The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c8.s4: The Durga Temple
The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c8.s4
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The Durga Temple
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Of temples with northern śikharas there are two particularly fine ones, namely, the Durga temple at Aihoḷe (No. 3) and that of Pāpaṇātha at Paṭṭadakal, the former being, undoubtedly, the finest and most imposing temple in the village (Plates IX—XI). It is most unique in that it is built upon the lines of the apsidal cave chaitya of the Buddhists, the position of the shrine being that of the dāgaba; and, like its prototype, two rows of columns separate the body of the hall into a central nave and two side aisles. Stone, as a building material, at a time when constructive arching was unknown, determined that the roof should be flat and not arched, but sufficient likeness to the chaitya was obtained by making the central roof lofty and that of the side aisles low and sloping, the slope being the nearest approach to the half vault of the chaitya. The entablature, four feet deep, sculptured with friezes of figures, foliage and arabesque, built over the columns on either side in order to raise the height of the nave, reminds one forcibly of the same as seen in the cave chaityas above the pillars, such as that in cave XXVI at Ajanta.¹ Upon plate XI will be found a small scale plan of cave XIX at Ajanta, and it is interesting to compare the two plans. It will be seen that the rock-wall periphery of the cave corresponds to the outer pillared periphery of the temple; and the walls of the temple are just the columns of the cave all linked up. The dāgaba of the cave, upon the face of which is the principal object of worship—the image of Buddha—is represented by the shrine with its image. The structural necessities of the temple required the addition of these extra columns in the hall. There is no doubt that this type of structure descended from a wooden prototype, which was originally provided with a thatched roof. Such a roof has been reproduced, in brick and mortar, over the old Buddhist chaitya at Tēr in the Nizām's dominions.² The temple faces the east.
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¹ See The Buddhist Cave Temples (Burgess), Plate XXXVI.
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² See Annual Report, 1902-03, Archæological Survey of India, Plate XXIX.
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The pillars in this temple are not quite so heavy and massive as they are in Lāḍ Khān's, though they are very simple in their general outline, being square blocks, without bases, surmounted by very plain bracket-capitals. Those in the front of the temple have been decorated with pairs of figures, in full relief, upon their outer sides. Some of the innermost columns in the porch are further enriched with bands and medallions of arabesque (Fig. 9). It will be noticed that all the male figures wear a high crown, and thus differ from that in the temple of Mallikārjuna at Paṭṭadakal, which has a very elaborate coiffure of curls (see Fig. 18). The latter looks more like a portrait statue than these, which are, probably, merely decorative figures.
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Garuḍa presides above the shrine door, where he grasps, in his two hands, the serpent tails of nāgas whose upturned human bodies are a little way down the jambs on either side. The doorway is much after the style of those of the vihāras at Ajaṇṭā.
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Though the image groups, representing Narasiṃha, Mahiṣāsura-mardanī, Varāha, Viṣṇu, Ardhanārī, and Śiva, in the niches around the walls in the outer verandah, are an impartial mixture of Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava subjects, it is very likely that the temple was originally dedicated to Vaiṣṇava worship—possibly to Sūrya-Nārāyaṇa. The central niche at the back, which, in a temple, generally contains the most important image next to that in the shrine, and which gives a clue to the principal object of worship, is empty.
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Fig. 9.—A pillar in the Durga temple, Aihole.
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There are two or three short inscriptions on and about the temple, but they are of little interest. On a stone in the basement are the words "Śrī-Jin-Alayan"—'Holy temple of Jina' in characters of the same date as Vijayāditya's inscription on a pillar in the porch of the Mahākūṭeśvara temple (A.D. 696—733). As there seems to be not the shadow of a doubt that the temple was originally Vaiṣṇava, this may mean that at that early date the temple was either in disuse, when some Jaina stranger, mistaking it for one of his own shrines scribbled this upon it, or that it had been temporarily in the possession of the Jains. In either case it shows that the temple was then of considerable age and had been deserted. On a pillar is another short inscription in letters of the 8th or 9th century, which reads "Śrī-Basa-mayya, the bhaṭṭa of Kisuvoḷal" (Paṭṭadakal). This may be connected with the time when these temples were restored for Śaiva worship. Yet another on the north wall of the south gateway records a grant to Āditya, a priest of the temple.¹
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¹ *Indian Antiquary*, VIII, 285.
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The northern type of tower is the most marked feature on this temple—so like the śikharas of the oldest temples in Orissa.² Unfortunately the upper part has fallen, but we have a more complete example in that of Huchchimalli-Guḍi next to be considered. There is another temple with a northern tower, near Lāḍ Khān's, which is complete with the crowning member and kalaśa or waterpot finial, though, perhaps, of a slightly later date. These śikharas are fully described in Fergusson's *Indian and Eastern Architecture*.³ What might be called the frontispiece of the tower is missing, but it is seen on that of Huchchimalli-Guḍi, the temple on the south of the village, and others, where it has a circular panel of carving representing Śiva dancing the *tāṇḍava*. This sculpture, which is found on the front of most of these old temples, was possibly placed there, in substitution for some other, when Śaiva worship became the fashion under later kings. It is thus found upon the great Śaiva temples of Virūpāksha and Mallikārjuna at Paṭṭadakal. In these earliest temples it certainly seems so, the sculpture being poor compared with that on the other parts. The slab often rests against the tower instead of being built in with it.
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² See *History of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, II, 96 and 98.
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³ Vol. I, p. 322.
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At different points in the walls are perforated stone windows of curious patterns which serve the purpose of ventilation better than that of admitting light. On plate XI are shewn some examples of these, among which will be seen one in the familiar Greek fret or key pattern, but worked into the form of the favourite *śvastika*.
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The temple stands within the ruins of a fort-like enclosure, which has probably given the present name to the temple—*durga* or 'fort'. It has nothing to do with Durgā, a name of Pārvatī.