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The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c14: Lakkundi

The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c14

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English

Contents

Lakkundi

The Jaina Temple

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BETWEEN the early temples already described and those that follow there is a wide gulf which does not seem to be bridged over by any examples unless it be that which we shall now consider. Not only in style is there a great difference between the earlier and these later Chālukyan temples, but the material of which they are built has changed from the rougher-grained sandstone to the more compact and finer black stone known as chloritic schist, which dresses down to a much finer surface, and has enabled the sculptors to produce so much of that fine delicate lace-like tracery which characterises the later work. The change in the material was probably conducive to the change in style.

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Lakkuṇḍi, or Lokkiguṇḍi as it was called in olden times, now a small village, lies about seven miles to the south-east of Gadag in the Dhārwār district. It is full of the ruins of old temples, many of which, with the addition of mud walls, have been converted to other use than that of worship. It will be remembered that Ballaḷa II., Hoysaḷa, established himself in A.D. 1191 at Lokkiguṇḍi as his headquarters. It must then have been a place of considerable importance.

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The old Jaina temple, in the west end of the village, is the oldest building here, and is not so very far removed in style from that of Kallēśvara at Kukkanūr. It will have been noticed in the last example, and still more in this, that the blocks, of which they have been built, have diminished in size since the building of the old temples of Paṭṭadakal and Aihoḷe. They have, at Lakkuṇḍi, quite lost that cyclopean character which distinguishes the early buildings. They are yet, however, large and heavy enough to be piled up without any cementing material (Plate LXI).

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The Dravidian roof is still well defined both by its simple square plan and distinct storeys; though the cornices, which have lost the very heavy character of the earlier temples, are broken up into smaller and more elaborately-wrought detail. The corner and central caps have also lost their greater prominence, and are merged in the general lines of small projections and recesses.

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The elevation is not unlike that of the Jaina temple at Paṭṭadakal (see Plate LXIII), but here we have the outer wall, around the shrine, which, in that, was left unbuilt. The upper chamber raises the tower considerably above the substructure, and thus imparts a certain amount of dignity to the building. The crowning member in this is better proportioned than in Kallēśvara at Kukkanūr, and, with the rest of the tower, forms a more elegant outline.

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The walls have rather more ornamental detail upon them. The *kīrtimukha* mask is introduced above all the little arched niches, but it seldom occurs on the earlier buildings.

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Fig. 25.—Griffin from the Jaina temple, Lakkuṇḍi.

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In each of these little circular niches above the cornice, is a seated Jina. The walls are pilastered, and some of the spaces between the pilasters are decorated with little pavilions in relief as on Kallēśvara at Kukkanūr; while, between these again,another ornament has been introduced. It is a single pilaster or elongated pedestal surmounted by a miniature tower, which is overarched by a cusped scroll, resting, on either side, upon a little corner pilaster, and flowing from the jaws of a *kīrtimukha* at the top into those of *makaras* below.

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The general plan of the temple is simple, and it has few offsets (Plate LXII). In comparing this with that of Kallēśvara it will be seen that they are almost identical in size and arrangement, the principal difference being that this temple has a forward open hall which may or may not be original. It faces the east. A curious coincidence is that in this temple a well-carved loose image of Brahmā occupies the very same position as a similar image does in the other.

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The interior is very plain. Seated upon his *siṃhāsana*, or lion throne, was an image of Mahāvīra with his cognizance, the lion, in the central panel on the face of the throne, but this was smashed and thrown outside by *badmāshes* a few years ago. This figure is 4 feet 4 inches high, as seated, and is carved in black stone which has been carefully polished. The top of the head is covered with small curls; and, on either side from behind the ears, depends a large curl that lies upon each shoulder like a military shoulder knot. Round the neck and chest are two lines indicating necklets or the edges of a garment (Plate LXIII). Upon either side of the Jina is an attendant, each holding in his outer hand a *chauri* or fly brush, and in the inner a fruit resembling a citron or cocoanut. Upon the block above the shrine door is a Jina; over the antechamber is Gaja-Lakṣmī, and over the outer door is a Jina.

