After the completion of 4th semester exam and with a months of vacation holiday, I planned my trip to Janakpur with some school friends to observe and document the architecture of ancient mithila state (now Janakpur). Volume 20 features the master piece architectural design of Janaki mandir located at the city of Janakpur. Built in Islamic and Rajput style of architecture by Queen Vrisha bhanu of Indian state the temple is also called Naulakha mandir engraved in white marble with coloured glass and stones. When i googled up, i came to know that Department of Archaelogy has submitted the documents of Janaki mandir to world heritage site, and i found the name of Janaki mandir in tentative list of world heritage site. Wikipedia offers some detail information about the temple complex, so have a google search too for some detailed history. In this section i will be talking about the architecture of the temple complex in detail.
The front yard of janaki temple joins with the large area of free and open space. In these open space the movement of people, bi-cycle,shops of flowers etc can be seen. As the temple complex lies probably on the centre of the city, every people passes to move from one place to another place through the janaki mandir as in the case of palace architecture of kathmandu valley. The front wing is total symmetrical in design with white facade and four tower like structure called turrets.Small shrines and temple of dome shaped structure are also located outside the nearby temple periphery. The flower and other related worship material can be purchased nearby the temple complex. Various form of arch and struts as been used for fine exterior view. To stand if front of the massive temple complex is just amazing and creates great sense of feelings.
The east entrance has high tall door with arch like structure. Entrance at the north east corner resembles with the entrance at east in terms of appearance, structure and size. Total there are two entry doorways to enter the temple complex. North east entrance has animal figure as a guardian.
When i looked close into the details to find out building material, i found extensive use of brick, round brick, mud mortar and mud plaster. Now a days modern plastering techniques are adopted to fill up the holes on the wall facade.
The lattice window, paraphet walls have domed shaped design to create a barrier space between the exterior and interiors. Also the connecting bridge connects the central temple shrine with the dharmalsalas and other subsidiary shrines.The door at the central templex complex has coloured glass which looks like a rose window as in western architecture. Small museum space is also located there which collects and documents the ancient mithila art and animation film of wedding of Lord Ram and Sita.
In current days due to urbanization, the structures nearby the Janaki mandir is in a rapid changing process. the modernized design, tall concrete building is decreasing the verticality speciality of the Janaki mandir.
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