Over the centuries, many Indian cities have evolved from traditional settlements into modern activity centres that meet the aspirations of today. Housing, workplaces, and communal areas have all been developed to meet the growing needs of people. One typology, however, has remained relatively untouched: the sacred temples. Built centuries ago, by the kings and queens from our history books, these temples have stood the test of time, the historic sites standing tall amidst the rapidly changing urban environments. This contrast symbolises the shift in aspirations of the people and how they affect the city’s character. Temple cities, presenting this fascinating convergence of tradition and urban form, stand testimony to the story of many Indian cities where there is an interplay of urban design and culture.
Evolving Urban Fabrics Around Sacred Spaces
Pilgrimage cities to date revolve around ancient sacred spaces, whose identity is deeply rooted in their historical and cultural importance. These cities thrive more on their traditional origins despite the transformation of the surrounding urban landscapes.
Walking down the city in these pilgrimage centres greets one with a multitude of unorganized encounters. These sorts of encounters are characteristic of many Indian streets and live in tandem with the sanctity of the temples. While they do add to the charm and character of these streets, at other times, they get out of hand and create a “polluted” entrance into the sacred site. This co-existence of the urban and the sacred raises an important question: Is it possible at the intersection between traditional street life and modern design to create something more elevated, impactful, and organized pilgrimage experience?
Settlements around The Sacred
Historically, temples have always been at the heart of Indian settlements. They were not only places of worship but also hubs of cultural, social, and artistic activity. Temples also served as centres of livelihood, where people worked, where important meetings were held, and as symbols of power that showcased the king’s might and valour. These points of significance shaped the planning of towns and cities, concentrating vital activities and livelihoods around the temple while extending the mundane and everyday world outward from the sacred focus.
Over time, these temple-centric settlements evolved into what are now known as pilgrimage cities. Cities like Madurai, Tirupati, Varanasi, and Rameshwaram have retained their sacred cores, welcomed urban life, and fostered cultural relationships. The city is like a platter of activities from embracing advancements in infrastructure and planning to preserving its sacred roots as reminders of history. They are laboratories where live examples are presented of how the aspirations and livelihoods of Indian urban folk have evolved with new opportunities and lifestyles from the West.
The Interactions of Sacred and Mundane
These temple streets extend from merely linking up sacred buildings to the urban surroundings physically; they absorb features of sanctity and daily life.
In Rameshwaram, the town is organized around the magnificent Ramanathaswamy temple and its four majestic gopurams. These gopurams connect to other religious structures, like temple tanks, holy water bodies, and goshalas. In line with these are the flower sellers providing marigolds, pooja items vendors who sell along the streets, and goshalas or animal shelters, where cows are worshipped, in origin traditional but modern in scale and pace. The activity of devotees moving around, bargaining with shopkeepers or coming for ‘prasad’, creates a chaotic buzz.
Similar is the case at Madurai, where streets filled with tourist activity surround the Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple. Devotees shop for their beloved Madurai saree, pick out bangles for their dear ones, and enjoy the famous badam milk from the local eateries. The air is filled with the bargaining sounds, the chatter of families, and the lively hum of the streets. The majestic temple is the background to the religious activities and the tourist life blending in together.
In Trivandrum, the streets around the Padmanabhaswamy temple have a different quality. The streetscape is filled with devotional music mingling with the chatter of devotees going around, wrapping the mundu around their waist, negotiating prices with street vendors, or seeking a meal after darshan. The sacred water body along the entry sets a tranquil backdrop to these temple activities, bridging a harmonious intersection between the meditative, contemplative side of religion with a communal vibrant everyday life.
Where Sacred Paths Meet Urban Disorder
As devotees head to the temple, the streets around become disorganized and chaotic. The absence of proper parking facilities for the temple visitors causes entry points to be crowded with vehicles dropping the devotees. Then comes the hunt for the footwear drop-off points before rushing towards the ticket counter.
These temple streets also act as business opportunities for street vendors and create further congestion on the narrow roads. Moreover, the streets are often littered and poorly maintained, which does not add to the experience.
What is supposed to be a holy and peaceful pilgrimage towards the great temple begins with a dirty, hasty, and unwelcoming reception. The town, boasting about its pilgrimage site status, greets the pilgrims with a disorganized surroundings far from being divine. They are also noisy, polluted, and overcrowded, which overwhelm the senses and create a disruption of both sight and sound that makes it harder to have any kind of connection to the sacred. The absence of order in the streets reduces further the opportunity for devotees to enter a meditative, contemplative state while they approach the temple, thus reducing the spiritual import of the visit.
Bridging Temple Culture and Urban Design
The very soul of a temple street is defined by its organic effervescence, but, does intentionality with planning and strategy add another layer to the very interactions taking around these sacred centres? How can urban design enhance the experience of walking to the temple, encouraging visitors to connect and be more appreciative of their surroundings?
Could the principles of urban design be harmonized with the traditional dynamism of Indian streets to realise a place that pays homage to both sacred and fast urban life, thereby making the integration of the streetscape holistically with holy temples?
References:
Alexander, C. (1990). A pattern language. München: Fachhochsch., Fachbereich Architektur.
Wordpress. Available at: https://esquerdadireitaesquerda.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/terrain-vague-sola-morales-21.pdf (Accessed: 27 November 2024).
