Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c25: Chapter XVIII: The Dravidian Style Under the Pandyas (cir. 1100 to 1350)
Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c25
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Chapter XVIII: The Dravidian Style Under the Pandyas (cir. 1100 to 1350)
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THE impulse and achievement which culminated in the grand temples of Tanjore and Gangaikondacholapuram early in the eleventh century were not maintained, for less than a century later the Chola power diminished, after which the building art in the Tamil country ceased for a time to hold the high position it had previously attained. The Cholas were succeeded by the Pandyas, who, although they encouraged to a certain degree the visual arts, do not appear to have been a notable building dynasty. During the period of over two centuries that the Pandyas dominated the south of India, the Dravidian style continued to develop, but few outstanding architectural contributions were made to this southern movement, and no pronounced attempts to continue the magnificent tradition which they had inherited from their predecessors have been recorded. Moreover, as far as the temple structure was concerned, new tendencies were in the course of formation, which although they affected but little the architectural style, influenced to a considerable extent that type of edifice it had become the custom to erect. Up to this point it had been the practice of the builders to apply their finest craftsmanship to the body of the temple itself, and specifically to its most sacred part, the *vimana*, which they made the most resplendent feature of the temples of the Cholas. With the advent of the Pandyas this usage ceased, and instead of the sanctuary continuing to be the central architectural production, the builders' skill was diverted in order to give prominence to some of the supplementary or outlying portions of the temple scheme.
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One of the reasons for this change of objective was that of sentiment. Distributed throughout the country on sites of great religious antiquity were a number of buildings of no particular artistic character, but on the other hand of marked sanctity, because enshrined within them were images of deep and lasting veneration. Custom at the same time ordained that, although these edifices were aesthetically insignificant, it was considered undesirable either to pull them down and erect others in their place, or even to change their appearance by structural alterations or improvements. These shrines therefore remained practically untouched, retaining their humble and somewhat primitive state, and also preserving at the same time that atmosphere of pristine holiness with which they were originally endowed. Religious emotion with regard to such edifices had however to find some form of expression, and it did so by exalting their environment, surrounding them by high walls to emphasize their sanctity, and making the entrances to the enclosures thus formed into gateways of imposing size and rich appearance. One of the results of this procedure was to give the temple confines the appearance of a fortress or citadel, as the outer scheme consists of a series of concentric walls enclosing open courtyards or *prakarams*, and approached through high watch-towers. The walls were purely utilitarian structures of no aesthetic value, being not infrequently provided with an inner platform, and battlemented, obviously as a means of defence in case of emergency. In contrast to the relative plainness of the walls, the tall gateways were made into productions of considerable architectural character, as they formed immense piles in themselves as well as providing a basis for a wealth of plastic embellishment. In the course of time these pylon-like entrances were introduced so frequently into the temple scheme, that they have become the most striking feature in the architecture of the south.
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The gopuram, as this type of temple portal is called, derived its name in the first instance from the "cow-gate" of the Vedic village, afterwards becoming the city gate, and subsequently the monumental entrance to the temple. Elementary prototypes of this characteristic architectural feature have been already referred to, as for instance in the shrine at the entrance to the Kailasanatha temple at Conjeeveram (Chapter XVI), and also in the early Chalukyan temple of Virupaksha at Pattadakal (Chapter XIV), both examples illustrating the gopuram in a very rudimentary stage. As with a number of conspicuous elements in Indian architecture of various kinds there is no definite process of evolution, the object, although not exactly self-originated, suddenly emerges in a relatively mature state. So it was with the gopuram, the earliest developed examples of which appear as the gateways to the southern type of temple during the period of the Pandyas in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
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A typical example of a gopuram depicts a building oblong in plan rising up into a tapering tower often over one hundred and fifty feet in height, and entered by a rectangular doorway in the centre of its long side. Its similarity to the more familiar Egyptian propylon, which is much the same in mass and proportion, and also the entrance to a temple, is obvious, but any such impression is mainly due to both structures, having pronounced sloping or battered sides. Almost invariably the two lowest stories of the gopuram are vertical, and are built of solid stone masonry thus providing a stable foundation for the superstructure which is usually composed of the lighter materials of brick and plaster. This superstructure is pyramidal in shape as it is composed of a series of zones or tiers diminishing as they ascend. The average angle of slope from the vertical is 25°, and the width at its truncated apex is approximately one-half of its base. On the flat summit is mounted a particular kind of elongated roof with gable-ends, and no portion of the design is more significant than this barrel-vaulted uppermost story. At this stage it will have become apparent that the outstanding features of Dravidian temple architecture are its two types of tower, the *vimana* and the gopuram. These two towers represent the final manifestation of two ancient forms and traditions, as exemplified by the top story of each. The vimana being square in plan and structure has as its fimial a rounded cupola. On the other hand the plan of the gopuram is oblong, and accordingly its crowning feature is in the form of the oblong vaulted roof, unmistakably a survival of the keel roof of the Buddhist chaitya hall. It is not difficult therefore to see in these two characteristic formations of the Dravidian style the last phase of the two archi- [Figure: INTERIOR OF NATMANDIR (14TH-15TH CENT) JAGANNATH TEMPLE, PURI, ORISSA.]
