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History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c20: Book IV. Chalukyan Style.

History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c20

Language
English

Contents

Book IV. Chalukyan Style.

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INTRODUCTORY.

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CONTENTS.

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Chalukyan Architecture—Dhârwâr temples—Ittagi—Gadag—Kuruvatti—Dambal—Hanamkonda—Kirtti Stambhas at Worangal—Mysore—Temples at Somnâthpûr and Bêlûr—Temples at Halebîd.

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OF the three styles into which Hindû architecture naturally divides itself, the Chalukyan is neither the least extensive nor the least beautiful, but till about sixty years ago, it certainly was the least known. The very name of the people was hardly recognised by early writers on Indian subjects, and the first clear ideas regarding them were put forward, in 1836, in a paper by Sir Walter Elliot, in the fourth volume of the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.’ To this he added another paper, in the twentieth volume of the ‘Madras Journal’: and since then numerous inscriptions of this dynasty and of its allied families have been found and translated, largely by Dr. J. F. Fleet, in the ‘Indian Antiquary’ and ‘Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society.’

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From all this we gather that early in the 6th century of our era, this family rose into importance at Bâdâmi, about 65 miles south of Bijâpûr in the Bombay Presidency¹—and spread eastwards as far as the shores of the Bay of Bengal between the mouths of the Krishnâ and Godâvarî, establishing the capital of an eastern kingdom at Vengî early in the 7th century. They extended, in fact, from shore to shore, right across the peninsula, and occupied a considerable portion of the country now known as Mysore, and northward extended as far, at least, as Nâsik and Daulatâbâd.

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¹ It is sometimes incorrectly stated that Kalyân, in the Nizam’s territory, was their early capital; but it was not so before the middle of the 10th century, and under the later Châlukyas.—‘Indian Antiquary,’ vol. v. p. 318.

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The first prince of whom we know more than the name is Pulikesin I., who began to rule at Bâdâmi about A.D. 550, under whose two sons in succession the kingdom was largely extended, towards the west at the expense of the Kâdambas of Banawâsi, and—pushing northwards into Gujarât, where they were checked by Sîlâditya I. of Valabhi. Early in the next century Pulikesin II. (609-642) further extended his dominions, held at bay the forces of the great Harshavardhana of Kanauj, invaded the Chola and Pallava territories, and placed his brother Kubja-Vishnuvardhana over the country about the deltas of the Godâvarî and Krishnâ rivers, who—about 617—established the eastern Chalukya dynasty at Vengî. About 626 Pulikesin II. seems to have received an embassy from Khosru II. of Persia;¹ and in 640 or 641, Hiuen Tsiang traversed his kingdom and apparently visited his temporary capital—probably at Nâsik.² But very soon after, towards the close of his reign, his rule was upset by the Pallava King Narasimhavarman, who took and plundered Bâdâmi or Vâtâpi, as it was then called. By 655 Vikramâditya I. had recovered the Chalukya dominions and even entered Kânchî.³

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¹ ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ N.S., vol. xi. p 165.

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² Hiuen Tsiang does not appear to have visited Bâdâmi. From Kânchîpuram he went north-west (according to the ‘Life’) to Kong-kin-na-pu-lo, the position of which is not known. From that he went to the chief city of Mahârâshtra, which he does not name, but being not more than 150 miles from Bharoch, Dr. J. F. Fleet has pointed out that Nâsik best suits the conditions. — ‘Indian Antiquary,’ vol. xxii. pp. 113ff.

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³ ‘Indian Antiquary,’ vol. xix. pp. 151f.; or for a detailed outline of the historical materials, by Dr. J. F. Fleet, see ‘Bombay Gazetteer,’ vol. i. pt. ii. pp. 335-381.

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The family religion of the early kings was Vaishnava, but they seem to have been very tolerant, if not eclectic, and made grants liberally to Saiva and Jaina temples as well as to Vaishnava ones.

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Like all the dynasties of central and northern India, the Chalukyas suffered eclipse in the 8th century. They were overthrown by the Râshtrakûtas of Mâlkhed about 756, and it was not till 973 that a descendant recovered the kingdom and made his capital at Kalyâni in the Dekhan. The temples at Aihole and Pattadakal described above (Woodcuts Nos. 181 and 205) belong to their age, and we know they were erected by early kings of this race; but they do not belong to their style. Their sikharas, or towers, either show the curvilinear outline of the northern style, or the storeyed pyramids of the Dravidian. It is as if this intrusive race adopted hesitatingly the earlier styles of the country, but that it was not till they had consolidated their power, and developed peculiar institutions of their own, that they expressed them in the style to which their name has been affixed.

