Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c18.3

c18.3

ALMOST at the same time that the Gupta shrines were being built in Central and Northern India, another and apparently independent movement, but having much the same implications, was making itself felt in a part of the Deccan. This was inspired and put into effect through the initiative and energy of the rising race of the Early Chalukyans, a power which began to assert itself in Southern India about the fifth century A.D. It was clearly the result of an enthusiasm which was religious in origin and in intensity of purpose. The first efforts of the Chalukyans are represented by a considerable group of stone-built shrines and temples at Aihole,¹ now a somewhat decayed village in the Bijapur district of Dharwar. The majority of these structures are Brahmanical, although a few are Jain, and all appear to have been erected in the period between A.D. 450 and 650. With the structural edifices at Aihole may be included a series of rock-cut pillared halls at the neighbouring town of Badami, executed in the latter half of the sixth century. So early, and so informative are they, especially at Aihole, that one is tempted to presume that here, on this relatively obscure site, the Hindu structural temple, not only took an introductory form, but, as far as this part of India is concerned, had its beginning. For in several of the examples it is possible to see the first emergence of the temple structure, if not its actual birth and builders were seeking for a formula which would fulfil the requirements of the creed.