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Puri the Natmandır. Note the iron beams ceiling [Figure: CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN KONARAK, ORISSA.
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TYPES OF SIKHARAS (TOWERS) OF TEMPLES IN THE NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE AIHOLE C 500 A.D. PATTADAKAL C. 600 A. DOSIA, JODHPUR C.800 A.D. KANGRA C 1200 A D. BHUBANESWAR C 1000 A DPAL, BENGAL C.950 A D. KHAJURAHO C. 1000A.D. GUJARAT 10TH CENT JHOGDA, NASIK 12 TH CENT.
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Fig. 1
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Fig. 2 Temple of the Sun at Konarak ; c A.D 1250
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tectural types of the Buddhists, the monastery and the temple, the *vimana* deriving from the *vihara*, and the gopuram from the chaitya hall.
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When once established the general principles of the design of the gopuram were fairly consistently maintained, and no radical changes in its architectural structure are recorded. But owing to variations in its appearance and surface treatment it is possible to resolve these gateways into two classes. As regards their main shape there is one type in which the sloping sides are relatively straight, firm and rigid in their contours, and appertaining in their mass more to the strictly pyramidal figure In keeping with its geometrical form, the decoration of this variety is of a conventional order, usually architectural in its character and consisting of pillars and pilasters applied in such a manner as to produce the different stages of its conformation. In the other class of gopuram the sloping sides are not straight but curved and concave, so that the entire building has a soaring upward sweep which, although not entirely substantial, is very impressive. In addition the surface treatment is of a more florid nature, figure-subjects predominate, while every portion is plastered thick with images in a bewildering manner. Here are represented "all the mystic and many weaponed deities of the Siva pantheon, infinitely multiplied and repeated and reduced and carried in rising ranks, and receding tiers, up to the horns of the topmost roof." The roof in this more ornate class of gopuram is indeed a fantastic production with its cornuted gables and its ridge line breaking out into a row of tall pinnacles it forms an appropriate climax to the fretted and pullulating mass below. (Plate LXXVII).
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Most of the Pandya gopurams, being the earliest of their kind, are however of the simpler and more conventional variety, and their decoration is mainly of the architectural type. From this architectural treatment of the gopurams, and also from other sources, it is possible to observe in the design of the pillar and capital a further stage in the development of the Dravidian order. Two changes in these distinctive features may be recorded, which differentiate them from the order of the previous period. One occurs in that characteristic member the *idaie*, or flower-shape, a motif which corresponds in some respects to the echinus in the Doric capital of the Greeks. In the hands of the Pandya sculptors this flower element was given a scolloped edge, thus presenting it with a foliated and more exquisite appearance The other alteration is in the form of the *bodigai* or corbel of the bracket overhanging the capital, which has been converted from a purely conventional and abstract member into a moulded pendent or "drop." (Plate LXV, Fig. 3). In addition to the above the *palagai*, or "plank," which serves as an abacus to the order, and throughout the style has been remarkable for its outstanding width, is in the Pandya type of capital of exceptional proportions and projection, some of these stone "planks," although only two inches thick, are as much as 4½ feet in diameter. It is by such details peculiar to the order that the identification of the buildings of this period may be confirmed.
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In referring to the Dravidian temple at this stage of its evolution Dubreuil,¹ has not inappropriately likened the procedure by which the temple precincts were expanded, to the phenomenon of the growth of a tree trunk, the cross section of which shows a number of concentric rings each an annual contribution to its thickness. On the same principle the earlier courts of the Pandya temple are those towards the centre, while each concentric wall with its gopurams records successively a later addition. The older gopurams therefore are usually the smaller ones nearer to the innermost shrine, and one of the first examples of its kind appears to have been that in the second enclosure wall of the temple of Jambukesvara near Trichinopoly, probably built in the twelfth century. There are several features in this gopuram which are clearly a "carry-over" from the preceding style of the Cholas, so that it is really an illustration of the transition between the two modes. These earlier features are details in the order as seen in the design of the pilasters, for while the *idaie* or flower-shape of the capital remains plain and unscolloped as in the Chola type, the *bodigai*, or corbel of the bracket is elaborated after the Pandyan pattern. Although relatively small matters such details are a clue to the style and date of this presumably first example of a fully developed gopuram.
