Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c37.3

c37.3

THE buildings in the remaining phase of the later Chalukyan style, as referred to in the previous chapter are located in a region towards the northern border of Mysore State, astride the upper reaches of the Tungabhadra river. This area is chiefly occupied by the Kanarese districts and that of Bellary, although it may be noted that examples of the same type of temple architecture are to be found in parts of the Nizam's dominions, and also in northern Mysore. Bounded as this region is, on the one hand by the country in which the Early Chalukyans originated and developed their style at the three towns of Aihole, Pattadakal, and Badami, and on the other by the territory containing the Chalukyan-Hoysala temples of Mysore, this phase of architecture not only affects characteristics from both these movements, but what is more important, it also supplies in some measure a connecting link between the two. It is possible, therefore, by a study of the buildings of this phase, to trace the evolution of the Chalukyan style as a whole from its beginning in the ancient Chalukyan triad of capitals, through the phase now being considered, step by step as it developed, until it arrived at the fully matured examples of the Hoysala school in Mysore, already described (Chapter XXIX). The period during which this style prevailed extended over some two and a half centuries, from about A.D. 1050 to 1300, or even later, after which the advent of the Muhammadans into these parts brought it to an end.