What do the temples in India look like, and how are they used?

in simple words , temple is to hindus what church is to you christians

while you have the idol of christ in church , hindus have their gods idols inside the temple

how are they used?? :: the same way you are using church (to pray)

These may also be called by other names, including mandir or mandira, ambalam, kavu, koil or kovil, déul, devasthana and devalaya, depending on the region in the Indian subcontinent and its local language.

Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history. Some date as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. In the present day magnificent Hindu temples have been built in various countries of the world including India, Nepal, Great Britain, the United States, Australia, South Africa and Canada.

copied from wiki::The word temple, however, is used frequently in the tradition of Eastern Christianity and particularly the Eastern Orthodox Church, where the principal words used for houses of worship are temple and church. The use of the word temple comes from the need to distinguish a building of the church vs. the church seen as the Body of Christ. In the Russian language (similar to other Slavic languages) while the general-purpose word for "church" is tserkov, the term khram (Храм), "temple", is used to refer to the church building as a temple of God (Khram Bozhy). The words "church" and "temple", in this case are interchangeable; however, the term "church" (Ancient Greek: ἐκκλησία) is far more common. The term temple is also commonly applied to larger churches. Some famous churches which are referred to as temples include Hagia Sophia, Saint Basil's Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, or the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade, Serbia. See also: Orthodox church (building) and catholicon

Most temples in India are very old like the one in the Ellora caves while the new ones are very well planned like the Akshardham temple in New Delhi. They have brilliant architecture and they are places of worship for the Hindu people. There is always an idol and there will be pandits (priests) and there'll be prashad (sort of like a sweet).

Sometimes there'll be a lake/pond outside.

Temples in India are the buildings used to pray. However, a temple can be as small as a small drawer and massive extending to acres. Hindu temples have idols.

They look like this,typicaly.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5...

They are used to pray. Sometimes there's 'bhajan'(spiritual song) programme there. Some temples have homeless shelters.

Here is all you will need:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_temple