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¹ *Archaeologie du Sud L'Inde*, by Jouveau-Dubreuil, Paris, 1914
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Later and more typical examples of the gopuram as it matured under the Pandyas are as follows :—another entrance subsequently added to the temple of Jambukesvara and known as the Sundara Pandya gopuram, built about 1250 ; a gateway on the eastern side of the temple of Chidambaram, of the same date ; one on the eastern side of the inner enclosure of the temple at Tiruvannamalai (Tirumalai) cir. 1300 (Plate LXXIV) ; and a gopuram of the great temple at Kumbakonam, cir. 1350. Of this series the eastern gateway at Chidambaram is perhaps the most characteristic of the period, and as it bears an inscription of the Pandya ruler Sundara who reigned in the middle of the thirteenth century its date is authenticated. In plan this gopuram occupies a rectangle 90 feet by 60 feet, while the two stories comprising its vertical substructure are together 35 feet high, the total height of its seven stories including the roof being 135 feet There is still much of the old traditional beauty of the Chola style in the design of its structure, the lower stories in stone masonry being but little different from those of the Tanjore vimana of 150 years before, except that there are elaborations in the details, which distinguish the existing mode. Above, the surface treatment is of the architectural kind, consisting of rows of pillared niches and pavilions, each with a foliated canopy, thus presenting a pattern of arcading alternating with a zone of ornamentation, an effective appearance without being too lavish. All these gopurams of the Pandya period are of much the same character as the foregoing, and although a type of structure which relies for much of its effect on the rich nature of its surface decoration, the restraint exercised in the earlier examples is commendable.
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So far the Pandya period has been represented solely by monumental gateways, but there is one example of a complete temple which may have been erected during this regime. If, as presumed, it was produced under the Pandyas, on grounds of style it must date towards the end of their rule, therefore during the first half of the fourteenth century. This is the temple of Airavatesvara at Darasuram in the Tanjore district. (Plate LXVI, Fig 2). The main structure of its composition, in a word the temple proper, is in plan very similar to the two great temples already described of the previous period, as it consists of a long rectangular building of no great height rising up into a pyramidal tower or vimana at its western end. On the other hand around this central feature and forming part of the architectural scheme, as they are all within the same enclosure, are several other edifices, the whole comprising a small but compact group of buildings of notable expressiveness. A system consisting of a group of religious structures, in addition to the one central temple, was an arrangement which now began to develop, but may be resolved more logically to the subsequent period, as it is particularly characteristic of the Vijayanagar manner. The architectural treatment of the Darasuram example however is obviously in the late Pandya mode, as is clearly shown in the design of the pillars, the capital and bases of which bear the unmistakable scol-loped edge of this period, while the bracket above the capital has a cyma recta curve, all distinguishing features of the Dravidian style at this juncture.
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One architectural motif freely used in parts of this temple recalls a much earlier phase of the southern style. It is the reappearance, as a support to the walls, of the leogriff pilaster, that rampant animal form so characteristic of the Pallava period. Emerging first in the rock-cut mandapas of Mamallapuram, it disappeared for several centuries to be revived in its original shape on the Amman shrine of this temple of the Pandyas Such an instance of architectural atavism is not by any means rare in the building art of India, yet it is a little strange to meet again these almost forgotten leonine creatures, but they fall into their place in the later building and in perfect accord with their environment in spite of the long interval of disuse. A somewhat similar animal form going back almost to the same early phase is seen in another kind of pillar at the Darasuram temple on a building known as the Kalyan mandapa. This is a sedent gryphon attached to the shaft of the column, but its body is attenuated vertically, thus appearing by its pose to prefigure those very striking horse and dragon groups which rear themselves in such spirited attitudes to form the columns of the succeeding period.
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In the gradual progress of the style the temple of Darasuram is an example of some significance Compared with the gopurams which are typical of the Pandya period there is a definite change not only in architectural treatment but in the broader aspect of ideals. The temple denotes that a movement was being made away from the relatively robust and disciplined productions of the Pallavas and Cholas, towards a richer and more elegant effect. It implies an effort to animate the style with a new tempo, not with the idea of giving it greater powers, but with the object of arresting attention by increasing its emotional appeal. This building therefore is of no little consequence as it illustrates the middle period of architectural development in the south, marking the stage of transition between the affluent maturity of the Cholas, and the exquisite though extravagant productions of Vijayanagar.
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Jouveau-Dubreuil, G. *Archaeologie due Sud de L'Inde*; Paris, 1914.