Question

How did the construction of temples or mosques help a king establish power over
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Answer 1

A temple (from the Latin word templum) is a building reserved for religious or spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. It is typically used for such buildings belonging to all faiths where a more specific term such as church, mosque or synagogue is not generally used in English. These include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism among religions with many modern followers, as well as other ancient religions such as Ancient Egyptian religion.
The form and function of temples is thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be in some sense the "house" of one or more deities. Typically offerings of some sort are made to the deity, and other rituals enacted, and a special group of clergy maintain, and operate the temple. The degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly; often parts or even the whole main building can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a main building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings, or may be a dome shaped structure, much like an igloo.
The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur.[1] It has the same root as the word "template", a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the dwelling places of a god or gods. Despite the specific set of meanings associated with the word, it has now become widely used to describe a house of worship for any number of religions and is even used for time periods prior to the Romans.

Answer 2

Temples and mosques were beautifully built as they were places of worship and also demonstrated the wealth, power, and devotion of the patron. For example the Rajarajeshwara temple was built by king Rajarajadeva to show his devotion to lord Rajarajeshvaram.

Kings took god's name as it was auspicious and showed that his status was equal to that of god's and also through rituals it shows that one god (the king) worships the other god (heavenly god).

Large temples were built by kings and the smaller ones were built by nobles or subordinate kings.

The Muslim kings or Badhshas did not claim to be incarnations of God but the Persians called the Sultan as 'The Shadow of God'. For example inscriptions in the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi explain that God chose Allauddin as a king because he had the qualities of Moses and Solomon.

It also says that the greatest law-giver and architect is God himself who created the world out of chaos and introduced order and balance.

As each new dynasty came into power, kings emphasised on their relation to God and so rulers offered patronage to learned and pious men and transformed their capitals into religious and cultural centres.

The rule of a king in ancient times was considered an age of plenty where all resources were available in plenty, especially water, and so kings built tanks and reservoirs to provide clean water to their subjects.

For example, Iltutmish built the Hauz-i-Sultani (King's Reservoir) a large water reservoir outside Delhi.

Many a time these water sources were built as a part of a mosque or a temple.