An antarala is the small vestibule or transitional chamber that connects the garbhagriha to the mandapa immediately in front of it, forming a short passage between the outer pillared hall, where the congregation gathers, and the small, dark inner sanctum where the deity's image is housed. Physically the antarala is usually modest in scale compared to the halls on either side of it, often narrow enough to hold only a doorway and a short covered passage, but its architectural role is disproportionate to its size, since it is the single point through which every approach to the garbhagriha must pass.
In many temples the antarala's doorway is itself one of the most heavily carved surfaces in the entire building, framed with sculpted door guardians, auspicious river goddesses, and bands of decorative motifs, treating the physical threshold into the sanctum as an object of focused ritual and artistic attention in its own right rather than a plain functional opening. Some temple plans dispense with a distinct antarala altogether, attaching the mandapa directly to the garbhagriha, while others extend it into a more substantial ardhamandapa, or half-hall, blurring the line between a true transitional vestibule and a small preliminary chamber of its own.