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The materials doubtless exist for settling these and most other questions connected with this style; but, unfortunately, much of them are locked up in the offices of the Archæological Survey; and probably more are to be found in the Nizam's territory, which is still almost a *terra incognita* to us in so far as architecture is concerned. No extended survey has yet been made of such remains as may exist there by any one having a knowledge of the art or of the interest attaching to the forms and age of the buildings.

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The Muhammadan invaders from the beginning of the 14th century spared no temples that came in their way on any of their raids, and doubtless the largest were the greater sufferers. But after the final conquest and the rise of the Musalmân dynasties — the line of their capitals — Bijâpûr, Kulbargâ, Bîdar, and Haidarâbâd—which have long occupied the native country of the Chalukyas, is painfully suggestive of the destruction of Hindû temples; and the ruins and broken sculptures that lie all round the neighbourhood of Kalyâni—at Nârâyanpur, Sîtâpur, Tiprâd, etc., bear abundant testimony to the iconoclastic zeal of the conquerors.¹ But still the wealth of remains that exists in Dhârwâr and Mysore on the south and west, and in the Berars on the north of the Nizam's territories, is so great that all certainly cannot have perished, and many will probably yet be found to solve the historical enigmas, though they may not be sufficient to restore the style in its integrity.

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¹ 'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. iii. pp. 20, 23, 38-40.

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The Chalukyan style was naturally evolved from the Dravidian, and the earliest temples within its area are not always clearly marked off from that type: it was only by degrees that it acquired its distinctive character. Unfortunately, most of the earlier and the finer examples perished during the early Moslim invasions and under the later rule of the various Muhammadan dynasties of the Dekhan. The area over which the style extended includes Mysore and all the Kanarese country—its birthplace—in the west; eastwards its southern limit was the Tungabhadrâ and Krishnâ rivers; and on the north it perhaps extended to a line drawn from the south end of the Chilkâ lake towards Nâgpur, and thence westwards and south-westwards to the coast. But we know too little as yet of the remains in the Haidarâbâd districts to define the northern boundary with any certainty.

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From the remains that have escaped entire destruction in this area, we gather that the earlier Chalukyan temples preserved on the whole the general plan of the Dravidian shrines, but the corners were made more prominent by flat increments placed on them, whilst the projections on the walls were but slight, the central one on each face of the shrine being made much broader and important. The sikhara and roof soon lost the distinctively southern storeyed form and became stepped, forming pyramids of different heights, with breaks corresponding to those of the walls, and with broad bands up the sides of the sikhara answering to the larger face in the middle of each side of the shrine. Later, the plan often became star-shaped, the projecting angles lying in circles whose centres were in the middle of the shrine and mandap respectively.¹ The broader faces on the sides, however, were retained for the principal images of the cult. The pillars supporting the roof of the halls or mandaps were arranged in squares; the device of placing twelve pillars so disposed in a square that eight of them could be connected by lintels to support a roof or dome of larger dimensions was almost unknown to the style.²

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¹ 'Archæological Survey of Western India,' vol. iii. p. 21 and plate 18. The star-shaped plan is obtained by the overlapping of equal squares having a common centre with their corners all equidistant; and as projecting angles must always correspond to the corners of the cella and mandapa, the number of angles between the wider faces on two adjacent sides are usually three or five. The re-entrant angles will then always be larger than right angles. With unequal projections the corners, in a plan similar to that in the Northern style, may also lie in a circle.

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² In the outer mandapa of the great temple at Hangal, however, it was introduced.

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A favourite arrangement in the later temples was the grouping of three shrines round a central mandapa or hall. The pillars are markedly different from the Dravidian type; they are massive, often circular, richly carved and highly polished. They are usually in pairs or fours of the same pattern, the whole effect being singularly elegant. Their capitals are wide with numerous thin mouldings immediately below the abacus; and under these is a square block, whilst the middle of the shaft is carved with circular mouldings. Frequently the capitals and shafts have been actually turned in a sort of lathe in which the shaft was held vertically.

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In Dravidian temples at Bâdâmi, Pattadakal, Elûrâ, and elsewhere, pierced stone windows are not unfrequent, but the most richly carved examples of these belong specially to the Chalukyan style. Generally the temples stand on a terrace, sometimes 10 to 15 ft. wide, quite surrounding them, and from 3 to 6 feet in height—a feature which adds considerably to the architectural effect. The structures were erected without mortar, and the joints very carefully fitted. The whole outer surface was covered with great variety of sculpture, of floral and geometric patterns intermixed with mythological figures; and generally the mouldings of the base were carved with the succession of animal patterns prescribed in the ‘Silpa Sâstras’ or architectural treatises.

