Ardhamandapa

In Hindu temple architecture, Ardhamandapa (lit.

It is an entrance porch forming a transitional area between the outside and a mandapa of the temple.

[1][2] Ardhamandapa is usually an open—to provide light and air—four-pillared pavilion in front of the entrance door of mandapa of the temple.

If the temple mandapa has three entrance doors, there have to be three such porches, one on each side.

[3] Most Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist temples feature various transitional spaces between the central shrine (garbhagriha) and the outside world, but only the largest, most developed temples offer the full set of these elements: ardhamandapa, mandapa, and mahamandapa, with the first being the lowest.