ISSN: 2277-9655 [Parashar* et al., 6(12): December, 2017] Impact Factor: 4.116 IC™ Value: 3.00 CODEN: IJESS7 http: // www.ijesrt.com© International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology [145] IJESRT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY IN SEARCH OF THE HIDDEN PLANNING GRID OF TRI-RATHA TEMPLES OF ODISHA Rinku Parashar* 1 , Dr Abir Bandyopadhyay 2 * 1 Department of Architecture NIT, Raipur, India, 2 Department Architecture NIT, Raipur, India DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1088338 ABSTRACT The architecture of India is rooted in its history, culture and religion. Indian temples represent one of the great architectural traditions of the world. The first Hindu temples were built from rock cut caves which were later converted into the free standing structures at the advent of Gupta architecture around 4th & 5th century. Out of the different typology of temples found in India, Kalingan style of temple architecture can be observed in Odisha. The temples found here, shows a homogeneous characteristics with a continuity, from (6th to 16th century A D). Various studies have been carried out on Odishan temples in different areas and many literature also discuss about these temples details but method of construction of these temples is obscure. In the earlier period anthropometric dimensions were used which not relevant to the present day measurement system and the interpretation of the texts is also not possible . So in present paper, an effort has been made to find out the probable grid, of the plan form of the triratha temples existing in Odisha, in the modern system of measurement in relevance to the canons. KEYWORDS: Odisha , planform, tri-ratha temples, grid, modern unit of construction I. INTRODUCTION The first Hindu temples were built from rock cut caves which were later converted into the free standing structures at the advent of Gupta architecture around 4th & 5th century. The early medival period was marked by a remarkable development in art and architecture, with distinct style originating in northern and southern India, commonly identified as “Nagara” and “Dravida” style. Apart from these three styles, the inscriptions in Amriteshvara temple at Holal (Karnataka) dated 1235 AD, mentions a fourth style, as the “Kalinga” style of temple architecture (Das, 1994). This Kalingan style of temple architecture can be seen in the temples, found in Odisha. The temples found here, shows a homogeneous characteristics with continuity, from the very beginning i.e. from (6th to 16th century A D). 1.1 Odishan Temples: These temples depicting “Kalinga” style of architecture can be broadly classified into three types the “Rekhadeula”, “Pidhadeula” and the “Khaharadeula”. The “Rekhadeula”, are further sub classified into the “Tri- ratha” (external wall with 3 offsets), “Pancha-ratha” (external wall with 5 offsets) and the “Sapta-ratha (external wall with 7 offsets) type spread out in Odisha, mainly Bhubaneshvar The present paper discusses a methodology and analyses followed for finding out the planning grid of the plans of the “Tri -ratha” temples, which would have been followed, when these type of temples were constructed. The plan of these temples had only the “Garbha-Griha”, which indicated that in earlier stages of the development, of the temple architecture in Odisha, the construction of “Jagamohana”(an assembly hall, in Hindu temple architecture) was not in practice. II. PROCESS OF ANALYSES: For the study of “Tri-ratha” type of temples, three samples were selected viz. Laxmaneshvara temple, Bharateshvara temple and Satrughaneshvara temple. On site measurement of the temples were taken and their areas and the perimeters were calculated after drafting the plans. The basic rule for making the plan of the temple was that, “it should be a square” as mentioned in the Canons( Bose 1932). The external dimensions of