The Temple Architecture styles:
 The northern style, technically called nagara, is distinguished by the curvilinear towers. It originated during the Gupta period (320 -650 AD) and is found mostly in North and Central India. The major developments in temple architecture were during: Dravida The evolution of Southern temples were as follow:
Nagara
750 – 1250 AD [AD/CE] in Orissa
950 – 1050 AD in Central India
10th to 11th Century
in Rajasthan and
11th to 13th Century in Gujarat.
The temple complexes at TIGAWA (In modern MADHYA PRADESH), NACHNA in
RAJASTHAN and DEOGARH in UTTAR PRADESH are examples of this. Some of temples
worth seeing are LINGARAJA temple at Bhubaneshwar, JAGANNATHA temple in Puri,
SURYA temple at Konarak. Earliest temples in north and central India which have
withstood the vagaries of time belong to the Gupta period, 320-650 A. D.
Mention may be meda of the temples at Sanchi, Tigawa (near Jabbalpur in Madhya
Pradesh), Bhumara (in MP), Nachna (Rajasthan) and Deogarh (near Jhansi, Uttar
Pradesh).
The southern style, known
as the dravida, has its towers in the form of truncated pyramids. The southern
style DRAVIDIAN temples had its genesis during the
age of the PALLAVAS of Kanchipuram (600 -850 AD) and later developed by the
CHALUKYAS of Badami and PANDYAS of Madurai. The temple complexes at
MAMMALAPURAM / MAHABALIPURAM in Tamil nadu, LAKDHAN temple in Aihole and
Kasinatha temple in Pattadakkal are examples of this style of architecture.
Pic: Jvaraharesvara Temple at Kanchipuram
600 -850 AD in Tamil nadu during the period of
the Pallavas ( rock cut and RATHA style temples of Mahabalipuram, Kailasanatha
and Vaikunta Perumal temples of Kanchipuram)
900 – 850 in Tamil Nadu during the Chola
dynasty (Brihadeeshwara and Srirangam temples)
1336 – 1565 during the period of the Vijayagara
empire in Karnataka (Pampavati and Sri Vithala temples at Hampi)
1600 to 1700 during the Nayaks of Madurai. (Enlarged the existing Meenakshi temple
complex by making it ornate and adding pillared corridors)
Pic: The south Tower of Madurai Meenakshi Temple.
Photograph by Thresy Anil.
Among the earliest surviving temples in South India are found in Tamil
Nadu and northern Karnataka. The cradle of Dravidan school of architecture was
the Tamil country which evolved from the earliest Buddhist shrines which were
both rock-cut and structural. The later rock-cut temples which belong roughly
to the period 500-800 A.D. were mostly Brahmanical or Jain, patronised by three
great ruling dynasties of the south, namely the Pallavas of Kanchi in the east,
the Calukyas of Badami in the 8thcentury A.D, the Rastrakutas of Malkhed came
to power and they made great contributions to the development of south Indian
temple architecture. The Kailasanatha temple at Ellora belongs to this period.
Vesara (vEsara):
Pic: Hoysala pillars in Belur temple
Pic: Belur temple
Photographs by Bindu P V
Vesara (vEsara) (???? ????) is the name given to a particular
architectural style which was prevalent in Karnataka for a number of centuries
during the medieval era. It is essentially a combination of the ‘nAgara’ and
‘drAviDa’ styles which are typical of North India and the far South
respectively.
The geographical position of Karnataka, the wide spread activities of
the important royal dynasties and an attitude which is not unduly stubborn
might have prompted this amalgamation of styles.
The VESARA style temples were influenced
by the Buddhist apsidal chapels and evolved during the period the Later
CHALUKYAS.
