abode of worship and each region developing its own individual style while maintaining identical forms.

        The senior Sompura built the Tembinaka Jain temple at Thane.  While son Hariprasad, besides 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.  He Certainly has an impressive list of achievements having built 27 Hindu and Jain temples.

        Hariprasad has to his credit temples in Mumbai and its suburbs, Thane, Badlapur, Karjat, Manglore, Goa, Bhiloda, Kutch in Gujarat and even a Jain temple at Allepey, Kerala.

        A traditional Hindu temple consists of Garbha - griha or the sanctum sanatorium, Kauli mandap or the place where the priest performs the puja, then comes the guda mandap, an enclosed structure with walls followed by the nritya mandap's open place supported by pillars where dance performances were held in the past.  And then come the pravesh chauki or entrance.

        Beginning work on a temple is an elaborate arrangement unlike other structures.  The plot is first divided into 81 equal squares followed by excavation to carry the task of bhoomi suddhi or making the land pure.

        The lighting conditions are also taken care of.  At the pravesh Mandap, it is very bright.  But by the time one reaches Guda mandap the light has dimmed.  The garba griha is almost dark allowing the devotees to adjust their eyesight and concentrate on the deity   the purpose of visiting the temple.

        Sompura used limestone from Porbunder, Sandstone from Dhrangadhra and marble from Makrana for his idols, Iron is never used in the construction of a temple as according to the shastras it begins to rust limiting the life of a structure to a maximum of 80 years.  Even the use of cement is restricted.  In the olden days, lime and mud was used and still earlier, before lime was freely available, the artisans made use of herbal juices or vanaspatiras.

        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 the famous Somnath.  In 1978-79, Sompura took up a munch challenging job for it was turned down by others.

        It was Dahanu's (in Maharashtra) two-storeyed, 150-year-old wooden temple dedicated to Goddess Mahalaxmi.  It was an unenclosed temple supported by wooden pillars, which had to be removed while keeping the upper floor undisturbed.

        The rewards from this traditional profession are not monetarily In spring, but Sompura still carries on assisted by his son and daughter.  And Hariprasad Sompura's services do not come cheap. "My fees is 10 per cent of the total cost of putting up the structure of otherwise," says Sompura.