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Shikhara (IAST: ), a Sanskrit word translating literally to "mountain peak", refers to the rising tower in the Hindu temple architecture of North India, and also often used in Jain temples. A shikhara over the garbhagriha chamber where the presiding deity is enshrined is the most prominent and visible part of a Hindu temple of North India. In South India, the equivalent term is vimana; unlike the shikhara, this refers to the whole building, including the sanctum beneath. In the south, shikhara is a term for the top stage of the vimana only, which is usually a dome capped with a finial; this article is concerned with the northern form. The southern vimana is not to be confused with the elaborate gateway-towers of south Indian temples, called gopuram, which are often taller and more prominent features in large temples. Shikhara can be classified into three main forms: Latina. The latina shikhara has four faces, which may include projections or ratha within each face. All the elements run smoothly up the face in a curve. They are also sometimes called "homogeneous" shikhara, as opposed to the next two types, which may be called "heterogeneous". It is the most common form of a shikara. Sekhari. The sekhari shape has added engaged (attached) sub-spires or spirelets called urushringa, echoing the main shape. These may run up most of the face. There may be more than one size of these, sometimes called secondary and tertiary. Tertiary spirelets are typically near the ends of the face or on the corners. Bhumija. The tower has miniature spires, in horizontal and vertical rows, all the way to the top, creating a grid-like effect on each face. The tower is generally less strongly vertical in overall shape, often approaching a pyramidal shape. This shape is mainly found in the northern Deccan and West India. The early history of the Hindu shikhara is unclear, but the Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya has a straight-sided shikhara tower over 55 metres (180 feet) high, with an amalaka near the top.

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Dravidian architecture

Dravidian architecture, or the South Indian temple style, is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged from South India, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. It is seen in Hindu temples, and the most distinctive difference from north Indian styles is the use of a shorter and more pyramidal tower over the garbhagriha or sanctuary called a vimana, where the north has taller towers, usually bending inwards as they rise, called shikharas.

Vimana (architectural feature)

Vimana is the structure over the garbhagriha or inner sanctum in the Hindu temples of South India and Odisha in East India. In typical temples of Odisha using the Kalinga style of architecture, the vimana is the tallest structure of the temple, as it is in the shikhara towers of temples in West and North India. By contrast, in large South Indian temples, it is typically smaller than the great gatehouses or gopuram, which are the most immediately striking architectural elements in a temple complex.

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