Temple Astronomy 5

This part is a continuation of the Temple Astronomy series. Parts 1, 2, 3,4

Natural topography, various rituals, cultural traditions and Hindu calendars have always influenced the design and construction of temples. We have seen temples aligned to cardinal directions, equinox, and a particular time of the day to capture the Sun's rays to illuminate the temple deity. In this part, we see temples aligned to the Sun's rays, lunar phases and to specific festival  rituals 

Ambabai Temple, Kolhapur

Ambabai Temple in Kolhapur is now addressed as Mahalaxmi Temple. A 7^thcentury temple built during the Chalukya era. The temple survived invasions and remained a spiritual hub despite political instability. Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar made significant contributions to the temple's renovation.

This temple is one of the 18 Maha Shakti Peeths in India.

The temple is known for Kirnottsav. The sun’s rays illuminate the deity from foot to top in three days, once from 31 Jan to 02 February and a second time from 9 to 11 November. Why twice a year?

See the annual and diurnal motion of the Sun explained in Temple Astronomy 4

 

Sunset rays on the idol of the Ambabai temple

Kopeshwar Temple, Khiradpur, Maharashtra

 

The 12^thCentury Kopeshwar temple is located in Khidrapur village on the banks of the river Krishna in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. The temple was built by the king Gandharaditya of the Shilahara dynasty in the 12^th century.

Swarg Mandap

 Structural Layout of the Swarg Mandap

The floor layout is structured as a series of concentric stone circles holding 48 beautifully hand-carved pillars:

The Rangshila, A massive, perfectly circular, machine-cut monolithic stone slab exactly 13 to 14 feet in radius, is positioned at the dead centre of the floor.

The Inner Ring of 12 Pillars Encircles the Rangshila. These 12 pillars represent the 12 Rashis. They support the 13-foot radius open oculus directly above.

The Middle Ring of 16 Pillars: Expands outward to stabilise the load-bearing stone beams.

The Outer Ring of 12 Pillars + 8 Gate Pillars forms the outer perimeter wall. The 8 gate pillars structurally anchor the 4 cardinal entryways, matching the 8 directions of Vastu Shastra.

Because the Kopeshwar Temple is built near 16.6° North, the zenith (the point directly above your head) corresponds to a celestial declination of +16.6°.

 The designer of this temple must have been an astronomer, an architect-priest who understood the Analemma.

An object will align directly in the centre of the vertical roof oculus only if its nightly path brings it near this specific overhead angle.

The Central Axis Overlap (November 24, 2026 — Kartik Purnima): 

This is the precise night of the historical alignment. As the moon transits the local meridian around midnight, it passes through the absolute dead centre of the 13-foot circle. The cold moonlight falls as a clean circular beam, completely covering the Rangshila slab below.

The full moons of other months will either be too low or just skim the circumference of the window.

See diagram below showing the altitude position of full Moons for the year 2026 with respect to the temple.

But why? See Analemma for a detailed astronomical explanation

The local legend says that the Garbhagriha has the Shivling, which is illuminated on 4^th May every year. (This phenomenon needs to be checked and confirmed)

Khajuraho Temples

Khajuraho temples and erotic art forms have become synonymous. In fact, the more interesting part is the selection of the temple complex site by the astronomer-architect priests, aligned with celestial bodies and in sync with the Hindu calendar and festivals.

 The complex was constructed during the Chandela era, from the 9^th to 12^th centuries. There were a total of 84 temples, of which only 23 remain, in various states of condition. Of these, 6 are associated with Shiva, 5 with Goddesses, different forms of Shiva’s consort, 8 with Vishnu, 1 with Ganesh and 3 as Jain temples.

The temple complex layout is in three groups, Eastern, Western and Southern, with Dantala hills being the Eastern barrier. All the temples were of two religions, Hinduism and Jainism.  Gen Cunningham had made a sketch of the area and the temples during his visit in 1864. The sketch is still used today as a datum and reference.

Peculiarities of Khajuraho Temples The 

Khajuraho temple area gives an appearance of a Shivite landscape. The temple area has Dantala hills as the Eastern boundary and Lavanya hills as the southeast boundary, the two are separated by Khudar river, flowing west to east. All the temples face in the Eastern direction, to face the Eastern arc of Sunrise, except for one, the Chaturbhuja temple.

