Pancharatha

Drawing of a pancharatha building

A Hindu temple is a pancharatha (Sanskrit: पञ्चरथ, IAST: pañcaratha) when there are five ratha (on plan) or paga (on elevation) on the tower of the temple (generally a shikhara). The rathas are vertical offset projection or facets. The name comes from the sanskrit Pancha (=five) and Ratha (=chariot), but the link with the concept of chariot is not clear.

There are also temples with three rathas (triratha), seven rathas (saptaratha) and nine rathas (navaratha).

Triratha, Pancharatha and Saptaratha

Examples of pancharatha temples

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Temple Architecture of Orissa". Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-05.

See also