How to see a Temple (HOWSAT)



Why do we go to temples ? 
To worship - yes. 
To celebrate festivals and commemorate special days - yes. 
To devour the mouth watering prasadams - yes !

But what do we know of the multitude of sculptures, paintings, inscriptions and history behind them ?

How To See A Temple (HOWSAT) is a 1-day workshop organized by Tamil Heritage Trust, that attempts to help people see temples through the eyes of a connoisseur. 

The workshop consists of 3 introductory lectures and a field visit. The first lecture is on South Indian Temple Architecture, where we help you learn to identify architectural elements of a typical South Indian temple. The second lecture is on Hindu Iconography, where you are taught to identify various elements - such as posture, ayudhas, ornamentation, mudhras etc that we associate with temple sculptures. The third lecture is an introduction to inscriptions, where you get to see the breadth of inscriptions found in our temples, and the myriad stories they convey. Following these lectures, participants are taken to a field visit nearby (typically Kapaleeswarar temple, Mylapore) and apply concepts that they learnt from the lectures.

So far, Tamil Heritage has conducted 5 such workshops, and over 120 participants. The workshops were all held in Chennai on the following dates.

1) 9-Sep-2018
2) 20-Oct-2018
3) 30-Mar-2019
4) 2-Jun-2019
5) 16-Feb-2020

This is a paid workshop with a nominal fee that includes lunch. We plan to conduct these workshops on a regular basis (2 or 3 times every year). If you are looking to register for these workshops, please follow our Facebook page. You may also contact Kishore Mahadevan (kishoremahadevan@gmail.com) or Siva Thiagarajan (siva.durasoft@gmail.com) from the organizing team.