Temples of south

Index1. history 3 to 4

2. Dravidian architecture

6 to 10

3. Materials & construction

11 to 26

4. Infuence from different periods.

27 to 39

5 Anaylisis of typical style of temple

HistoryHistory Architecture invariably employed for Hindu temples in modern Tamil

Nadu from the 7th to the 18th century, characterized by its pyramidal, or kūṭina-type, tower. Variant forms are found in Karnataka

(formerly Mysore) and Andhra Pradesh states.

The external walls of the temple are segmented by pilasters and carry niches housing sculpture.

The South Indian temple consists essentially of a square-chambered sanctuary topped by superstructure, tower, or spire and an attached pillared porch or hall (maṇḍapa, or maṇṭapam), enclosed by a peristyle of cells within a rectangular court.

The superstructure or tower above the sanctuary is of the kūṭina type and consists of an arrangement of gradually receding stories in a

pyramidal shape. Each story is delineated by a parapet of miniature shrines, square at the corners and rectangular with barrel-vault roofs

at the centre. The tower is topped by a dome-shaped cupola and a crowning pot and finial.

The origins of the Drāviḍa style can be observed in the Gupta period. The earliest extant examples of the developed style are the 7th-century rock-cut shrines at Mahābalipuram and a developed structural temple, the Shore Temple (c. 700), at the same site.

A typical Dravidian gate pyramid called Gopuram

Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture

Dravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors, kings, and dancers.

The majority of the existing buildings are located in the Southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka. Various kingdoms and empires such as the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyan, Chera, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara Empire amongst the many others have made a substantial contribution to the evolution of Dravidian architecture through the ages.

Dravidian styled architecture can also be found in parts of Northeastern Sri Lanka, Maldives, and various parts of Southeast Asia.

Dravidian style temples consist almost invariably of the four following parts, arranged in various manners, as afterwards to be explained, but differing in themselves only according to the age in which they were

executed The principal part, the actual temple itself, is called the Vimana. It is always

square in plan, and surmounted by a pyramidal roof of one or more stories; and it contains the cell in which the image of the god or his emblem is placed.

The porches or Mantapams, which always cover and precede the door leading to the cell.

Gate-pyramids, Gopurams, which are the principal features in the quadrangular enclosures that surround the more notable temples.

Pillard halls or Chaultris—properly Chawadis -- used for various purposes, and

which are the invariable accompaniments of these temples.

Besides these, a temple always contains tanks or wells for water—to be used either for sacred purposes or the convenience of the priests—dwellings for all the various grades of the priest-hood are attached to it, and numerous other buildings for state or convenience.

The Dharmaraja-ratha is three-storeyed with a square viguana and an octagonal dome. Though the Arjunaratha is similar to this it is two-storeyed. The Bhimaratha has a wagon-top roof and is single-storeyed unlike the Ganesa ratha, another example of wagon top roof, which is

double-storeyed. The Draupadiratha is hut-shaped and is square in plan and its roof is

domical. The Sahadevaratha represents the apsidal form with its back resembling that of an elephant, a feature high-lighted by the carving of a huge elephant by the side of the monolith. 

The only non-Pallava monolith in the Tamil country is Kalugumalai which was cut-out under the Pandyas. This has been cut out, like the Rastrakuta monoliths in the Deccan, by entrenching all round and not by free cutting of standing rocks as in the Pallava domain.

Though the rock medium appears to have continued for some more time it was soon replaced by structural temples. This movement, as available evidences indicate, appears to have first started under Narasimhavarman I's grand-son Paramesvaravarman (669-691 A.D.),

though it is not unlikely that the practice was still older

A few pillars in the typical Mahendra style, one of them with an inscription of Mahendravarman I, found in the Eltamranatha temple at Kanchipuram seem to suggest that even at the beginning of the seventh century structural mandapas were built. The presence of Pallava pillars at Sivanvayil, Kuram, Vayalur, Tirupporur etc., is

enough to confirm this.

The Vidyavimta Pallavesvaragriha at Kuram built by Paramesvaravarman I is an early structural edifice. The provision of a series of vertical and horizontal slabs instead of a full bAitti is an interesting and early feature in this temple. While this is a small temple and reflects the modest nature of the enterprise, the temples of the next reign are large in size, elaborate in plan and rich in architectural and sculptural decorations. With the accession of Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha the history of Pallava architecture enters upon a new and

eventful phase. While the temples of Kailasanatha at Kanchipuram,

Talagirlsvara at Panamalai and the Shore temple at Mahabalipuram are indisputably assignable to his reign on epigraphical grounds, a large number of other smaller temples are also stylistically akin to them. The temples of Vaikuntanatha, Muktesvara and Matangesvara at Kanchipuram are said to be slightly later and belong to the reign of Nandivarman Pallavamalla. 

Materials and construction.Materials and construction.

The Kailasanatha is four-storeyed and is an example of

sandharaprasada containing two walls providing an ambulatory.