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The image of Brahmā, already mentioned, stands in the inner hall, and is a particularly fine figure, being second only, in point of workmanship, to that of Sarasvati at Gadag (see Fig. 3). In a corresponding position to this, on the other side of the entrance to the antechamber, was an image of Sarasvatī. The pedestal remains in its place, but the image had been thrown down when the temple was lying in disuse, and, some years ago, was lying in the hall at some distance from it. She is represented with four arms. In her right upper hand is an elephant goad or *aṅkuśa*. The right lower rests open, palm upwards, upon her knee, with a small petalled flower upon it. In the left upper hand she holds a folded book, while the left lower holds a citron. These two images do not appear to have been carved by the same hand, Sarasvatī's image being a clumsy fat-limbed figure.

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The ceilings are plain, a small rosette in the centre being their only ornament. The pillars are almost as fully decorated as they are in the temple of Kāśiviśvēśvara at Lakkuṇḍi.

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On a pilaster, on the north side of the doorway of the inner *maṇḍapa*, is an inscription dated in S. 1094 (A.D. 1172), surmounted by a seated Jina with the sun and moon above, and a bent sword.

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When we first visited this temple it was deserted and in disuse. The interior was in a filthy condition and deep in bat's dung, the stench from which was unbearable. Since then, however, it has been again taken possession of by the Jains, who have trailed their horrid plaster all over the building, and have "pointed" the masonry of the exterior as only native *maistris* love to see it. It has quite ruined the appearance of the building. As a result of its re-occupation it is closed to the inspection of the stranger.

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Close beside it on the north is another, rather smaller, which is also a Jaina temple. Within it is the same Jina and throne as in the other, but the image has not the same long curls. Over the shrine door is a seated Jina with attendant *chauri* bearers. All the mouldings, niches and facets for decorative detail are left in plain block for carving, thus showing that the usual custom was to carve all detail after the building was up.

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About forty yards in front of this is another old Jaina temple which is used by the Liṅgāyats.

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In the north-west corner of the village is yet another old Jaina shrine which is used by the villagers as a *nāga* or snake temple. It was originally dedicated to Pārśvanātha, whose throne and snake canopy alone remain, and it is this snake that the villagers ignorantly worship. Over the shrine door is Pārśvanātha with his snake hood over him, but over the outer door is Gaja-Lakṣmī. It is now known as the temple of Nāganātha. In a little arched niche on the back of the temple roof is an image of Pārśvanātha with the hooded serpent over him, the latter being a copy of the serpent in the shrine (Plate LXXIII).

The Temple of Kāśiviśvēśvara

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The most elaborately finished temple of all those in the village, and one of the most ornate in the Kanarese districts, is the temple of Kāśiviśvēśvara. It is possibly one of those which were damaged during the Chōla invasion, in the eleventh century, when several temples at Lakshmēśvara were destroyed but afterwards rebuilt. On a beam in the hall is an inscription, dated in the thirteenth year of the reign of Tribhuvanamalla (Vikramāditya VI.), which corresponds to A.D. 1087; but as this part of the temple, and the ceiling above the beam, are very plain indeed, compared with the profusion of decoration about the doorways and the exterior of the temple, it may be that this is the only portion of the original temple left standing by the Chōḷas. The rest of the temple, as it now stands, certainly looks later than many of those to be described further on. The bulk of the inscriptions, of which there are very many at Lakkuṇḍi, are dated after A.D. 1170. We know that the Hoysaḷa chief, Viraballāḷadēva, was established in this, his newly-acquired capital of Lokkiguṇḍi, in 1193, having, a short time previously, and while acting as his father's general, wrested the country from the Yadavas. It is thus more than probable that he began to re-build the temples that were destroyed and to embellish his new capital (Plates LXII, LXV—LXXII).

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In this temple the Chālukyan builders reached their high watermark in decorative architecture. The mouldings are deeper and crisper than in earlier examples, and thus have a more sparkling effect of light and shade. This is especially the case in the towers where the mouldings and detail are far more delicate; and the detail around the doorways is particularly rich and far beyond anything in older temples. Bands and scrolls of lace-like carving run up the jambs and across the lintels, some of it standing in high relief, and some perforated and almost detached by undercutting.

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On the southern doorway, which seems to have lost its porch and to have had a new cornice or *chajja* added above it at some subsequent period, there are, amongst the doorpost mouldings, four inner bands or fasciæ which run up the sides and around the lower part of the entablature above. Next to these, on either side, in the centre, are tall attenuated columns or pilasters, supporting the lower cornice above. Beyond these, again, on either side, are four other bands of mouldings. On the lintel of the doorway is the projecting dedicatory block on which is the favourite group of Lakshmī and her elephants. The remainder of the entablature, above the lower cornice, is principally taken up with—or, rather, was, for only three now remain—a row of eleven small standing figures beneath a lace-like fringe of cusped arching. Above this is a valance of beads hanging in festoons. The illustrations on Plates LXVII and LXVIII will save further detailed description of these rich filigree mouldings which are wrought in the stone with as much care and delicacy as they would have been in silver. Upon either side of the door, at the bottom, are rows of small images, beneath cusped and foliated arches, nine on each side, the central one, at the base of each of the pilasters, being a goddess on one side and, perhaps, a god on the other, but the latter is rather damaged.

