A temple corridor is usually a long run of pillars at a regular spacing under a deep stone or RCC soffit, with people walking beneath it from early morning until late at night on festival days. Those three conditions decide the lantern more than the style of the temple does. This note answers what a temple trust, its architect or its contractor needs to settle before ordering cast-aluminium hanging lanterns for a mandir corridor, a mandap entrance or a courtyard. Every code mentioned here is on the hanging lights page with its photographs and dimension drawing.
Which hanging codes suit a modern mandir corridor?
For a plain stone or smooth plastered soffit, start with the two short matte black codes. PHL 2611 is 13 inches tall and 8 wide. PHL 2624 is 14 inches tall and only 5 wide, with a cut pattern on the body. Both stay close to the ceiling, which keeps the walkway clear, and a row of either one reads as a single line of light down the corridor.
Choose PHL 2624 where the bays are narrow or the corridor is long, because its slim body repeats well. PHL 2611 has the broader face and fills a wider bay better.
Our mandir is carved sandstone. Is black still the right finish?
Black against pale stone makes the fittings read as a modern layer on an old building, and some architects want exactly that. When the brief is for the lanterns to sit quietly with the carving, the Antique codes are closer to the warmth of the stone. The shorter ones for a corridor are PHL 2613 (12 × 8 in), PHL 2617 (15 × 7 in), PHL 2610 and PHL 2615 (16 × 7 in each), and PHL 2629 (19 × 6 in), which is in the New Collection.
The two finishes are compared side by side in matte black vs antique gold. If the temple sits in a dusty compound, read how the antique wipe is laid over the powder coat in powder coat and antique finish before the committee decides.
How many lanterns does one corridor need?
Count the bays between pillars. A lantern centred in each bay lines up with the architecture, so the row looks planned from either end of the corridor. As an example, a straight run with 13 pillars on one side has 12 bays and takes 12 lanterns. A parikrama corridor that turns a corner also needs one at each turn, where people change direction.
Keep one code for the whole run. Two codes of similar height still differ in width and pattern, and the difference shows the moment the row is lit.
How low can a lantern hang where crowds pass?
The bottom of the lantern has to clear the tallest thing that moves through the corridor on a festival day, which may be a raised thali, a flag or a palanquin carried above head height. In a corridor that usually means a short drop. The method for working out drop and clearance under a soffit is in porch pendant drop and clearance, and it applies to a corridor in the same way.
If the soffit is too low for any hanging code, mount a lantern on the back wall or on the face of each pillar instead. Nothing then hangs into the walkway at all. Brackets for both positions are listed under wall lights.
What goes under a tall mandap ceiling?
A 13 inch pendant under a high mandap or a double-height entrance looks lost from the courtyard. Move up to a longer body. PHL 2607 is 22 × 8 in in Matte Black, and PHL 2606 is 26 × 8 in in Antique. PHL 2625 and PHL 2626 share an 18 × 10.5 in lattice body, black and Antique respectively, which lets the corridor and the mandap carry related shapes in one finish.
A very tall temple entrance can take PHL 2620, the biggest hanging lantern we cast, listed at 48 × 24 in (1219 × 610 mm) in Raw Grey. How height and ceiling relate is worked through for three soffits in hanging lantern size by ceiling height.
Where each part of the temple compound is lit from
| Position | Type of fitting | Codes or page to start from |
|---|---|---|
| Corridor under a low or medium soffit | Short hanging lantern, one per bay | PHL 2611, PHL 2624 (black); PHL 2613, 2617 (Antique) |
| Corridor where the soffit is too low | Wall lantern on the pillar face or back wall | Wall lights |
| Mandap or entrance with a high ceiling | Long hanging lantern | PHL 2607, 2606, 2625, 2626, 2620 |
| Main gate pillars | Post-top lantern on the pillar cap | Gate lights |
| Open courtyard and parikrama path | Pole lanterns, or short bollards along the edge | Pole lanterns |
The courtyard has no ceiling to hang from, so the light comes from poles of about 2 to 3 m. The gap between them is set out in driveway pole spacing, and short lattice bollards for the edge of a path or a flight of steps are covered in jaali bollard lights. At the main gate, measure the pillar cap before choosing a head, as described in pillar lantern size, so the gate and the corridor beyond it are planned together.
Clear glass or frosted glass in a corridor?
A corridor is seen end to end. A bright lamp behind clear glass repeats down the row as a line of glare points, which is uncomfortable for someone walking towards it. Frosted glass softens each lantern into an even glow. Near the sanctum entrance and the aarti area, smoke from diyas and incense settles on the glass over time, so put the glass on the temple's regular cleaning list. Glass choice by position is set out in clear or frosted lantern glass.
Can the trust buy the bodies and have our electrician fit them?
Yes. Each line on the order can be an empty housing that your electrician glazes and wires on site, or a complete lantern with glass and LED. The lamp holder is B22 unless the quote states another. The trade-off between the two is explained in empty housing vs glass and LED.
We need the corridor lit before a festival. How early should we order?
Work back from the festival date. Around ten catalogue pieces usually leave the Aligarh works in about four days, and larger lots take one to two weeks, with transit to your city on top of that. Place the order before decoration and electrical work start in the temple, so the cable points can be fixed to the bay centres.
A full corridor often reaches 10 pieces, which is where trade lots start, and one to five pieces are billed at retail list. Prices are in INR, ex-works Aligarh, with freight quoted separately. Payment and dispatch terms are on About and shipping.
The temple already has old lanterns. Can you match them?
If the existing design is not in the catalogue, it can be made from a physical sample, for an order of 50 pieces or more. The steps are in replica from your sample. For a smaller extension, picking the nearest catalogue code in the same finish and replacing the whole visible run is usually simpler.
What to send with the enquiry
Send a plan or a phone photograph of the corridor with the number of pillars on each side, the soffit height, the height of the mandap ceiling if it is being lit too, your shortlisted codes and the finish. Say whether each line is an empty housing or a complete lantern, and give the festival date if there is one. WhatsApp it to +91 70176 62533. All 15 hanging codes are in the 2026 catalogue PDF.
Kunal's father Yogendra and his uncle Dharmendra gave the workshop advice behind this post.