1

Ritual and City Form Temple Towns of South India

Aditya Barve

Theory of City Form 4.241

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Spring 2012

2

Cities are the products of social interaction, which also shapes them into finite urban forms. Rituals form a key part of social interactions. Rituals require communal participation and often appropriate the space in which they are performed. Rituals can be divided into two categories -- static or dynamic -- and they shape the urban form around them accordingly. This paper will examine the relation between the urban form and rituals by focusing on three historic cities in South India: Shrirangam, Madurai and Suchindram. It will focus on the changing nature of ritual and its corresponding urban form in order to arrive at conclusion as to how the rituals have shaped the urban patterns.

1. Temple Towns of South India

Shrirangam

Madurai

Suchindram

3

One can define a ritual as a specific social

action of symbolic importance requiring communal

participation. In every culture, rituals are a key part of

social interaction. An individual, group or community

can perform a ritual and invariably they are initiated

by demarcating the space in which it is performed.

Rituals sustain society’s equilibrium and strengthen the

solidarity among its members. Rituals can be political or

religious in nature; they can also be characterized based

on their appropriation of space. This appropriation can

be seen as either dynamic or static. Dynamic rituals like

processions or parades are linear in nature. In contrast

to, static rituals like fairs, festive gatherings, and even

games are central or nodal in nature.

Rituals influence the way urban form develops,

and they are the expressions of values that the particular

society holds dear. In the words of philosopher Henry

Lefevbre,“every society offers up its own peculiar space

[…] as an object for analysis and overall theoretical

explication.”1 For example, linear rituals like parades,

often force axiality on the urban form. Fairs and

1 Henry Lefebvre, The Production of Space (Cambridge: Blackwell,

1991), 47

gatherings give rise to open civic spaces like plazas and

squares. The scale of these spaces can also be linked to

the scale and importance of the rituals, which can play a

more important role in the size and shape of that space

than the built form around it. Both sociologists and

anthropologist have studied the role of ritual extensively;

however, less work has been done in the field of urban

design to understand the effects of rituals on the

production of space. This paper attempts to understand

the processes influenced by the rituals that are involved

in the creation of urban space. The understanding of the

temporal nature of space is meaningful for designers

and planners, for it enables them to design more humane

spaces.

This paper will examine the influence of rituals

on urban form, specifically in the case of Temple towns

in South India. In all cases the nature of ritual is similar

and has yielded an urban form that is commensurate

with it. In the temple towns of Madurai, Suchindram

and Shrirangam the religious ritual of circumambulatory

procession around the central shrine has produced

a city with concentric rings of development. Yet the

urban morphology of these cities is not the same. These

4

cities, with different urban morphologies but similar

societies, offer the opportunity to investigate some

aspects of rituals that shape the urban form. This paper

will try to analyze how the differing nature and type of

rituals produce differences in the urban fabric. It will

identify which components of built form are required

for particular ritualistic types; and it will trace how the

city adapts to the changing nature of rituals.

Ritualistic processes and their nature

Before we can study the examples of cities and

rituals, we need to define the scope of the word “ritual”

as it applies to the field of urbanism. The word “ritual”

has many subtle meanings and shades. It comes from

Latin word ritualis, which means relating to rites.2

The distinction between mere action and ritual is not

clear, for instance, eating a meal is a normal action, but

saying ‘grace’ or a prayer is a ritual. Ritual has been

discussed at length in anthropology and sociology.

British cultural anthropologist Victor Turner defines

ritual as “prescribed formal behavior for occasions not

2 Online Etymology Dictionary. (2012, April 27) retrieved from http://

www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ritual

given over to technological routine”.3 To explain this

further, tying one’s shoelaces is a routine, but tying the

laces of specific foot first can be a ritual. Rituals often

reveal the beliefs of a person or a society. They exalt

the participant beyond the everyday functional plane.

Time is also important a factor while considering ritual.

Ritualistic process is a cyclic process, and is performed

in specific cycles of time; for example, Olympic games

comprises of a sports ritual that takes place every four

years.

