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Explore the rich history and art of ancient Indian temples, from the Pallava capital of Kanchipuram to the Chola empire's grand structures. Discover the architectural marvels and cultural significance of these temples.
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King Narasimhavarman II, also known as Rajasimha, ruled in the first quarter of the 8th century • He made the first structural temple in stone in Tamil Nadu, on the shores of the port town of Mamallapuram
A foundation inscription states that he erected this extensive and wondrous house of Siva to reflect his own glory and the laughter of Siva. • The temple is dedicated to Gangadhara Siva, the bearer of the river Ganga.
Kanchipuram • It was the Pallava capital from the 4th to the 9th century. Xuanzang visited Kancheepuram in the 7th century and described it as a glorious city. • There was considerable trade with South-East Asia, China and Rome from early times. Great Buddhist teachers, including the famed Buddhaghosa, lived here in the 6th century
Backgroubd • Asoka, who personally followed the path of the Buddha, patronised the caves made for the Ajivikas, a deeply ascetic sect. • In his inscriptions, the emperor does not mention the Buddha or any specific Buddhist philosophy or text
At Ajanta, by the 5th and 6th centuries, it had become common for ministers of the king, feudatories and members of the royal family to patronise such art and monuments. • Still, until this period there was no inscription that directly attributed the making of temples or caves and their art to a ruler • This is a phenomenon unique to ancient Indian art and history and needs to have more attention focussed upon it
Inscriptions everywhere inform us that it was fishermen, farmers, bankers, merchants, housewives, monks and nuns who paid for the making of all the great sculptures at ancient stupa sites.
A clear shift took place • The grandeur of the king was expressed through art. • The Kushana rulers, who hailed from tribes of Central Asia, had images of themselves made in royal shrines in the 1st century • The Pallava reliefs at Mamallapuram also have portraits of Paramesvara and Rajasimha. • This was a clear departure from Indic norms of art, in which ephemeral personalities were not depicted.
Besides the Siva Linga, the shrines of the temple have the image of the Somaskanda
follow-up • King Vikramaditya II, the early western Chalukyan who ruled in the second quarter of the 8th century, vowed to destroy the city of Kancheepuram. • This was to avenge an earlier Pallava attack on the Chalukyan capital of Vatapi.
His inscription states that when he captured Kancheepuram, he was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the Kaukasanatha temple that he left it untouched. It is possible that the styles of the later Chalukyan monuments, such as the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal, were inspired by this great temple.
Vaikunthaperumal temple • The Vaikunthaperumal temple, dedicated to Vishnu, was made at Kancheepuram in the second half of the 8th century by Nandivarman II. • Inside the enclosure wall of the temple is a pillared gallery with sculpted reliefs, which depict the history and glory of the Pallavas
The Great Living Chola Temples were built by kings of the Chola Empire, which stretched over all of south India and the neighbouring islands. • The site includes three great 11th- and 12th-century Temples: the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur (Rajaraja I ), the Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikondacholisvaram (Rajendra I) and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram (Rajaraja II)
The enlargement of a city is a marker of its prosperity and as the temple city grows and becomes more prosperous, the gateways get larger and larger • These gateways, as they are on the outsides of the sanctum display more and more creatures that are not necessarily directly divine but sometimes semi divine, belonging to worlds that are beyond theDevloka
Gupta period • Many structural temples were made in the Gupta period, from the 4th to the 6th centuries A.D. • However, most of them were made of brick and have not survived.
Chalukyas Temple • The earliest large body of well-preserved temples is of the period of the early Chalukyas, from the 6th to the 8th centuries. • These were made near the banks of the Malaprabha river, in present-day Karnataka, and on the Tungabhadra in Andhra Pradesh.
The Chalukyas rose to power in the mid-6th century and made their capital at Badami, in present-day Karnataka. The earliest monument of their rule is the RavanaPhadi Cave at Aihole, not far from Badami. It was probably made around A.D. 550
This was probably a Shiva or Vishnu temple and got its name from the word ‘Durg’ (fortress) • Unique having an even earlier style of an apsidal shrine which is reminiscent of Buddhist chaitya halls, with a shikhara that is stylistically like a nagara one
constructed at the end of the 7th century by a queen’s son in her honour
The Virupaksha temple was built in A.D. 735 by a queen of King Vikramaditya II to celebrate his victory over the Pallavas of Kanchipuram. • It was probably modelled after the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram, which had greatly impressed the king. • The Virupaksha temple would also have served as the model for the Kailasanatha temple built at Elloraunder the Rashtrakutas, who succeeded the Chalukyas.
BHADRAVYASA (SANCTUM WILL BE LARGE ) • KARNAVYASA (SANCTUM WILL BE SMALL)
TWO types of Latina Temples The two types of latina temples that are commonly found are called the shekhari and the bhumija.
And as you project down the middle you have smaller and smaller spires, each one of them capped by an amalaka till you end up with a cascade of spires • This is called shekhari
Bhumija Types • where you have these horizontal bands which are marked off by these vertical latas, this is called the bhumija type. • Bhumija means being born of the ground and these represent different bhumis or different grounds on which you have a multiplicity of shikharas
The bhumija is primarily found only in Western India, in Southern Rajasthan, Western Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra
