Compare and contrast

By Justine Zitman

The Lakshmana temple was the first of several temples built by the
Chandella kings in their newly-created capital of Khajuraho. Between
the 10th and 13th centuries, the Chandellas patronized artists, poets,
and performers, and built irrigation systems, palaces, and numerous
temples out of sandstone. At one time over 80 temples existed at this
site, including several Hindu temples dedicated to the gods Shiva,
Vishnu, and Surya.[3] There were also temples built to honor the divine
teachers of Jainism. The central deity at the Lakshmana temple is an
image of Vishnu in his three-headed form known as Vaikuntha[4] who
sits inside the temples inner womb chamber also known as garba
griha (above)an architectural feature at the heart of all Hindu
temples regardless of size or location. The womb chamber is the
symbolic and physical core of the temples shrine. It is dark,
windowless, and designed for intimate, individualized worship of the
divinequite different from large congregational worshipping spaces
that characterize many Christian churches and Muslim mosques.

Taj Mahal, Agra, India, 1632-53. Mumtaz Mahal, died due to

complications arising from the birth of their fourteenth child. Deeply
saddened, the emperor started planning the construction of a suitable,
permanent resting place for his beloved wife almost immediately. The
result of his efforts and resources was the creation of what was called
the Luminous Tomb in contemporary Mughal texts and is what the
world knows today as the Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in
Agra, where he took the throne in 1628. Entry to the Taj Mahal complex
via the forecourt, which in the sixteenth century housed shops, and
through a monumental gate of inlaid and highly decorated red
sandstone made for a first impression of grand splendor and
symmetry: aligned along a long water channel through this gate is the
Tajset majestically on a raised platform on the north end. The
rectangular complex runs roughly 1860 feet on the north-south axis,
and 1000 feet on the east-west axis.