The storeys are decorated with architectural designs like kutas, kostas and panjaras. The pillars in structural temples are with rampant lions generally and with elephants, nagas and bhulas at times. Niches are to be seen in both the rock-cut and structural temples and have a makaratorana decoration on their top, the makaras in them having floriated tails overflowing on the sides. The corbels are generally curved in profile with the taranga (wave moulding) ornament and a median

band. The gopuras are absent in these early temples. 

In the Kailasanatha at Kanchi and the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram there are faint but unmistakable suggestions of gopuradhvaras which were to evolve into towers. Another feature of these early structural temples is the almost prodigal sculptural embellishment of the exterior walls. The carvings are invariably those of deities, a few of which appear to be fresh inceptions from the Calukyan area.

Masonary temples are based on forms derived from timber construction roofed with thatch.

Writers on Indian archi. Have tended to assume that stone forms of timber origin are copies of wooden buildings, as if no process of transformation has taken place.

It is known that wooden shrines, even of a monumental kind, existed centuries earlier than the first masonary temples, and it most probable that such shrines would later have built contemporaneously with the more permanent monuments.

Even the earliest of surviving dravida shrines represent timber forms symbolically rather than literally, in a language of stone mouldings.

“brick” was the material prescribed for the construction of Vedic altar, the ritual four of the most ancient form of Hinduism, and as such was in use for religious structures of the first Indian architecture in stone.

Several of the free-standing temples are of brick. Here it was also common practice to build a brick superstructure over

a stronger, stone sanitary, usually of granite.

A stone temple and a brick one of the same type are identical in their details, and if rendered & painted cannot be told apart.

Brick superstructures are found in the karnata dravid tradition but only rarely.

No brick temples from this tradition survive, or at least none have been documented

Firstly, the large mandapa, not found in pallava & cola temples as it is in Karnataka, depends on a trabeated form of construction not possible in brick.

Secondly, the intricacy of the later styles would have had to be comprised in brick versions.

In only case, it is in stone that the architecture of the Karnataka dravida tradition is known to us, particularly in red or gold sandstone of the earlier periods & later the bluish or greenish grey chloritic schist known as soapstone.

Stone architecture in India began in cave temples –sanctuaries carved out of solid rock, at first by Buddhists from around the 3rd century b.c.

It is well known that, before Islamic influence, the Indian builders never, or virtually never, used the true arch, as apposed to the corbelled arch,& remained reluctant to do so.

The roofs &mandapas are supported on columns &beams & consist of slabs spanning from beam to beam or later of diagonal arrangement of piled up slabs, or corbelled domes.

A pradaksinapatha is roofed by simple slabs, sloping gently from the garbhagrha walls.

The roofs of the earlier temples, on the flat roofed nave & the sloping aisles,often achieve protection from rain by means of semi-cylindrical pieces of stone lain over the joints between the slabs, with a reces underneath into which an upstand turns from each slab.

Later the entire flat roof seems have been covered with mud.

It was more a monument of triumph than a strict example of temple architecture. It is in this temple that one notices for the first time two gopuras oriented in the same direction. They are architecturally coeval with the main vimana and are referred to in inscriptions as Rajarãjan tiruvasal and Keralãntakan tiruvasal In spite of the massive size of the gopuras the vimãna, rising majestically to a height of 190 feet, continues to dominate and it is only in the subsequent,period that a change in the

gradation of magnitude takes place

the most distinguishing feature of the temples of the late Chola phase is the increased height of the gopuras. The five-storeyed gopuras at Tiruvenkädu, Uyyakondan-Tirumalai, Tiruccengättãngudi and Kumbhakonam must belong to this phase. Besides the gopura, pillared mandapas were also built within the temple complex, some of them being shaped in the form of a chariot by the addition of wheels and horses and elephants.

The mandapas become large and conspicuous adjuncts during this period due to the multiplication and elaboration of religious rituals and ceremonial observances. The Kalyãnamandapa, Sopãnatmandapa, Davana mandapa, Sndpanamandapa, Alañkãramandapa, etc., are the usual mandapas in addition to the ardha, mukha and mahã mandapas of

earlier times. Some of these mandapas are, however, not entirely unknown under the

late Colas. A few of them were built outside the temple circuit but not much away from it. These mandapas are essentially pillared halls, open or closed, and contain either a shrine or a raised platform over a huge tortoise either in the centre or behind. They are also notable for their pillars which are rich in sculptural work and to which are attached riders on horse or lion or yãli. The fluted type of simple pillars becomes rare and huge and monolithic ones are often seen. They have ornamental brackets forming their capitals, below each of which is a pendant. This pendant has been in many examples elaborated into a ‘volute which terminates as an inverted lotus bud.

The niches in the walls are not surmounted by torãnas as in Pallava and Chola temples but have a simple pañjara design over them. What is more, the niches are empty, without any image in them. Their old functional character has been lost and they remain a simple ornamental design on the exterior of the wall. The increase in the height of the gopuras and in the number of prãkaras is yet another feature. The gopuras are generally seven storeyed and are large and tall, especially in the Pandya region. The most typical gopuras of this period are to be found at Kañchipuram, Srirangam, Chidambaram and Tiruvannamalai. These are rich with architectural designs like salas, karnakutas and alpanasikas rather than sculptural decoration.