The word “ritual” is often used interchangeably

for religious, ceremonial or customary actions. Rituals

almost always serve to revive the memory. Thus, as

Turner puts it, rituals and symbols are storage systems

where memory and the past are linked and stored.4

Ritualistic processes often serve to revive myths by

recreating symbolic actions that are linked with the

mythical setting. Rituals in a society can then be

categorized based on the intent or on the form of their

space appropriation. Rituals can be political like parades,

religious such as processions or civic, such as Olympics.

3 Victor Turner, The forest of symbols: aspects of Ndembu ritual (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967), 19

4 Ibid ,

5

Generally most rituals fall in-between the spectrum of

being political or religious with varying degrees of either

condition. Rituals that need community participation

are often guided with some authority and controlled by

some belief system. The Political side of ritual then acts

as a control system of social behavior. This aspect of a

ritual is important for sociologists and anthropologists;

however, for urban designers and planners, the second

nature of ritual, its appropriation of space, carries more

promise.

Ritual, be it political, religious or civic,

appropriates the space in some or the other way.

Festivities, political rallies, parades, and religious

processions mark the spaces in which they are performed

in one or more ways. This space appropriation can be

categorized as linear, circular or nodal. Furthermore,

there is a strong link between the ritual, which revives

memory, and architecture, which acts for its appropriation

of space. It is important to note that memory, as

intended here, is distinctly different from history of the

place; moreover, memory can even be mythical and

carries some enshrinement of the act. Architecturally

this act of claiming the space is often signified with the

monumentality. This link between space appropriation

and memory is reflected in the works and writings of

architect Aldo Rossi. He makes interesting linkages

between monument and ritual:

(…) The importance of ritual in its collective nature and its essential character as an element for preserving myth, constitutes the key understanding (of) the meaning of monument, and moreover the implications of the founding the city, and of the transmission of ideas in an urban context. (…) If the ritual is the permanent and conserving element of myth then so too is the monument, since in the very moment that it testifies to myth it renders ritual forms possible.5

Thus, monument is a built equivalent of the ritual.

But ritual is far more than just a memorial service. It

constitutes festivities and fairs; and the spaces in which

those take place are of extreme importance; moreover,

the nature of the ritual dictates the nature of the space.

This relation of ritual and space can be observed at

all scales, from the scale of a small shrine to the scale

of an entire city. During rituals, the most mundane of 5 Aldo Rossi, Architecture of the City ,(Cambridge : MIT Press) 24

6

urban spaces can be transformed to an unrecognizable

degree and elevated to the place of the supernatural. The

processional streets of all the Temple towns discussed

here are a perfect example of this.

The diagram of the city and its importance.

At this point it is important to understand

the roots of south Indian temple towns. These towns

were founded in pre-industrial times; thus, as with all

pre-industrial cities, religion has been central to these

cities. Many have religious symbolism embedded in

their design. These cities emerged in medieval ages as

declaration to the political power of the king, backed

by the religion. One can trace the beginnings of this

process in the adoption of the king as the mediator

between divinity and his subjects. This divine kingship

with throne, palace and royal temple as its attributes

were then enclosed in a holy city. As a symbol of his

power, the king built the city with the central shrine;

often according to the ritual formulas in the sacred texts

like Mayamatam or Shilpa Shastras. The City thus

became a tool to connect the divine to the earthly.

In ancient India, religion and architecture

evolved in parallel, often influencing each other.

Traditional texts on architecture state that the towns,

especially capital cities, require a major temple to house

the protective god or goddess. This divine connection

was responsible for the well-being of the citizenry. The

layout of these cities was guided by a strict geometrical

system known as ‘Vastu Purush mandala’. The word

mandala literally means “circle” but can imply any

enclosed and symmetrically divided figure of ritual

and religious significance. A vastu purush mandala,

often a complex subdivision of a square, is a diagram

representing the divine connection of architecture. It is a

way to define space through means of a cosmic diagram.

The relationship of the square and the circle can be

explained in the interpretation of the circle as a cyclic

representation of time and square as an unequivocal and

absolute form. If one considers just the bare earth, it is

represented as a circle but when the earth is regarded as

the manifestation of the supreme principle, Brahmān, it

is rendered as a square. Man and earth correspond to each

other in this diagram.6 Ancient Indian architecture and

town planning was based on this idea of the mandala.

