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South Indian style of temple architecture is very distinct from that of the rest of India.
It is convenient to resolve the types of architecture into four periods corresponding to
the principal kingdoms that ruled in southern India down the centuries i.e. the Pallavas,
Cholas, Pandyas and the Vijayanagara rulers. According to the plan -- four sided,
polygonal or curvilinear -- the southern Vimanas
are classified in the southern Silpa and Agama texts as Nagara, Dravida and Vesara. THE PALLAVAS (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 The famous Kailasanatha and the Vanikunthaperumal temples at
Kanchipuram are the best specimens of the structural temples of the Pallavas. The temple
complex It
is interesting to note that while the transition of wood to stone was effected in northern
India during the reign of Ashoka in the 3rd Century BC, it took one thousand
years more in getting reflected in southern India under the Pallavas.
THE
PANDYAS
The Pandyas (c.1100-1350
AD), although were not among the great building dynasties, built several gopurams or monumental entrances to the existing
temples. The earliest examples of gopurams appear during the Pandyan period in the
12th THE HOYSALAS (1100-1350)
Temples
erected by the Hoysala kings have a distinctive style of architecture. The Hoysala temples have complicated plans, which
may be polygonal or star-shaped with numerous angled projections. The carved surfaces are
executed with remarkable precision, usually in chlorite. The columns are lathe-turned or
are multi-faceted. Each temple is supported by a low-pyramidal tower, which is often
surmounted by a vase-shaped ornament. On many occasions many such pyramidal towers are
used, making the temple look like a double or triple temple. Temples from the Hoysala
period can be seen at Belur, Halebid and Sringeri in Karnataka. The Channakeshava temple, built by the Hoysala King
Vishnuvardhana in 1117 AD, is the most celebrated of all the temples at Belur. Halebid
is famous for the star-like Hoysala temples. Each
temple consists of two temples exactly of the same dimensions, built side by side. The Hoysaleshvara Temple is the most famous of the
Halebid temples. THE VIJAYANAGAR ARCHITECTURE (1336-1565)
By
the 16th century almost all of southern India was part of the Vijayanagar Empire. The
Vijayanagar rulers were great patrons of art and architecture. Scholars on the Vijayanagar
style of art have observed that this art inherited aspects from three main regional styles
of the art of South India, viz., the Dravidian style of the Cholas and Pandyas, the style
of the Chalukya-Hoysala tradition and the Indo-Islamic art of the Bijapur region. The
Vijaynagar rulers built strong fortresses, gorgeous palaces and beautiful temples. The
Vijayanagar temple architecture has some special features. The characteristic The
city of Vijayanagar was studded with so many temples that it was called Kovilapura. Of the numerous Vijayanagar complexes
in southern India, the most magnificent are those at Kanchipuram, Thiruvannamalai and
Vellore. 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. This period also witnessed the construction of
several secular structures like the Lotus Mahal and Elephant stables, which show strong
Islamic influence. THE NAYAKA PERIOD
The Dravidian style of architecture assumed its final form under the Nayaks (c.1600 AD) and lasted almost until the modern times. Tirumalai Nayak, who ruled from 1623-1659 AD, was the greatest of the Nayak rulers, during whose reign some of the finest works of art were created. The style developed by these rulers is described as the 'Madura style' and is most evident in the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai. The Meenakshi temple (17th century) is a double temple, as it has two separate sanctuaries, one dedicated to Sundareshwara (Shiva) and the other to his consort Meenakshi (Parvati). It has the tallest Gopuram (temple tower) in the world. The temple forms a parallelogram and has 11 gopurams, one thousand-pillared hall, 'pool of lilies' and the 'musical pillars'. The total number of pillars in the temple exceeds two thousand. The Nayaks built several prakarams or concentric series of open courtyards at many temples. The art of constructing gopurams also reached its maturity during the Nayaka period. The temples at Srirangam, Jambukesvara, Rameshwaram and Chidambaram are other notable examples of the Nayaka architecture. ||Introduction||Temple Architecture|| Cave Architecture||Rajput Architecture|| Jain Architecture || Indo-Islamic Architecture||Colonial Architecture||Modern Architecture||Sculpture in India||World Heritage Sites|| |
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(610-690 AD) and
structural (690-900 AD). The greatest accomplishments of the Pallava architecture are the
rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram.
consists of a sanctum, preceded by a mandapa,
some peristylar adjuncts and an incipient entrance gateway. Early temples were mostly
dedicated to Shiva, and were sparsely adorned in the interiors. Later, however, pillars
bore the brunt of the carver’s tool and these came to be richly adorned with scenes
from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The
height of the shikhara is 50
feet, while the cornice of the mandapa
measures 16 feet from the ground. The Chola architecture achieved its peak
at Thanjavur, the capital established by the Chola ruler Rajaraja I. The
Brihadeshwara temple at Thanjavur, erected around 1000 AD, has been
described as "the most beautiful specimen of Tamil
architecture".
and 13th centuries. A typical gopuram consists of a building oblong in plan,
rising up into a tapering tower often over 45.72 metres in height, and entered by a
rectangular doorway in the centre of its long side.
feature of
this period is the development of the temple complex: concentric series of rectangular
enclosure walls with the gopuras (towered
gateways) in the middle of each side. The construction of several mandapas, the Kalyana mandapa being the most conspicuous among
them, was a notable feature of the period.