[Advaita-l] On temples

[Srikanta Narayanaswami]

I would like to know what is the traditional view on the position of agamas
with respect to the Vedas. Also, I am keen to understand if any of the early
advaita acharyas have written about temple construction. There are many
temples outside India but do not think that they follow the agamas properly
in construction and practices.
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The temple construction comes under the purport of "shilpasastra"The temple construction was handed over to the Vishvakarma community from the ancient times.There were many temple architects like "Maya"(Mayan civilization).They have definite rules of sculptures,like how to sculpture an Idol,where the Gopuram must be installed with the "kalasa",what are the Dieties to be occupied in the temple.The Shaivagamas and the Vaishnavagamas have definite rules to install the various deities.Only an expert sculptist along with an expert Agamika will be able to clarify and correct the faults in a temple.Normally in the Shaivagama,an expert Shivacharya will be employed to supervise the construction of a temple as well as the idols.
N.Srikanta.