The Vijayanagar mode of architecture was continued by the Nayak rulers of Madurai. In the temples renovated or rebuilt by them, as the ones at Madurai, Rãmesvaram and Tirunelveli, the corbels in the pillars show at their ends a plantain-flower-like motif. The gopuras continue to be slender and tall, the typical example being the Vatapatrasayi gopura at Srivilliputtur which is eleven-storeyed. The corridors in these temples, unlike those of earlier periods, are provided with ceilings which are at times painted.

The Tanjore temple is undoubtedly the grandest achievement of the

age.

Influence from different periodsIn Southern India seven kingdoms and empires stamped their influence on architecture during different times.:

Pallavas

Pallava (600-900 AD)Pallava (600-900 AD) The earliest examples of temples in the Dravidan style belong to the

Pallava period. The temple architecture of the Pallavas is divided into two groups: rock-cut (610-690 AD) and structural (690-900 AD). The greatest accomplishments of the Pallava architecture are the rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram

These temples are further divided into excavated pillared halls or mandapas and monolithic shrines known as rathas. The five rathas were built by Narasimhavarman I (625-645 AD) and are named after Draupadi, Arjuna, Bhima, Dharmaraja and Sahadeva. The Dharmarajaratha is the longest and most complete of these rathas. The famous Kailasanatha and the Vanikunthaperumal temples at Kanchipuram are the best specimens of the structural temples of the Pallavas.

. The temple complex consists of a sanctum, preceded by a mandapa and an incipient entrance gateway. Early temples were mostly dedicated to Shiva, and were sparsely adorned in the interiors.

PandyaPandya

Srivilliputtur Andal Temple

Pandyas (1100-1350 AD)Pandyas (1100-1350 AD)

The Pandyas mostly concentrated on the Gopurams, the main entrance. A typical gopuram consists of a building oblong in plan, rising up into a tapering tower and entered by a rectangular doorway in the centre of its long side.

The Sundara Pandya gopuram, added to the temple of Jambukesvara around 1250 AD and the gopuram of the great temple at Kumbakoman (1350 AD) are the best examples of the gopurams of the Pandyan times.

CholasCholas

The main vimanam (tower) of the Thanjavur Temple

The Chola art is a continuation of that of Pallava times. The Cholas had built several hundreds of temples, the earlier examples of which were modest in size while the later ones were huge and large with the Vimanas or gopuras dominating the landscape. Mention must be made of the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Tanjavur, the capital established by the Chola

ruler Rajaraja-I The 55 metres long main structure of the temple had a 58 metres feet

tall pyramidal tower or shikhara. The temple is composed of several structures combined axially, such as a Nandi pavilion, a pillared portico and a large assembly hall, all aligned in the centre of a spacious walled enclosure.

The temples at Thanjavur, Chidambaram, Sri Rangam, Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, Darasuram and Tribhuvanam amply illustrate the style of architecture that characterised the monuments in southern India between the 11th-13th centuries. The Chola style of architecture also had a considerable influence on the architecture of temples of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and those of the Southeast Asian kingdoms like Sri Vijaya (Sumatra) and Chavakam (Java).

Badami ChalukyasBadami Chalukyas

Virupaksha temple, Pattadakal, Karnataka built in 740

RashtrakutasRashtrakutas

The view of the Kailash temple from the top

Western Chalukyas

Dodda Basappa temple, Dambal, Gadag district, Karnataka

HoysalasHoysalas

Symmetrical architecture on Jagati, Somanathapura, KarnatakaMain article: Hoysala architecture

Hoysala (1100-1350 AD)Hoysala (1100-1350 AD)

Temples erected during the Hoysala kings have complicated plans with numerous angled projections. Carved surfaces are executed with remarkable precision, usually in chlorite. Temples from the Hoysala period can be seen at Belur, Halebid and Sringeri

After the reign of the Hoysalas, architectural traditions were interrupted by Muslim raids at the end of the 13th century. Monumental temple building resumed later under the Vijayanagara Empire.

VijayanagarVijayanagar

Virupaksha Temple at Hampi, KarnatakaMain article: Vijayanagar Architecture

Vijayanagara (1350-1565 AD)Vijayanagara (1350-1565 AD)

By the 16th century almost all of southern India was part of the Vijayanagara Empire. The main contributions of the Vijayanagar period were the tall massive gopurams and the multiple mandapas. Unlike the Chola style, where the entire temple structure was usually a unified whole, there were numerous mandapas, pillared halls, shrines to

minor deities, etc

Another major feature is the carved pillars - with the rearing simhas (lions), yalis (lions with elephant trunks. The Temple of Pampapati, the Hazararama temple and the Vittalaswami temple are the best examples of the Vijayanagar architecture. The ruins of Buggala Ramalingeswara at Tadpatri also depict the Vijayanagar architecture at its best.