Development of Temple Architecture in South India- Southern Karnataka

About the Book The present study is an in depth approach to unravel the development of temple architecture in the region of Bangalore and Kolar Districts of southern Karnataka. The area selected for this study comprises of the present Bangalore and Kolar Districts, which historically and culturally was a meeting place of the Kannada, Tamil and Telugu cultures.

During the period extending from about 500A.D to the end of 1700 A.D, in spite of political fluctuations that existed in this region, uninterrupted temple building activity prevailed in the region. This artistic tradition imbibed the characteristic features of the Karnataka and Tamil idioms as practiced by the Rastrakutas and the Gangas on the one side and the Pallavas and the Cholas on the other. The location of this area was a buffer region, politically and culturally also. Moreover Kolar region was the connecting link for all the cultural, commercial and political activities between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The intention of the present work is to trace the origin and development of different facets of temple architecture such as the plan, elevation and other members of the building like the pillars, doorways, towers and gateways. All these members of the temple building did not arrive on the scene at the same time and in the same form, in which they are found.

Most of the published works are limited in their scope. This work tries to bring out the salient architectural features of the temples of this region. This study is based on scientific anathe different architectural forms, ads and members of the temple. Their canonical affinity, their origin, emergence, growth, regional styles and cultural variation, deviations from the canonical prescriptions, artistic talents and vibrational depiction of these talents and an overall scientific approach and analysis of the development of temple architecture is in this research study.

About the Author Dr. V. Anuradha is the Head of the Department of History and PG Centre and Research Centre at Maharani's Arts, Commerce and Management College for Women, Bangalore.

She is a well-known scholar who combines the study of Sanskrit canonical texts with modern research. She is acquainted with Sanskrit and has modern research articles on Vedanta Philosophy expounded by Swami Vivekananda, Hindu Temple Architecture, Jaina Art and Indian culture and Heritage.

She is a member of the HOTA commission (KPSC). She has published many research articles in National and International journals.

She is at present engaged in Research project on Musical instruments in the temple sculptures. She has organized many National and International Conferences.

Foreword The Indian temple signifies simultaneously the abode of God, a sacred structure and a place of worship. Apart from its embedded spiritual content and form, the temple is home to inherited knowledge. art, architecture and culture. The story of evolution of Indian temple architecture seen in surviving specimens of over five thousand years is a commentary on consolidated experience of architects, artists and craftsmen through time and space. In India, acquired practical experience in architectural science transmitted from generation to generation was registered in diverse Silpu manuals in due course and adapted to religious requirements in agama canons Basic proportions and forms remained fundamental to temple architectural science and Silpa prescriptions were normally adhered to as reflected in temples of different forms in different geographic regions.

Sanctuaries for the images of gods in India date back at least to the 2 century BCE. Several drgrius (Abodes of Gods) of the centuries preceding the Common Era have been unearthed but in extremely fragmentary state. Use of perishable materials has exposed them to ravages of time leaving little that suggest the then existing nuances of architectural detail. However, the excavations at Vijayapuri, the capital of Ikshvakus and today's Nagarjunakoda in Andhra Pradesh, have revealed that already by the early centuries of CE diverse plans + square, octagonal, apsidal, etc. t were employed in complex ways for building the shrines of Hindu sects. The picture of evolution of the Hindu temple architecture becomes clearer in the Gupta period. Surviving dressed stone and brick structures of that period suggest that temple architectural experiments passed through the formative stage giving rise two significant temple styles whose later silpasastra nomenclature is Negara (the Northern) and Dravida (the Southern). A curvilinear (Rekha) tower over the sanctum is the dominating character of a Nagara temple, while a tower of stepped pyramidal succession of receding storeys distinguishes the Dravida one.

Some silpasastras recognize three main styles, the Nagara, the Dravida and the Vesara, with reference to geographical distribution. The Nagara is said to have been prevalent in northern India in the region between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas, the Dravida in the Dravida country, ie, the territory between the Krishna and Kanyakumari; and the Vesara in the territory between the Vindhyas and the Krishna. These works understand Vesara style as a hybrid of the Nagara and Dravida.

A temple of the Tamil country is characterized by a sanctum cella situated invariably within an ambulatory hall and a stepped pyramidal tower formed by an accumulation of successive storeys of receding dimensions. These are to be regarded as the distinctive characteristics of a Dravida temple. The second type of Gupta storeyed temple mentioned above, which shows the beginnings of such a groun plan and elevation, may reasonably be recognized as precursor of the Dravida temple form.

