Garbha grha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since February 2007.

A garbha gṛha is the innermost chamber of an temple in India and some other countries. Although the term is often used of Hindu temples, it is also found in Jain and Buddhist temples and holy places.

The garbha grha contains the shrine, or the primary focus of worship of the temple. In those temples with a spire or vimana, this room is placed directly underneath it, and the two then form a main vertical axis of the temple. These together may be understood to represent the axis of the world through Mount Meru.

In many temples it is a dark and poorly lit chamber, both because of its seclusion, but also with an intent to focus the worshipper's mind on the image contained in it. Entrance to the garbha grha is sometimes restricted to priests, and worshippers may then only be allowed to come to its door.

The term literally means womb-house (usually translated as womb-chamber), after the Sanskrit words garbha for womb, and gṛha for house.