Temple Architecture of Western Himalayan Region: Wooden Temples-A Case Study of Chamba, Kinnaur and Shimla Hills (Himachal Pradesh)

The pantheistic developed in the Western Himalayan region as a collective psychological response of the people to the incomprehensible entities of nature, kept them always overwhelmed and tormented. Many temples were built in different styles and material and throughout Himachal through peaceful avocation of its people. The temples of Himachal vary across regions namely Kinnaur, Chamba and Shimla hills. The speciality of Himachal temples, especially in Kinnaur, Chamba and Shimla hills is the extensive use of wood and stone. A wooden temple built in the heart of village is generally Known as bhandar, as against the debra-the root place in the Jungle, where the original symbol of the deity is enshrined. The term bhandar calls for a bit of explanation, because the term in the context of the Western Himalayan wooden temples, not only means a village-temple, but also a repository for the village community. In it, besides the temple treasures, the people have been depositing their own valuable and the common wealth of the community. In the interior of the Western Himalayan regions, good structural stone that can be dressed and chiselled into blocks, is rarely available, and all that is quarried is mica-schist. It can only be used flat and laid without mortar. It is, thus, unsuitable for structural purpose. The ingenious local artisans, therefore, devised way to use this stone for building purpose by combining it with wood. The wall construction technique thus perfected came to be known popularly as katth-kuni i, e, all with wooden corner. In the paper, the classification of the wooden temples on their elevations-peculiarities in Chamba, Kinnaur and Shimla Hills of Himachal Pradesh has been attempted.