This is also in conformity with the prevalence of Vesara style
of architecture in the Deccan and central
parts of South Asia vis-à-vis Nagara style prevalent in North India and
Dravida style prevalent in South India.The Vesara style
is also described in some texts as the 'Central Indian temple architecture
style' or 'Deccan architecture'. However many historian agree that
the vesara style originated in what is today Karnataka. The trend was
started by the Chalukyas of Badami (500-753AD) who built
temples in a style that was essentially a mixture of the nagara and
the dravida styles, further refined by the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (750-983AD)
in Ellora, Chalukyas of Kalyani (983-1195
AD) in Lakkundi,
Dambal, Gadag etc. and
epitomized by the Hoysala empire (1000-1330 AD).
According
to Cousens the famous scholar, the Vesara style reduces the height of the
temple towers even though the numbers of tiers are retained. This is
accomplished by reducing the height of individual tiers. The semi circular
structures of the Buddhist chaityas are also borrowed as in the Durga temple at
Aihole.
Many
temples in Central India and the Deccan have used the
Vesara style with regional modifications. The Papanatha temple (680 A.D.) in
particular and some other temples to a lesser extent located at Pattadakal
demonstrate panache for this stylistic overlap. The Svargabrahma temple at
Alampur in the state of Andhrapradesh, has similar characteristics.
This
trend of merging two styles was started by the Chalukyas of Badami (500-753AD)
who built tem-ples in a style that was es-sen-tially a mix-ture of
the nagara and the dravida styles, fur-ther re-fined by the
Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (750-983AD) in Ellora, Chalukyas of Kalyani
(983-1195 AD) in Lakkundi, Dambal, Gadag etc. and epit-o-mized by the Hoysalas
(1000-1330 AD). Most of the temples built in Halebid, Belur and Somanathapura
are classified under this style. “The surfaces in these Hoysala temples are
carved in high-relief with detailed repeating patterns of miniature shrine
models, distinguishing them also from contemporary temples in other parts
of India that have an elaborate use of human and animal figures on
their decorative exterior.”
The
temples built in the Vesara style are found in other parts of India also. They
include tem-ples at Sirpur, Baijnath, Baroli and Amarkantak. The tem-ple
com-plex at Kha-ju-raho is a typ-i-cal ex-am-ple of the Vesara style.In the
west (northern Karnataka) the Aihole and Pattadakal group of temples
(5th to 7th centuries) show early attempts to evolve an acceptable
regional style based on tradition. Among the better known early structural
temples at Aihole are the Huchimalligudi and Durga temples as also the Ladkhan
temple, all assigned to the period 450-650 A.D. Equally important are the
temples of Kasinatha, Papanatha, Sangamesvara, Virupaksa and others in
Pattadakal near Aihole as also the Svargabrahma temple at Alampur (Andhra
Pradesh). It is in some of these temples, built by the later Calukyas, that we
come across the vesara style, a combination of the northern and the southern
modes.
There are many ancient texts laying down the formal architectural styles
prevalent in the various regions so that the comprehensive text called the
Vastu Sastra has its sources in the Sutras, Puranas and Agamas besides Tantric
literature and the Brhat Samhita. But all of them are agreed that basically
styles can be divided into nagara, dravida and vesara. They employ respectively
the square, octagon and the apse or circle in their plan. In its later
evolution when the vesara style adopted the square for the sanctum. The
circular or stellar plan was retained for the vimana. These three styles do not
pertain strictly to three different regions but as indicating only the temple
groups. The vesara, for instance, which came to pravail mostly in western
Deccan and south Karnataka was a derivation from the apsidal chapels of the
early Buddhist period which the Brahmanical faith adopted and vastly improved.
In its origin, the vesara is as much north Indian as it is west Deccanese.
Similarly among the 6th – 7th century shrines of Aihole and
Pattadakal we find evidance of nagara style in the prasadas or vimanas. The dravida
or Tamilian style cecame very popular throughout south India only from the
Vijayanagar times onward. While the prasada or vimana of the nagara style rises
vertically from its base in a curvilinear form, that of the dravida rises like
a stepped pyramid, tier upon tier. The northern style came to prevail in
Rajasthan Upper India, Orissa, the Vindhyan uplands and Gujarat.
