Mandapam
The pillared hall or pavilion in a South Indian temple — providing congregational space, processional routes and settings for rituals — ranging from small entrance halls to vast thousand-pillar halls.
A mandapam is a pillared hall in a South Indian Hindu temple complex. It provides congregational space for worshippers, settings for specific rituals, and processional routes linking the inner sanctum to the outer areas of the temple.
Different mandapam types serve different functions: the antaralayam or vestibule links the garbhagriha to the entrance; the mukhamandapam is the hall immediately before the main shrine; the mahamandapam is the large hall used for festivals; the kalyanamandapam is the hall for the divine marriage ceremony. The thousand-pillar halls (ayiramkaal mandapam) of the Vijayanagara and Nayak periods are among the most impressive examples of Dravidian architecture.