Hinduism
A Hindu temple is a house of god(s). It is a space and structure designed to bring human beings and gods together, infused with symbolism to express the ideas and beliefs of Hinduism. A temple incorporates all elements of Hindu cosmology, the highest spire or dome representing Mount Meru – reminder of the abode of Brahma and the center of spiritual universe, the carvings and iconography symbolically presenting dharma, kama, artha, moksha and karma. The layout, the motifs, the plan and the building process recite ancient rituals, geometric symbolisms, and reflect beliefs and values innate within various schools of Hinduism. Hindu temples are spiritual destinations for many Hindus (not all), as well as landmarks for arts, annual festivals, rite of passage rituals, and community celebrations.
Hindu temples come in many styles, diverse locations, deploy different construction methods and are adapted to different deities and regional beliefs. Two major styles of Hindu temples include the Gopuram style found in south India, and Nagara style found in north India. Other styles include cave, forest and mountain temples. Yet, despite their differences, almost all Hindu temples share certain common architectural principles, core ideas, symbolism and themes.
2011 Census of India
The religious data on India Census 2011 was released by the Government of India on 25 August 2015. Hindus are 79.8% (966.3 million), while Muslims are 14.23% (172.2 million) in India. and Christians are 2.30% (28.7 million). According to the 2011 Census of India, there are 57,264 Parsis in India. For the first time, a "No religion" category was added in the 2011 census. 2.87 million were classified as people belonging to "No Religion" in India in the 2011 census 0.24% of India's population of 1.21 billion. Given below is the decade-by-decade religious composition of India until the 2011 census. There are six religions in India that have been awarded "National Minority" status - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. Sunnis, Shias, Bohras, Agakhanis and Ahmadiyyas were identified as sects of Islam in India. As per 2011 census, six major faiths- Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains make up over 99.4% of India's 1.21 billion population, while "other religions, persuasions" (ORP) count is 8.2 million. Among the ORP faiths, six faiths- 4.957 million-strong Sarnaism, 1.026 million-strong Gond, 506,000-strong Sari, Donyi-Polo (302,000) in Arunachal Pradesh, Sanamahism (222,000) in Manipur, Khasi (138,000) in Meghalaya dominate. Maharashtra is having the highest number of atheists in the country with 9,652 such people, followed by Kerala.Hindi is the most widely spoken language in northern parts of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of "Hindi" as a broad variety of "Hindi languages". According to 2011 Census, 57.1% of Indian population know Hindi, in which 43.63% of Indian people have declared Hindi as their native language or mother tongue. The language data was released on 26 June 2018. Bhili/Bhilodi was the most spoken unscheduled language with 10.4 million speakers, followed by Gondi with 2.9 million speakers. 96.71% of India's population speaks one of the 22 scheduled languages as their mother tongue in the 2011 census.