6 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian , 44

2. Vastu Purusha Mandala 3. Conceptual city plans prescribed in Mayamatam based on Vastu Purusha Mandala

7

The mandala diagram was a symbolic representation

of the ideal pattern of cosmic order. This cosmic

connection is woven in the city through placement of

religious markers at specific points in the mandala.

Cardinal points in the square grid were assigned to a

protective god or goddess.

The more detailed use of these diagrams is

prescribed in Śhilpa Śhaāstras— the traditional texts

on architecture. A mandala can be drawn in 32 ways

according to scriptures and besides myths and ritual,

architecture is most pronounced representation of this

cosmic order. The mandala is further defined by the

presence of the vāstu purusha – the spirit of the site. Art

historian Stella Kramrisch in her monumental treatise

on Hindu architecture argues that the central shrine is

the vertical realization of the vāstu purusha mandala.

Because of the purely diagrammatic nature of mandala

it can be used in any scale, without loosing its symbolic

integrity. A ritual procession through the city traces the

same mandala, which in its miniature scale is traced

by circumambulation around the central shrine. This

representation even goes down to the scale of ritual

diagrams – Kolam, drawn by women in front of houses

every morning.7

Rituals: Temple Towns of South India

In India, the relationship of ritual and space is

nowhere as pronounced as in the temple towns of Tamil

Nadu. These cities were least affected by the Muslim

invasions compared to cities in northern India, and that

is why they offer undisturbed connection with traditions

of Hindu architecture. In the words of art historian

George Michell “the interaction between sacred space

and urban space is a prominent feature of Tamil Nadu’s

temple towns”8. In these temple towns, the mandala

diagram is palpable in the city plan. It is also important

to note, that these temple towns follow the exact same

rituals since the early medieval ages. These rituals are

thus distilled in their respective urban patterns. While

this paper focuses on three towns, scores of other towns,

small and large, exhibit the relation of the characteristic

diagram formed by ritual procession in their plan.

One can find two typologies of religious order

in the city plan. First and most prominent is the regular

geometrical configuration, governed by a mandala with 7 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian, 458 Michell George, Temple Towns of Tamil Nadu, 7

8

a central shrine. The other is a street layout, dominated

by independent shrines, which forms the focal points

of city fabric. The towns of Madurai and Shrirangam

are examples of the first, whereas Kumbhakonam and

Kanchipuram are examples of the second. To understand

the effects of ritual and space in Temple towns, we must

first understand the nature of ritualistic procession in

these towns.

Temple rituals may be characterized as private

and public. Pūjā, which is daily, is performed in front

of the deity and is generally more private in nature. On

the other hand, festivals, which are occasional, form the

most visible and public events. Festivities -- tiruvilā

royal feasts in local Tamil language -- are based on the

lunar calendar. The most important of these is the great

feast (Bramhōstsava), which takes place in the month of

cittirai (April-May) over ten days. On each of the first

nine days, two daily processions take place in mornings

and evenings. For these processions, a smaller version

of the deity is placed on a wooden chariot. This chariot

then is taken on a prearranged route; the route involves

visits to specific temples outside the city boundary and

circumambulates the city in specific directions.

Another important factor that links the diagram

of the city and the ritual is the identity of the deity. In

Hindu belief, the god triad of Brhāma, Viśhnu and Shivā

is related with the generation, regulation and destruction

of the world. The worship of last two, Shivā and Viśhnu

evolved in specific cults of Shaivites and of Vaishnavites,

based on veneration of specific god. Each god also

commands fixed number of circumambulations.9 Often,

one can link the plan of the temple town and number

of its concentric rings with the deity of the city. The

Majority of the towns with central shrine dedicated to

Shivā have one concentric ring; those dedicated to the

Viśhnu have three. This observation, though helpful in

symbolizing the deity in town-plan does not always hold

true and the exceptions like Kumbhakonam, Uttiramerur

or Kanchipuram can be attributed to different historic

models.

