Step change: Balaji Temple in Bilakalagudur, India by Sameep Padora + Associates
- 17 February 2021
- London EMAP Publishing Limited 2021
South Indian Hindu temples are often built as objects in gardens with one or two water bodies that serve ritual purposes, meet functional requirements and enhance sensory experiences. Gardens and groves house sacred plants and trees, provide flowers (a key offering for the Gods) and create a serene environment. Hagiographies of saints as caring gardeners are common in South India and traditions extol tending to Gods’ gardens and harvesting flowers for offering as Kaimkarya, or ‘a consecrated service’. Deities are bathed with water from ponds, adorned with flowers from gardens and worshipped under the light of fire by the faithful, drawing all the senses in the experience of the sacred.