The Temple Architecture of India is a book by Adam Hardy published by Wiley in November 2007 (ISBN: 0 470028270). The study is the result of nearly 25 years of research in this field.

The temples of India (Buddhist, Hindu and Jain) are unparalleled in their combination of direct sensuous appeal and complex formal structure. Starting from basics and setting the architecture in its historical, cultural and religious context, this book explains the principles and processes underlying the designs of these monuments. It traces the origins and formation of the two classical ‘languages’ of Indian temple architecture, the northern Nagara and southern Dravida, and their extraordinarily varied development during the great age of temple building between the 6th and 13th centuries. The book surveys the continuing vitality of these systems up to the present, and explores the lessons that can be learned from them by architects and artists today.

By giving a coherent explanation of how to look at this architecture, as a whole and in detail, the book is able to convey a lucid and comprehensive understanding of the design conception of the temples and of their development. The starting point of the analysis is the realisation that the principal elements of temple designs are themselves images of temples. Once this is recognised, the complex architectural compositions become clear. It can then be seen that a widespread concern of this architecture is the expression of movement. Recurrent perceptions of the cosmos and the divine in Indian religion and philosophy are shown to have close parallels in patterns of emanation and centrifugal growth embodied in architectural form.

This is a generously illustrated work, and the numerous photographs and analytical drawings are an integral part of its arguments.