A Shiva shrine atop Dantla and a Mahishasurmardini shrine on Lavanya Hill symbolise male and female elements, divided by the creative Khudar River

Influenced by medieval tantric cults, Khajuraho’s erotic sculptures represent the sacred metaphysical union of Purusha and Prakriti as a pathway to Moksha.

 The western group of temples symbolises the yantra, Cosmogram, with three faces of Shiva as male (Matangeshvara, Kandariya and Vishvanatha) and three forms of Devi (Devi-Chhatri, Chatusath Yogini and Devi Jagadamba) as female. A detailed explanation and analysis are given by Dr Rana in his paper.²

The temples were a popular local pilgrimage centre, primarily to celebrate two festivals, ie, Mahashivratri and Holi. Most Hindu temples are designed according to the Vastu Purush principle and are aligned with cardinal directions. Astronomer Kim Malville was surprised to find that these temples did not align with the cardinal direction. His research led him to believe that these temples might be aligned with the festivals of Holi and Shivaratri. Holi is on Phalgun Poornima, closer to the Vernal equinox, and Shivaratri is 16/17 days earlier. He retropolated to the 9^th and 10^th centuries and found that the temples were aligned to Holi and Shivaratri.

 List of Temples

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temple Orientation and dates of festivals

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trivia

1. The name of the Goddess of Kolhapur is 'Ambabai'. She was never known as Mahalakshmi. There are 52 Shakti Peethas of the Goddess Adishakti Sati across India. Of these, three and a half Shakti Peethas are located in Maharashtra. If Ambabai of Kolhapur is recognised as a Shakti Peetha, she cannot, by definition, be the consort of Lord Vishnu; this is because the 52 Shakti Peethas were established at the very spots where the 52 fragments of Goddess Sati's body fell. Ambabai is the consort of Lord Shiva and not Lord Vishnu, as is being quoted 

 2. All signs and artefacts around the deity are of lord Shiva in Kolhapur Ambabai Temple.

 3. The christening of Mahalaxmi has happened in the last two decades.

 4. The Kopeshwar temple's southern door has a carved inscription in Sanskrit, written in Devnagari script. It mentions that the temple was renovated in 1136 by Raj Singhadev of yadav dynasty.

 5. The Khajuraho temple complex had 84 temples, out of which only 23 remain.

 6. There are three more Shiva lingams in India known as Matangeshvara, i.e., at Kedaranath in the Himalaya (Shiva’s original abode), at Kashi/ Varanasi along the Ganga River (the second home of Shiva), and in the town of Gaya at the bank of the Phalgu River. All these sites are described in the purāṇic stories as the cremation areas where Shiva roams.  

7. The Khajuraho temple complex was rediscovered by Captain T.S. Burt, a British engineer, who visited the area in 1838

8. The convention of depicting erotic figures was not invented by the sculptures of Khajuraho. It was prevalent in the period from the  6^th to the  14^th centuries. Texts on temple art and the Shilpshastras have recognised the aspects of erotic art. They were seen in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain sects. Even the Konark temple has similar erotic sculptures 

9. Dr Devangana Desai gives out in detail the reasons for erotic motifs all over India in her book "Erotic Sculpture of India: A Socio-cultural Study" and research papers, which are mentioned in the references below.

 ......part 6 follows

 

 Credits - Dr Rana PB Singh.

All sketches, extracts and mentions are reproduced with permission from authors and as per the copyright rules of online sites

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References

1. Singh, Rana P.B. (2025), Sacred Landscapes of India. CMDR Mon. 113.

2. Cosmic Order and Cultural Astronomy: Sacred Cities of India by Rana PB Singh

3. Archeoastronomy in India by Subhash Kak

4. Report of Tours in Bundelkhand and Malwa in 1874-75 and 1876-77 ...published in 1880 by Alexander Cunningham

5. Archaeological survey of India reports, vol II, VII, X, XXI, Simla – Calcutta 1864-85

   by Gen Alexander Cunningham

 6. Khajuraho by Dr Devangana Desai,

7. Erotic Sculpture of India: A Socio-cultural Study by Dr Devangana Desai