During the next thousand years (from 600 to 1600 A.D.) there was a
phenomenal growth in temple architecture both in quantity and quality. The first
in the series of southern or dravidian architecture was initiated by the
Pallavas (600-900A.D.) The rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram (of the ‘ratha’
type) and the structural temples like the shore temple at Mahabalipuram and the
Kailasanatha and Vaikuntha Perumal temples in Kancheepuram (700-800 A.D.) are
the best representatives of the Pallava style. The Pallavas laid the
foundations of the dravidian school which blossomed to its full extent during
the Colas, the Pandyas, the Vijayanagar kings and the Nayaks. The temples, now
built of stone, became bigger, more complex and ornate with sculptures.
Dravidian architecture reached its glory during the Cola period (900-1200 A.D.)
by becoming more imposing in size and endowed with happy proportions. Among the
most beautiful of the Cola temples is the Brhadisvara temple at Tanjore with
its 66 metre high vimana, the tallest of its kind. The later Pandyans who
succeeded the Colas improved on the Colas by introducing elaborate
ornamentation and big sculptural images, many-pillared halls, new annexes to
the shrine and towers (gopurams) on the gateways. The mighty temple complexes
of Madurai and Srirangam in Tamil Nadu set a pattern for the Vijayanagar
builders (1350-1565 A.D.) who followed the dravidian tradition. The Pampapati
and Vitthala temples in Hampi are standing examples of this period. The Nayaks
of Madurai who succeeded the Vijayanagar kings (1600-1750 A.D.) made the
dravidian temple complex even more elaborate by making the gopurams very tall
and ornate and adding pillared corridors within the temple long compound.
Contemporaneous with the Colas (1100-1300A.D.), the Hoysalas who ruled
the Kannada country improved on the Calukyan style by building extremely ornate
temples in many parts of Karnataka noted for the sculptures in the walls,
depressed ceilings, lathe-turned pillars and fully sculptured vimanas. Among
the most famous of these temples are the ones at Belur, Halebid and
Somanathapura in south Karnataka, which are classified under the vesara style.
[Bhumija is a variety of northern Indian Sikhara (tower or spire on top of a shrine) that is
particularly popular in temples of western India, northern Deccan and the Malwa
regions in India. It comprises a central Latina projection, tapering towards
the top on all four faces. The quadrants so formed are decorated with miniature
spires, in horizontal and vertical rows, all the way to the top.[1]
shikhara, (
Sanskrit: “mountain peak”) also
spelled shikara, also called shikar, in North Indian temple architecture,
the superstructure, tower, or spire above the sanctuary and also above the
pillared mandapas (porches or halls); it is the most dominant and
characteristic feature of the Hindu temple in the north. The North Indian shikhara is basically of two types:
(1) the latina, curvilinear
in outline, the type most usually found above the sanctuary; and
(2) the phamsana, rectilinear
in outline and capped by a bell-shaped member, the form more usually found
above the mandapa. The latina
shikhara is composed of a series of horizontal
roof slabs gradually receding toward the top and provided with projections that
extend from the base and wall of the temple. The surface of the shikhara is covered with a vinelike tracery composed of diminutive chandrashalas (ogee arches). Above the truncated top (skandha) projects a necking on which rests a large grooved disk (amalasaraka), and above it sits a pot with a crowning finial. Each
story is indicated by miniature amalasarakas at the four corners, repeated all the way to the top.
The latina
shikhara has two further variations: the shekhari and the bhumija. The shekhari consists of the central latina spires with one or more rows of half spires added on
either side and miniature shikharas clustered along the base and corners. The shekhari was popular from the 10th century onward and can be
observed on most Central Indian temples; the Lakshmana and Kandarya Mahadeva temples at Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh,
have excellent examples.
According to South Indian
architecture texts, the
term shikhara is reserved for the dome-shaped
crowning cap, though art historians
have generally used the term to designate all temple spires, north and south.
The South Indian spire, known as the kutina type, is quite different in shape
from the North Indian shikhara, having a
pyramidal storied arrangement, with each story (bhumi) stepped and relatively
realistically delineated.]
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