Spatial manifestation of Processions

In these cities, the role played by the deity is

singular; the god here is not just an idol or a symbolic

presence but is considered as a person and a sovereign

9 Arun Ganpathy, “Why We Circumambulate,” Times of India, Aug

11,2011,http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

9

extending his power over the city. Presence of the deity

as a person in these cities is further strengthened by their

entitlement to the most human of things-- marriage,

desire to take holidays, willingness to engage in playful

quarrels and conquest with other temple deities in the

region10. The rituals make little sense unless viewed with

the perspective that they are homage to a sovereign. With

this symbolism center of the cosmic diagram becomes

the most sacred place, and is assigned a temple. This

symbolism generates essential elements for the city that

is based on strong geometry, and is directed inwards to

the center.

The ritualistic movement in the form of

processions is in turn governed by the city’s cosmic

diagram. According to architectural historian Andres

Volwahsen, this tradition is analogous to Vedic rituals

of venerating the altar by carrying it in the clockwise

direction in the procession.11 This evolved into the

chariot processions of south Indian temples. Processions

are also the way to extend the religious and ritual

presence of the divine outside the temple walls. These

1� �ppadurai �rjun and Breckenridge Carol, The south Indian temple: �ppadurai �rjun and Breckenridge Carol, The south Indian temple:

authority, honor and redistribution, 19�11 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian, 44 Volwahsen Andres, Living Architecture : Indian, 44

processional rituals follow prescribed routes, which

depend upon time, season and the nature of a ritual. Not

only do gods follow these cosmic diagrams but the ritual

path is also traversed at the time of last rites on the dead.

The body is carried out on certain specified paths tracing

the mandala diagram in space and time. Cast and rank

of the dead decide the path that this procession takes;

thus it even anchors the deep structure of society to

the diagram (see fig.6). It also governs the habitation

patterns; prescribing the location for specific casts to

live in specific parts of the diagram.12

Water in the form of tanks with ‘Kulam’ --

shrines and other smaller temples -- is also an important

part of formal repertoire of urban elements. In most

cases it forms the boundary of a town. There are usually

eight tanks in eight cardinal directions with one in the

center. These tanks not only play important role in ritual

bathing but also are the meaningful components of a

ritual as once a year the deity travels on water in an

important festival ceremony. For this ritual, the temple

towns have at lest one large tank. Square in shape, this

tank is often located at one end of the main axis, and is

12 Piper �an, The spatial structure of Suchindram, AARP 17 (London, 19�0) Piper �an, The spatial structure of Suchindram, AARP 17 (London, 19�0)

10

aligned with the temple gates.

All the temple towns were and still are market

towns of importance. Kanchipuram, dealing in exquisite

textiles, provides an example of this growth pattern. It

also highlights the simultaneous rise of political power,

trade, and religious pilgrimages. Religious rituals in the

form of festivals are also beneficial to trade. George

Michell, in his analysis of Kumbhkonam, describes this

phenomenon as:

Processions take place in the street,

in full view of crowds of visitors,

who pay homage to gods and

goddesses before proceeding to the

business of buying and selling. (…)

Each of the religious complexes

of Kumbhakonam, for instance, is

approached by a long colonnade that

functions as market.13

With this overview we can now look at examples that

best represent some of these characteristics of a temple

town shaped by ritualistic movement. There are scores

of temple towns but we will consider Shrirangam,

Madurai and Suchindram and will focus on how they

13 Vivek Nanda, Anna Dallapiccola, Michal George: The Ramasvami Vivek Nanda, Anna Dallapiccola, Michal George: The Ramasvami Temple (South Asian Studies 13:1, 1997) 1-15

confirm and differ with the prescribed model. For the

purpose of this analysis we will ignore the specificities

of rituals in those cities and relay on the similarities.

Shrirangam and Madurai

Cities of Madurai and Shrirangam share many

of the same ideals. In the case of Shrirangam, the spatial

manifestation of the mandala diagram and its ritualism

appears in its purest form. Shrirangam’s urban fabric is

composed of seven concentric rings. Out of that, first four

constitute the temple zone, while others are residential.

In the regional scale, Shrirangam is the first of the four

Viśhnu pilgrimage sites. By visiting each of them in a

prescribed sequence, one can circumambulate the entire

Tamil region. Situated on an island, Shrirangam is also

a part of the string of holy places along the Cauvery

River.