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The Dhârwâr district may be regarded as the cradle of the style, and it may help to make its features better understood, if before describing the remains farther east and south, we first notice some of the larger temples near and in that district.

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At Ittagi, a small village in the Haidarâbâd districts, lying some 21 miles east-north-east from Gadag, is a large Saiva temple surrounded by the ruins of smaller shrines, etc., belonging at latest to the early half of the 11th century, which, though deserted and partly ruinous, must be regarded as one of the most highly finished and architecturally perfect of the Chalukyan shrines that have come down to us. In the opinion of the late Meadows Taylor, the principal temple is perhaps superior in decorative art even to the Gadag temples. In it “the carving on some of the pillars and of the lintels and architraves of the doors is quite beyond description. No chased work in silver or gold could possibly be finer. . . . By what tools this very hard, tough stone could have been wrought and polished as it is, is not at all intelligible at the present day; nor indeed from whence the large blocks of greenstone rock were brought.”¹ A plan of the group is given on Woodcut No. 246, and it may be noted that the plan of the shrine is not star-shaped, but follows the old Dravidian form. The outer walls of the small shrines have been stripped for building stone by the villagers.

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¹ ‘Architecture of Dharwar and Mysore,’ pp. 47-48. The stone is not so “very hard,” however, as Meadows Taylor had supposed.

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The temple, shown in Plate No. XII., consists of an open mandap and a closed hall with antechamber and linga shrine. The square dome that once crowned the *sikhara* and the super-structures on the roofs of the mandapas, with most of the screen wall round the outer one, are now lost, as well as much of the projecting cornice round the latter and over the entrance porches.

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The form of these cornices, it may be remarked, indicates to some extent the age of individual structures, as it is probable the flat sloping form preceded the more ornamental one with double flexure. The inner hall is 27 ft. square, and besides the entrance from the front mandap, has also doorways on the north and south sides, with pillared porches. The jambs and lintels of all the entrances, as is usual in temples from the earliest This page is blank.

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period and in the caves, are very elaborately carved; and their porches have ribbed roofs of beautiful and ingenious designs.

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[Figure: 246. Plan of the Ittagi Temples. (From a Drawing by Mr. H. Cousens.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

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The central niches on the outsides of the shrine walls here are larger and more prominent than in most other temples, and have a half sikhara minutely carved over each. The niches themselves, once occupied by characteristic Saiva images, are now quite empty. Above each of these is a succession of highly ornamental carved frontons, rising one above another, in decreasing sizes to the summit. The pillars in the open mandap are of varied patterns, richly carved, the central four being star-shaped in plan, as are also the two outer pillars of each side porch,—a form that was a favourite one, as it occurs in various temples of this period and later, as in the Dambal temple of Doddâ Basavanna. The central panel in the roof, 8 ft. 5 in. square, is also richly sculptured, with a figure of Natesa in the middle and, in the corners, are artistic arabesques in high relief round kîrttimukh faces.¹

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¹ For a drawing and section of this panel, which is in five stages, fully 4 ft. in total depth, the uppermost being 3 ft. 11 in. square, with descriptive note, see ‘Technical Art Series of Illustrations of Indian Architectural Decorative Work,’ 1888, plate 6.

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At Kukkanûr, within 4 miles northwards from Ittagi is a notable group of temples, indicating that at an early period the place must have been of considerable note. Most of them stand together in a walled enclosure inside the village, about 82 yds. in length from north to south, and 75 yds. from east to west. On the east side is a massive gateway of perhaps the 16th century, and the temples are arranged as in the plan (Woodcut No. 247). The larger temple opposite the entrance is in use, and is

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247. Plan of Temples at Kukkanûr. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

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perhaps, in its present form, of about the age of the enclosure. But on the west side of it is an interesting congeries of nine shrines, now containing lingas, of an earlier date—possibly going back to the 9th century. The sikharas of these are more Dravidian in contour than Chalukyan; but the pillars inside with round shafts and spreading capitals, and the tendency to reduce and render less emphatic the storeys of the spires, mark them as indicating an early advance towards the latter style. The outer surfaces of the walls also are overlaid with carving after the Chalukyan fashion; but the red sandstone of which they are built has decayed considerably from exposure and obliterated much of the detail.

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There are other temples here of which some are probably of about the same age as these. To the south-west of the village is one, in tolerably good preservation, which is quite Dravidian in outline with indications of a tendency to the more This page is blank.