Preface Indian architecture is the expression of spiritual contents through its temple forms Traditionally, the temple is a sacred structure and also signifies the abode of god or gods However. Indian temples re not only the abode of God and place of worship, but they are also the cradle of knowledge, art, architecture and culture. The evolution of Indian temple architecture is marked by a strict adherence to the original ancient canonical texts that were derived from religious consideration and that continued ver many centuries with the use of the basic proportion and rigid forms Indian temple architecture wers a long period of five thousand years and was essentially a product of the soil with new form and lour in each successive phase.

One of the most significant highlights of Indian architecture has been the evolution of the Hindu mple architecture. The Hindu temple architecture is distinguishable from the Jain and Buddhist temple hitecture. Jain temples are seldom simple, the most elaborate of them a result from multiplication of basic forms. The main difference between the Jain and Hindu temple is the lighter and more elegant racter of the former. Buddhist shrines differed from those of the Hindus and Jains in two principal pacts: they were designed for congregational as well as devotional use by the monks and in their new decorative detail was used to emphasize rather than conceal the structure. By comparison to deist and Jain structures, Brahman cal and Hindu buildings conformed to a rigidly prescribed plan leading to a single focal point in the temple group.

The brilliant expression of the rock-cut mode is exemplified also in Brahman cal and Jaina monuments. At Badami, the design develops into that of a pillared verandah, and a columned hall with quare sanctum ceila cut deeper at the far end (6th century AD.) In the Tamil country the cave style ntroduced in the 7th century by Mahendravarman Pallava.

The erection of sanctuaries for the images of gods dates back perhaps to the 2nd century BC. Several grihas (house of gods) of pre Christian centuries have been excavated in extremely fragmentary Presumably built of perishable materials, these sanctuaries afforded little scope for the application principles of architecture as an art. The Gupta period ushered in the practice of building with materials, especially in dressed stone and brick. The Gupta period marks the beginning of Indian architecture. As the extant monuments show, this was a formative age in which there was negation in a number of forms and designs, out of which two significant temple styles arose, one north and the other in the South. The Gupta temples are simple and unpretentious structures, but ring upon later developments is of great significance.

Introduction The present study is an in depth approach to unravel the development of temple architecture in the region of Bangalore and Kolar districts of southern Karnataka The area selected for this study comprises of the present Bangalore and Kolar districts, which historically and culturally was a meeting place of the Kannada Tamil and Telugu cultures.

Bangalore rural district is situated between 12" 15 N and 13 35 N on the one hand and the Longitudinal meridians of 77 05 E and 78 E on the other. Bangalore urban district is situated between 12 39 N and 13 18 Non the one hand and the longitudinal meridians of 77 22 E and 77 52" E on the other Kolar district is situated between 12" 46" N and 13 58 N latitude and 77 21 E and 78 35 E longitude These districts are on the plateau with an average elevation of 600 to 1350 meters from mean sea level. The districts have ranges of hills which are actually spurs of the eastern ghats, stretching northwards with peaks like Banantimari betta, Mudawadi betta, Bilikal betta, Siddadevarabetta, etc. The Savanadurga and Shivagange peaks are another row of hill ranges spreading up to the Nandi hills. running across the Bangalore district.

The principal chain of hills is the Nandidurga range which runs north from Nandi as far as Penukonda and Dharmaravam in the Anantapur district. Nandi durga is (4,851 feet above sea level) in Chikkaballapura Taluk, 31 miles north of Bangalore, Chennakeshavabetta or Chennarayanabetta (4,762ft) is five miles south west of Chikkaballapur, Kalavarabetta or Skandagiri (4,749) is five miles to the north of Nandidurga Three important rivers, the Palar, north Pinakini or north Pennar and south Pinakini or south Pennar and several of their tributaries take birth in this region and flow in different directions. Papaghni, also called Vappillivanka, is a major tributary of north Pinakini. Chitravathi, another tributary of north Pinakini, flows north east between Woralakinda hill and Bagepalli. Nangini hole is a tributary river, an effluent of Kurudumale hills near Mulabagilu. The Kundar river is a tributary of north Pinakini. It originates on Ujanibetta, west of Mahakalidurga in Bangalore district.

Arkavati river, a tributary of the Cauvery river, originates in a well on the Nandi hills and soon after, enters Doddaballapura taluk of Bangalore district. This river flows for a short length of one mile only in the Kolar district. The region of our study forms a part of the Deccan plateau and the rock formations belong to the category of peninsular gneisses.

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