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Thangal General Temple of Wangkhai
The temple is situated in Wangkhai locality of Imphal
town. It was built by Thangal General in 1879 AD. The temple structure
is raised on a distinct platform. The plan of the pedestal is square.
The sanctum cube of the internal sanctum and the outer jacket is raised
straight up from the base up to the maulding cornice.
The outer jacket
wall on each side opens out with a rectangular opening to lead in front
into four flying steps of staircases. This facilitates the approach
to the circumambulatory path or the pradakshna path from any side.
The cornice is achieved by stepping outward a few courses of brick layers
to make a projection and then making a slant to the projection. The railing
is made by alternate spacing and brick wall and finally giving a horizontal
brick layer on colonnades gripping the corner salas. The first railing
perfectly covers the terrace above the pradakshna path. The second railing
is the replica of the lower railing. The octagonal dome is after the second
railing. The arches converge at the base of the inverted kalasa placed
at the top of the dome. Each arch line can be seen having its ridge line
on the dome surface from above.
On the ground at all four corners,
there is one temple replica of Bengal
hut type on each corner. 'Garbha Griha', the internal sanctum is a square and is surrounded by
pradakshna path. The sanctum cube wall internally can be seen reaching up to the
dome. The parabolic lines of eight arches start from the last
brick layer on the sanctum cube. The ceiling of the circumambulatory path is
slightly curved.
The architectural design is in Bengal style.
The structure of the dome and
decoration of the railings reflect the Islamic influence. The entire
structure is in brick, the mastery of brick masonry is of high order. This also
reveals a step towards artistic adroitness. |
