Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c36.14

c36.14

The effect of this profuse but coherent aggregation of plastic and applied art may be imagined And just as the Italian buildings of the Renaissance¹ have been styled, perhaps not too happily, as "architects' architecture,"² so, with much more reason, the temples of the Chalukyans may be criticised as "artists' architecture" or, even more specifically "sculptors' architecture" For these Mysore temples owe their character more to the chisel of the sculptor than to the stonework of the mason. Gone is the structural basis, the functional framework evolved through the experiences of previous workers in the field, with its bold organic mouldings and supporting pilasters providing stability and strength, and in its place is an arrangement of manifold planes, projections, and courses of masonry, each intricately carved and beautiful in itself, even beautiful in its aggregation, but not, as a whole, amounting to a work of significant architecture in the full sense of the word. No doubt the builders of these temples revelled in their display of plastic exuberance, but, on the other hand, there may have been some object in this unrestrained application of sculptured forms. The master craftsman, possibly reasoned that only the intellectual few would appreciate his efforts to achieve graceful linear contours and balanced formation combined with a logical structural foundation. On the other hand, the masses, although by no means deficient in the aesthetic sense, would more readily understand, and probably more eagerly expect, in their religious buildings, lively representations of their gods, goddesses and divine tutelars, to whom they instinctively appeal for all things concerning their daily life, as well as the hereafter. Then running throughout the entire composition of the temple, were the long bands of the narrative art, illustrating with the utmost detail and in a singularly dramatic fashion, extracts from the nation's mythology and folk-lore, with which even the humblest would be familiar. Under these conditions it is not surprising that the temple-builder became a story-teller in stone, so that his productions appertain more to an illuminated missal transmuted into sculpture, than to a full-scale architectural composition.