Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

encyclopedia

ARCHITECTURE

Narasimha, Siva as Nandivahana, Varaha, Mahishasuramardhini

and Harihara.

The Ladhkhan temple has a Shivalinga with a Nandi in the main

shrine. The temple, built about 450 A.D., gets its name from a

Muslim prince who converted it into his residence.

Other temples are unconventional such as the Durga temple

with an apsidal shrine (in the form of a Buddhist

chaitya

) and an

unusual variation in the addition of an ambulatory passage. The

large number of

mithunas

and sculptures of Durga, Vishnu and

Shiva in Gupta style are interesting and controversial. The most

fully developed southern style of the Western Chalukyan temples

is the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal (the 2nd capital of the Cha-

lukyas) built by the architect Sutradhari Gunda for Lokamahadevi,

sister of Trilokyamahadevi (the two queens of Vikramaditya II) to

commemorate his conquest of Kanchipuram. It is said to be mod-

elled after the Raj Simhesvara temple at Kanchipuram. Its features

can be seen as a logical growth of the architectural form that had

been developing in the Chalukyan area at Aihole (but not a copy of

the Kanchipuram temple). A substantial Gopura (gateway with

southern tower) and an independent Nandi Mandapa (square -

shrine in front), deep niches with dynamically posed figures on the

exterior wall are its important features in which the interior contains

narrative panels from the epics. Famous architects of the Cha-

lukyan era were Gobhanadeva, Sarvasiddhi and Sutradhari Gunda.

Gobhanadeva built the temple of Satrunjaya during the 13th cen-

tury. Sarvasiddhi's name is mentioned in an inscription in the Viru-

paksha temple at Pattadakal. His disciple Revadi Ovajja worked on

the sculptural decoration of the Papanatha temple which was built

at the end of the 7th century at Pattadakal. An inscription on the

eastern portico of the Trailokyesvara temple at Pattadakal cites

Sutradhari Gunda as the architect of this temple.

HALEBID

Halebid was the ancient capital of the Hoysala Empire known

then as Dwarasamudra. It was founded in the early eleventh cen-

tury A.D. and sacked by the armies of the Delhi Sultanate in 1311

and 1327. Later it came to be called Halebid. Very few temples have

survived Muslim invasions. Notable among them is the great

Hoysaleswara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.

The building of the temple was started in 1121 A.D. by Ket-

amalla, a general of King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala dynasty.

There are two shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, at Hoysaleswara

and Shantaleswara. The outer wall of the temple is completely

covered with friezes depicting scenes from the

Ramayana

and

Mahabharata.

There is a frieze depicting Vishnu in his incarnation of Nar-

asimha (half man-half lion) killing Hiranyakash. The Hoysalas who

came to power in Mysore in the 11 th Century after defeating the

Chalukyas built temples which are star-shaped. The finest of their

temples is the Hoysaleswara at Halebid in Hassan district. It is a

double temple. The star shape of the vimanas has been used to

present a large number of sculptures of deities.

The exterior of the temple is a riot of carving that almost defies

description. The lower section of the temple consists of a tall

vertical wall some 9 to 10 ft. high. This is made up of a number of

bands and continuous animated designs running right around the

building.

In decorative niches, are innumerable carved figures of various

gods and goddesses, finely cut and ornamented in minute detail. All

the Hindu gods, complete with accessories, attributes and symbols

are on display.

The Chennakesava temple at Belur in Hassan District was built

by Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala king who was converted from

Jainism by Ramanuja. His queen Santala, although a Jain, was en-

thusiastically involved in the project. The temple is a veritable mu-

seum of sculptures, large and small, and intricate vegetal, floral and

animal carvings. It is a triple shrine with three star-shaped

vimanas

radiating from a long-pillared hall to make the temple look cruciform

in plan.

Of the three great Hoysala temples in Karnataka (one at Belur

and one at Halebid) the third one is at Somnathpur. It is of modest

dimensions, 87 feet long and 82 feet wide. The plan is in the shape

of a cross and consists of a central pillared hall with a shrine

attached to three of its sides. Above each of the shrines is a tower,

only about 30 feet high, but well proportioned. The motifs that make

up the shrine towers consist of a grouping of miniature shriiies and

niches. From the outside, the temple reveals a star-like contour.

The temple is set on a chiselled plinth guarded at intervals by mini-

ature elephants. Most of the friezes are narrow bands running the

whole way around the temple: intricately carved rows of capari-

soned elephants, horsemen, swans, mythological beasts and

scrolls, many not over 12 inches high. The scenes are from the

Ramayana

Mahabharata

Bhagvadgita

and the life and times of

Hoysala Kings.

Another important development, contemporaneous to the Cha-

lukyas was Pallava art in South India with their capital at Kanchipu-

ram. Although the Pallavas and Chalukyas reflect certain borrowed

elements (due to political contact) each evolved a highly distinctive

art. The figural style of the Pallavas shows influences of

Satavahana and Ikshavaku art (Buddhist) although the Pallavas

were primarily Shaivites. Their artistic energy was due to royal

patronage as well as religious developments particularly the Alvar

Tamil Vaisnavite poet-saints and Nayanmars. It is assumed that

the early phase of architecture was in rock-cut monuments, while

the later phase is dominated by structural buildings, although the

two phases were one of shift in emphasis than abandonment.

A group of nine 8th century temples at Alampur, in the Kurnool

district of Andhra Pradesh on the banks of the Tungabhadra river

near its confluence with the Krishna, belongs to the early Western

Chalukyan period. The style is similar to the temples of the same

period at Pattadakal. Some of the temples have

sikharas

that are

entirely ribbed. Other temples, in the Southern style, have an

octagonal sikhara like that of the Virupaksha temple at