The Urban fabric of the town, with its several

concentric zones, consists of specific markers like ritual

bathing tanks, sites where three temple chariots are kept,

and the temple proper. The figure of the city is fixed in

relation with river by series of ghats or cremation and

religious spaces. The ghats are linked by a north-south

axis to the main temple and the axis mundi of the city

Shrirangam SuchindramMadurai

4. Plans of three temple towns showing the temple proper at

same scale

11

diagram. The city diagram is oriented around two axial

streets that cross at right angles. Ritualistically, all these

elements form the experiential space of the town. Nine

tanks mark the innermost zone; eight are placed on the

periphery and the ninth is at the center. By performing

ritual baths in a specific sequence in all of these, pilgrim

circumambulates the town three times, three being

the number of circumambulations prescribed for lord

Viśhnu.

The concentric streets are named after the months

in the Tamil year, according to the month when the

deities were taken in procession around the city. Another

dimension of the diagram of the city is its control of

social structure. Brahmin or priestly cast exclusively

inhabits the first two rings (Uttira and Chittira). They

also take up the northwest and southeast corners of the

city, leaving opposite corners for lower classes. With

certain exceptions no car festival is allowed on this third

street; circumambulation is limited to only Uttira and

Chittira streets and has to be done in clockwise direction.

Madurai is the most multifaceted example

amongst the three. Architect �ulian Smiths discusses it 9. one of the processional charriots in Shrirangam

�. View of Shrirangam Temple Complex with a Gopura in foreground

5.The symmetric principal that dominates Shrirangams plan, walls and concentric zones

6. The social strcuture controlled by diagram with higher cast in NE-SW Diagonal

7. Shrirangam

12

at length for its relation with processions14. Due to lack of

archeological evidence, the correct founding date of Madurai

is unknown. The earliest mention of Madurai comes from

Koutilya’s Arthashastra. It was the capital of the Sangam

dynasty from 300 B.C. to 200 A.D. Thus, Madurai presents

a clear case as a divine connection between the God and the

King. The city diagram, though not as precise as Shrirangam,

still holds the same principals. It has five concentric streets,

named after the months in Tamil calendar. Each month there

are processions that correspond to specific street and thus by

the end of the year deities trace out the map of the city. The

main difference between Shrirangam and Madurai is that

Shrirangam is a direct translation of prescribed diagram,

and its concentric rings suggest the heightened importance

to the pilgrim rather than to the city dweller.

The concept of time is important in this ritual; it

is not reproducible anywhere else in the same form. By

tracing the city diagram in space and time, ritual acts as a

mnemonic device. It is also infused with local conditions

as the calendar on which it is based is related with seasons,

and is thus associated with timings of agrarian, commercial

activities.

14 �ulian Smith, “Madurai : the Architecture of a City” (SMarchS Thesis, �ulian Smith, “Madurai : the Architecture of a City” (SMarchS Thesis, MIT,1969)

11. Tracing the sacred diagram : Sequence of procession throughout the year in madurai.

10. Madurai

13

The town of Suchindram is slightly different from

the above-discussed temple cities model, where the role

of axiality and water are more pronounced.

Suchindram

Suchindram is a small town, located in southern-

most part of Indian peninsula. Nayaka kings founded it

in the 9th century A.D. Irrespective of its small size, kings

of Travancore dynasty made Suchindram as their family

shrine, and a major religious center. The functions of the

city are limited to serving the temple and hence the urban

elements are directly related to the religious activities.

The temple of Suchindram is oriented off the cardinal

axis by a few degrees. It orients towards the direction of

the sunrise and sunset, as on the day of its foundation.

This alignment is also a tool to evoke the memory in

the subtlest way. In terms of urban fabric, the town

consists of the temple, one processional road around it,

ceremonial path that runs east to west, a water tank and

related religious structures. This is the assemblage of

most essential elements in temple town. All the above

elements are laid out to form a specific movement pattern

13. Main religious elements in Suchindram 1: Main Temple 2: Ganesh Temple 3:Water Tank

14. Four secondary temples in cardinal points fixing the �xis Mundi

12. Suchindram

14

in urban space. They are either to be circumambulated,

moved through, across or out from. All the elements

form markers in the space that is then appropriated with

rituals.

