The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c24: Tilivalli and Ānavatti
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c24
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Tilivalli and Ānavatti
The Temples of Śantēśvara and Kaithabhēśvara
c24.s1.1
THE temples at these two places are so much alike, being almost duplicates of one another, that they may both be taken together in our description of them. In the one—that of Kaithabhēśvara at Ānavaṭṭi—the edge of the roof of the hall has all been minutely carved and finished off, whereas, in that of Śantēśvara at Tiḷivaḷḷi, the blocks around the corresponding course have been left uncarved. Many of the central blocks on the tower have also been left unfinished. This shows, very clearly, the custom, at the time, of executing all surface carving after the stones were built into their positions.
c24.s1.2
The temple of Kaithabhēśvara stands about half a mile to the north of the town, and is built upon high ground which appears to have been at one time enclosed and fortified. Perhaps this was Ḥaidar ‘Alī’s entrenched camp which he is said to have made when retreating from the Marāṭha forces in 1766. The temple has a very fine hall which is supported upon some massive and well-designed circular columns. The central panel of the hall ceiling is a particularly fine piece of work. The building is in a very good state of preservation and is well cared for. Several long inscriptions are inscribed upon the top of the broad bench which runs round the hall inside, as well as upon the shafts of the columns. A pleasant feature about the temple is its unusually lofty hall, and the pillars being massive in proportion, the general effect is good (Plates XCVIII—C).
c24.s1.3
The temple of Śantēśvara, at Tiḷivaḷḷi, is in the middle of the village. It has comparatively little figure sculpture about it, but it is fully decorated with other ornament. The outer side of the parapet wall around the hall, like that at Baṅkāpur, is very effectively decorated with an endless repetition of miniature śikharas. The three porches of the hall have rather pretty ceilings with very elegant rosette centres. The interior, unlike that at Ānavaṭṭi, is very low, and this makes it dark and gloomy and rather depressing.
c24.s1.4
Standing beside the temple, on the south, is a very large and fine inscription slab, and, scattered about the town, are several more. Built into the top of a bridge, forming coping stones for the parapet, are several sculptured and inscribed stones.
c24.s1.5
Tiḷivaḷḷi is twelve miles south-east of Hāngal, in the Dhārwār District, and Ānavaṭṭi is in Maisur, just across the border from it.