Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c36.5

c36.5

There has been a tendency to refer to the Chalukyan style as intermediate between the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian. Such a position is not exactly in accordance with the facts. For any real evidences of the influence of the northern development are almost negligible, and confined to the occasional introduction of a few motifs, such as a copy of the Indo-Aryan sikhara in some of its architectural ornamentation On the other hand the effect of the southern style is distinctly marked, mainly because the territory in which the Chalukyan movement flourished was surrounded by that of the Dravidians. Naturally the result of this was that the nearer the Chalukyan buildings were to the southern manifestation, the closer they resemble the Dravidian type, and, conversely, where they are in more remote parts, the more independent is their treatment. In spite of this almost imperceptible gradation of one style into the other it is possible to divide the Chalukyan temples into two regional developments, firstly, those in the more typical style as this evolved within the state of Mysore, and, secondly, those located outside this country, and showing the influence of the Dravidian overlapping and interpenetration