Jagati (temple)

Architecture of Khajuraho temples with the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple built on a jagati

Symmetrical architecture on a jagati at Somanathapura

In Hindu temple architecture, the jagati is the raised surface of the platform or terrace upon which some Buddhist or Hindu temples are built.

This feature is one of the five features that can be seen in temples of the Hoysalas.

This feature is seen in temples such as the temples of Khajuraho. It is often not seen in temples enclosed by walls.

The jagati lies on a platform or base called adhiṣṭhāna (among other terms from various languages) which adds to its height. The sides of the adhishthana are often ornamented with relief sculptures, or deep-cut mouldings. In English this may be called by terms from Western Greco-Roman classical architecture including base, plinth and socle. Not all adhisthana lead to a jagati platform; some just follow the walls of the temple buildings, except where there are steps up to the floor level of the temple.

The jagati also allows for ritual circumambulation, i.e. the walking of devotees around the shrine, which is important in both Buddhism and Hinduism. In some large temples, this circumambulation is also possible inside the temple along a walled passage around the shrine sanctum named pradakshina.

Mughal Mausoleums

While the early Islamic mausoleums of India at the time of the Delhi Sultanate were still on level ground or on terrain that was only slightly elevated due to heaped-up earth (Lodi Gardens), the tomb of Sher Khan Suri (around 1540) or the founding building of Mughal architecture, the Humayun Mausoleum (c. 1560), on a significantly elevated stone platform. All important later tombs of the Mughal period follow this example (Akbar Mausoleum, Itimad-ud-Daula Mausoleum, Taj Mahal, Bibi-Ka-Maqbara and others). Although ritual circumambulation of their sacred and memorial buildings was unknown to the Muslims, the reasons for the construction of platforms may have been the same in principle as those in the much older temple buildings of the Hindus. It is also noteworthy that a few platforms of Mughal architecture are open to the outside and contain tombs with cenotaphs for members of the ruler's family.