Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c37.30

c37.30

One other group of temples belonging to this phase should be referred to on account of an unusual feature which finds a place on one of them This is a cluster of three temples at Gadag, dedicated to Trikutesvara, Sarasvati, and Somesvara, all representative of the style at its culmination, but one of these, that of Somesvara is distinctive because it displays a form of mural treatment which carries it entirely away from the Dravidian tradition, and draws it very close to that of Mysore. In the profusion of plastic elements decorating the exterior of this temple, towards the centre of its vertical wall surface, there appears an attempt to reproduce that type of niched figure sculpture which is so characteristic of the Hoysala temples at Halebid and Belur, each niche shaped like a "stele" and each containing a statue of a divinity carved in high relief. A little uncertain in form, this significant element emerges in the Somesvara temple, and is repeated around the building, supplanting the framework of pilasters, which in the Mysore type has almost completely disappeared. (Plate CXXVIII). By the introduction of such a motif in the Gadag example the two phases of the Chalukyan style, the Hoysala and the Kanarese, make definite contact. A further interest in this temple lies in the fact that its decoration is such that it appears to have reached the limit of its powers, it is inclined to be confused and its forms are lacking in vitality, conditions which may prefigure the beginning of the decline.