The symbolic role of water in Suchindram is

slightly different from Shrirangam or Madurai. Instead

of eight cardinal tanks, Suchindram has one large tank.

�ust like chariot circumambulating a temple, a ritual

circumambulation by the ceremonial float is associated

with this tank. This highlights an analogy between the

tank and the temple. Anthropologist �an piper portrays

this particular aspect as juxtaposition of the solid and the

void, of male ‘upper town’ of Shiva around the temple

and a female ‘lower town’ with a temple of goddess

parvati, in tank facing north.15

Another element that defers from Madurai

and Shrirangam is the east-west street that forms an

axis. This axis is ritualized in a procession that marks

the end of almost all festive days. This is the path

through which the idol returns to temple after the ritual

15 �an piper, “Spatial Structure of Suchindram” AARP 17(London, 19�0), 75

circumambulation. On its way out, the procession halts

before every household, it halts at corners and almost

as a spatial response corners become wider than the

street. During three major festivals there are 72 grand

circumambulation and 216 less important ones16. The

chariot procession takes place on the ninth day of grand

festival. The fact the chariot takes more than 1000 men

to move is significant of the space needed for this ritual.

Dragging this seemingly immobile structure is the most

haptic of urban rituals.

16 Ibid., 76

15

Inferences

The main aim of this paper was to understand

the relation between the built form of the city and the

ritual practices that generate it. The case of South Indian

temple towns is a remarkable example for this study as it

presents a clear cohesion between a prescribed theory of

architecture, religion and the sociol pattern. While Looking

at these examples from a modern viewpoint, it is difficult

to fully acknowledge the intertwined nature of religion,

built form and the myth; nonetheless in these towns,

the presence of a strong bond that links the space with

the beliefs of a society is palpable. These are the places

where religion is still the dominant force and despite the

impact of modern day changes, most of the rituals are still

carried out with same orthodoxy, as they were centuries

ago. Some of these cities however have expanded outside

the boundaries prescribed by the original city diagram; the

new growth has no relation with rituals of the old part and

it reflects the aspirations of a newer generation.

This paper discusses three towns in some detail but

the same ideals are present in well over seventeen towns;

it will be useful to examine these in more detail. Further

studies also could be done focusing on effects of these

ancient rituals on newer and modern parts of these cities.

Old temple towns present a very clear case of rituals and

its appropriation of form, modern day rituals however are

more difficult to pinpoint and so are their effect on urban

form. It is yet to be seen how these “cosmic cores” will

respond to the new market forces, but even in their present

form, they hint towards the possibility of a design process

that strives to pull together all the strands of social life

into the mythical and ritualistic realm and gives it a finite

urban form.

16

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Kanekar, Arati. “ Shaping of Settlements: Temporal Events and Spatial Form in South Indian Temple Cities.” 1992.

Kohane, Peter. “Louis Kahn’s Theory of ‘Inspired Ritual’ and Architectural Space.” Architectural Theory Review 6, no. 1 (2001): �7-95.

Kostof, Spiro. The City Shaped. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.

Levy, Robert I. “The Power of space in traditional hindu city.” International �ournal of Hindu Studies 1, no. 1 (April 1997): 55-71.

Lynch, Kelvin. Good City Form. Cambridge: MIT press, 19�1.

---. What Time is This Place. Cambridge: MIT press, 19�1.

Michell, George, ed. Temple Towns of Tamil Nadu. Mumbai: Marg, 1993.

Pieper, �an. “A Pilgrims’ map of Banares.” Geo�ournal (Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft) 3, no. 2 (1979): 215-21�.

Pieper, �an. “Ritual Movement in Architectural Space.” AARP : proceedinggs of an international symposium on urban history of South and East Asia 11 (1977).

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Vivek Nanda, Anna Dallapiccola, Michal George: “The Ramasvami Temple” (South Asian Studies 13:1, 1997) 1-15

Volwahsen, Andres. Living Architecture - India. London: MacDonald and Co, 1969.

5,6,13,14 : Pieper, �an, ed. Ritual Space in India: Studies in Architectural Anthropology. Vol. 17. London: AARP, 19�0.

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