Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c36.13

c36.13

The general impression conveyed by these temples is, that, while the basis of their style is Dravidian, in the hands of the Hoysala craftsman it became a very different thing. Unconsciously the workmen altered and adapted the southern mode to suit their own ideals, which were not those of a builder, but those of an art craftsman, such as the sandalwood carver, the ivory worker, the metal caster, and also the goldsmith. What they produced was in reality not architecture, but applied art. For instance in the fine chiselling of the figures on the exterior walls of the *vimana*, each a separate image in its special setting, one seems to see an enlarged lithic reproduction of the sandal-wood shrines which, even now, are the favourite handiwork of the Mysore artisan. Then, in the *madanakai* brackets, projecting from the upper part of the pillar, there is the touch of the ivory worker, his figures being carved in stone to a large scale to suit the size of the building, but still bearing the fine technique of his ivory original. Further, in some of the strap patterns fixed with "drops" in imitation of studs and rivets, which, like bronze bands support the under side of the eaves, these recall the cast and hammered effects of the metal worker, a noted craftsman in these parts to the present day. Finally, in the wealth of simulated jewellery with which many of the figures are loaded, with their beaded headdresses, their pendents and tasselled girdles, each part exactly imitated in the stone by means of a riffler and a fine drill, is there not some of the delicate handling of the goldsmith, when he encrusts his silver filigree with precious stones? Such fine relief on account of its resemblance to the chasings of silversmiths corresponds to the *plateresco* of the mediaeval Spanish school. Whoever these craftsmen originally were, each type of artificer prepared his plastic contribution as if it were a *chef d'oeuvre*, and this was attached to the temple structure in the manner of an icon placed on a wall. So much so that some of these applied statuettes are inscribed with the sculptor's name, together with a title extolling his genius, recording that he was "an artist of the gods, a delighter of the hearts of the good, and as a bee at the lotus feet of Sarasvatī" (divine patroness of the Arts and Sciences).