The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c20: Hāngal
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c20
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Contents
- c20.s1 The Temple of Tārakēsvara — 4 parts
- c20.s2 Temple of Gaṇapati — 2 parts
Hāngal
The Temple of Tārakēsvara
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T HIS temple, which is chiefly remarkable for the magnificent dome which covers the central portion of the great hall, is situated in the town of Hāngal, in the south-west corner of the Dhārwār district (Plates LXXXVI, LXXXVII and LXXXIX—XCI). This dome, which measures twenty-one feet in diameter, is supported by eight large pillars, placed at the corners of an octagon, and eight smaller pillars placed, in pairs, between these on each side of the octagon (Plate LXXXIX). The last are inserted to take off some of the weight coming upon the centre of each beam, which would otherwise tend to crack it. The dome rises for about nine feet from the octagon in five ascending tiers of circles of cusped mouldings, and, towards the centre, descends again in a splendidly cusped and star-shaped central pendant, which hangs some five feet below the highest point of the ceiling. These cusps are not merely flat ornament, but each is hollowed out as a quarter of a hollow sphere. The drawing explains the design better than description (Plate XC). It has been recorded in the Bombay Gazetteer that it is worked out of one huge stone, but this is not the case, for a close examination of the dome will show that it is built up of many stones in the usual way. These domes are not built after the methods of European construction with radiating voussoirs, but of ring upon ring of stones, laid upon horizontal beds, each closing in more and more all the way up to the top. The stones are thus corbelled forward one over the other, and are kept in position by the heavy filling-in above the haunches. It is then dressed, underneath, to the beautiful concentric circles of mouldings as we find it, the stones having first been cut in the rough before being put up. This method of construction is certainly remarkable, and one cannot help wondering the more at it after examining the great heavy pendant hanging from the centre. It almost seems as if it must drag the whole ceiling down to destruction. In each of the corners of the octagon, above each pillar, is a small slab bearing one of the ashtadikpālas or regents of the cardinal points, seated on his vāhana beneath a little floral arch.
c20.s1.2
The temple is almost complete, and is one of the largest in the Dhārwār district. The original crowning member of the tower has been replaced by an ugly modern whitewashed erection. It is in a good state of preservation, and this is due, no doubt, to it having been in uninterrupted use all down through the centuries of its existence. It will be noticed how the facets, down the centre of each face of the tower, overlap each other and form a continuous band after the fashion of the northern type of tower. The little *śikharas* on the shrine walls are of the Chālukyan type while those round the low wall of the open hall are of the northern. Over the central niches of the shrine walls there is, in fact, a model of a complete little Chālukyan temple (Plate XCI). Upon the projection on the front of the tower is the Hoysaḷa group of sculpture which is described further on in connection with the temples at Baḷagāmve.
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This temple is very similar in plan to the temple in the fort at Baṅkāpur and is probably of about the same date. The roof of the great hall is supported upon fifty-two pillars, and joined to it in front, as an extension, is the *Nandi* pavilion upon twelve pillars. Both of these have low pyramidal stepped-out roofs, that of the main hall being the outer shell of the great dome already described. The hall and pavilion are surrounded by the same heavy cornice that we found round the porches of the temple at Chaudadāmpur, and which is also found at Baṅkāpur and Kundgol. The pillars are of the regular Chālukyan type, many of them having the round turned shafts so characteristic of this period (Plate XCI). In front of the great hall, and leaning against the basement outside, are three very fine memorial stones depicting battle scenes and the death of a hero. A separate account of these memorial stones is given further on (see Plate CLVI).
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This temple, like many others in this district, has been ascribed to the Jains. This is wrong; it has been a Brahmanical shrine from the beginning. It is not usual in this part of the country, and in Jaina temples of this period, to find large image niches on the outside of the walls. On the round column, shown in the plate, will be seen a well-cut image of Narasiṁha, which is not likely to be found in a Jaina temple. Moreover, the *Nandi* pavilion would not be necessary in such a case.
Temple of Gaṇapati
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Close beside the north-east corner of this temple is a smaller one remarkable for its tower which is built in the northern style. Another unusual thing about it is that it faces the south. This is the furthest point south that we know of where such a tower is found. The reason of its southern aspect is that it is dedicated to Gaṇapati, whose shrines are generally turned in that direction (Plate LXXXVII). Temples to this deity are very rare indeed, notwithstanding the fact that there is no god more frequently invoked than Gaṇapati. There is a Hindu sect, called Gaṇapatyas, who make Gaṇapati their chief object of worship, and look upon him as all the gods rolled into one. In later Śaiva temples it is his image that is found upon the dedicatory blocks over the shrine doorways. He is also known as Gaṇeśa, which has practically the same meaning as Gaṇapati, the leader of Śiva's *gaṇa* or troupe of attendants; and as Ekadanta, having one tusk. The image which was seated upon the throne in this temple was, when the town was vacated in 1904, on account of famine, taken away and smashed, but a new one has since been installed. As seen in the photograph, the walls are found a very convenient place whereon to dry cowdung cakes which are used for fuel.
c20.s2.2
There are some other old ruined temples in the fort at Hangal, two of which are illustrated on Plate LXXXVIII.