Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c21.28

c21.28

It has been shown that the centre of the architectural movement associated with the Early Chalukyans was confined to the triad of ancient capitals, the seats of this dynasty in Dharwar. But a minor development of a somewhat similar character took place, which, although in the same region, yet is an appreciable distance away from the fountain head. At Alampur, a village on the west bank of the Tungabhadra river in the Raichur district of Mysore State, is a group of temples almost identical with some of those described above.¹ These temples are six in number, and are situated inside a fortified enclosure in the same manner as at Aihole. They are however more in the style of the Papanath at Pattadakal, as they have Indo-Aryan *sikharas*, and may accordingly be assigned to the same date as that example, namely the latter half of the seventh century Of no great size, as the largest only occupies a rectangle 75 feet by 50 feet, they are structurally very complete, as the walls and spires are in a finished state, and there is a finial in the form of a fluted *amala sila*, in position on most of them. Although appearing to be a modified reproduction of the Papanath type, in plan and in their interior arrangements they show a certain individuality, illustrating what seems to be a local manifestation of the style. In the shape and position of the pillared hall and the shrine chamber, the Alampur structures are not unlike the rock-cut temple of the Ravana-ka-Khai in the Ellora group (Chapter XV), also of the seventh century. That is to say the interior consists of an oblong hall with the shrine at one end, a colonnade of pillars forming a nave and aisles in front, and a processional passage the whole way round. The pillars are not so massive in their proportions as those in the rock-cut example, being tolerably slender and graceful, but they are decorated in the same manner, with the Indo-Aryan vase and foliage capital in evidence, a motif, as already shown, associated with the productions of the Gupta regime. This small group at Alampur, besides throwing further light on the gradual formation of the temple design, also reveals some kind of thought-transmission in the field of architectural expression. In a straight line a hundred miles away to find a small replica of the main movement, but with no accountable association, is an experience, although remarkable, yet not altogether unknown in Indian art history.