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Though the south doorway is the finer one of the two, the eastern has even more delicate work upon it. In this one some of the bands have been so undercut as to leave ribbons of perforated filigree work the fine tracery of which is accentuated by the black shadows of the innumerable interstices between. How the tool was worked through these small holes to remove the background is marvellous: it must have required the very utmost effort of patience (Plate LXIX).

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The central niches, on the outer walls of the shrine, are, in this, more prominent features than in earlier temples; they are considerably enlarged, and the miniature *śikharas* above them break through the principal cornice, the foliated arch above becoming an ornamental feature of the tower. This combination of *śikhara* and arch has been repeated up the tower upon each of the storeys, which have become so masked by multitudinous mouldings and other detail that it is not easy, at first sight, to separate them, but they are there nevertheless. These little *śikharas*, which are a very prominent feature on the face of the building, are purely northern in type. It is a pity that the capping member and the *kalaśa* or finial has gone, for, judging from the graceful cut of the mouldings of the tower, they were, probably, unusually fine.

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The shrine doorway, within, rivals the exterior one in point of finish (Plate LXX). Above it are figures of Brahmā, Śiva and Viṣṇu. Upon the cornice are groups of men and animals in procession, among which, in the middle, is a horseman with head and shoulders broken off, preceded by musicians. The action and contour of both horse and man are very good (Fig. 26). The Indian sculptor was never very happy in delineating the horse, and few good examples are to be found. The leg of the man, about all that is left of him, hangs freely and naturally in the stirrup, while the outline of the hind quarters of the horse is very pleasing. The group is not more than six inches high, and is cut in very bold relief, in fact it is almost detached from the cornice. Over this doorway, too, presides Gaja-Lakṣmī.

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Fig. 26.—Horseman group over the shrine door of Kāśiviśveśvara, Lakkuṇḍi.

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The pillars and pilasters, with their capitals, are beautifully wrought (Plate LXXI). The round parts of the shafts of the pillars of this period were turned on a lathe, and their surfaces were brought to a high polish. The material being a very fine-grained stone and easily cut, it was possible to turn the finest and most delicate mouldings without fear of breaking the sharp edges. Of this property the sculptors availed themselves to the utmost, and have produced in stone--work such as would appear at first sight only possible in ivory or silver. The design of the pillars is carried out on more graceful lines than in the earlier examples, and there is better proportion between the parts. The brackets, above the capitals, are especially worth notice, the little lions, kīrtimukhas, and scrolls being very much undercut. The ceilings are poor, being decorated with a plain lotus.

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Within the shrine is a liṅga standing three feet high. The interior was for many years used by some villagers as a lumber room, in which was stored a lot of rubbish, and it was kept in a very dirty state.

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This is a double temple, that is, it has a second shrine facing the main building on the east, but separated from it by a raised platform, which was, perhaps, at one time, an open hall roofed over. This style of double temple is not frequently met with. This small shrine has been dedicated to Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa, but it faces west instead of east as is customary with Sūrya temples. On the dedicatory block of the doorway is Gaja-Lakṣmī, but above her is Sūrya in his top boots with his seven steeds below him, while, on either side, are pairs of female *chauri* bearers, and, beyond these, one on either side, are his two wives, Saṅgnā and Chhāyā, each with her bow. The throne for an image of Sūrya, upon which are his seven horses, lies in the hall of the main temple. This was probably in the shrine of the smaller temple originally.

The Temple of Nanṇēśvara

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Of about the same date as Kāśiviśvēśvara is the temple of Naṇṇēśvara, a few yards to the back or west of it. Though smaller, the latter is practically the same as the other in plan and general design. It has an outer open hall, but no smaller subsidiary shrine (Plate LXXIII), and has not got quite so much of that delicate carving about it. It is in a much more shattered condition.

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The village of Lakkuṇḍi is full of the remains of temples, most of which have some points of interest about them, but it would make our account too long to describe them all.

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