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elegant proportions of the Chalukyan forms, and with gablets on the middle of each tier of the sikhara, indicative of the beginning of the continuous band up each face that is so prominent a feature in the later examples.

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[Figure: 248. Plan of Somesvar Temple, Gadag. Scale 25 ft. to 1 in. (From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens.)]

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Among the five more notable temples at Gadag, that of Somesvar, now appropriated as a school, though small, is worth notice. Except the upper portion of the sikhara and the outer open mandap that stood on the east, it is still fairly entire. From the plan (Woodcut No. 248) and the photograph (Plate XIII.), it appears to be a typical example of the style. The mandap is 21 ft. 10 in. square inside with four round pillars, 9 ft. 4 in. between centres, supporting the roof; the antarâla or antechamber to the shrine is here cut off from the mandap by a screen with a door of its own, and is 9 ft. square with a narrow window on each side. The shrine itself is 9 ft. 3 in. square, and, as is common in Chalukyan temples, it has no pradakshina. The doorways and all the outside walls are very richly decorated with carving. The whole temple, however, seems to be silted up to the level of the top of the raised basement on which these temples usually stand, and which gave the rich wall sculptures that elevation at which they could be seen to advantage. As in other instances, the materials of the basement had probably been, at least partly, removed before the ground level was raised to its present height.¹

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¹ Close to this temple is another known as that of Râmesvara, of the same plan and style, but much plainer, having scarcely any sculpture on its walls, and is more dilapidated.

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Of quite as much interest is the temple of Trikûtesvar in the fort of Gadag.² As the name may imply, it is a triple-shrined temple with two mandapas in line with the east and west shrines, and the third cella built off at a later date from between the mandapas on the north side. The carving has been exceedingly good, but the figures have been much defaced by violence, and the whole overlaid by successive coats of whitewash. Round the mandapas the perforated screen work is well worth attention. The original sikhara had been ruined, and is replaced by a modern brick tower, altogether unworthy of the rest of the building, which otherwise may be compared with the Bêlûr temple mentioned below. An inscription records the restoration, or perhaps reconstruction, of this temple in the 10th century, to which period it possibly belongs; but there were later repairs at least, as under some of the images on the exterior are tablet inscriptions of A.D. 1192, 1199, and 1213.

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² Trikûtesvara—'lord of the three-crested mountain.' Trikûta is the mountain in Ceylon on which Râvana's capital stood, also a range on the south of the fabled Mount Meru.

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Close to this, on its south side, is a small temple dedicated to Sarasvatî, the goddess of learning and consort of Brahmâ, and is one of the most remarkable for elaborate sculpture even among those of this style. It is sadly dilapidated, but the pillars are of the most varied patterns, and carved in the minutest detail, as are also the screen walls, the roof, and doorway of the shrine.¹

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¹ For a fuller description of the temples at Gadag by the editor, see 'Bombay Gazetteer,' vol. xxii. (Dharwar) pp. 713ff.

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As already noted, the doorways of Indian temples have always been objects of sculptural decoration. Panels in the roofs, as in the instance cited at Ittagi, have also been treated with like care, a favourite device being the division into nine compartments in each of which was represented the mythological guardians, regents, or Dikpâlas of the eight points of the compass, the central panel being appropriated to the presiding divinity of the temple.² The rich sculptures on the Muhammadan Mihrâbs may be, and probably are largely due to the taste of Hindû workmen, who applied to them the decorative style they had been accustomed to employ on the doorways of their own shrines.

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² A good example of this, from Ganginkatti in Dhârwâr, is given in 'Technical Art Series,' 1888, plate 1.

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The subject cannot be adequately illustrated in a work of this compass, but a single example (Plate No. XIV.),³ may help to convey some idea of the character of the doorways of Chalukyan temples. This is from one of the many very interesting old temples at Lakkundi, a village 7 miles east-south-east from Gadag. These temples are mostly fallen to ruin, having suffered severely from the Chola invasion in the 11th century, when those at Lakshmesvar were also destroyed. And, at a much later date, in the feuds between the Brâhmans and Lingayats, they further suffered. The finest and one of the largest of these temples is that of Kâsivisvesvar, which is a double one, a western temple consisting of a shrine, hall and porch, and a smaller eastern shrine with antarâla, connected with the porch to the west by a raised platform.

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³ From 'Technical Art Series,' 1887, plate 3.

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The doorways on the south and east of the hall are beautiful DOORWAY OF THE SHRINE IN KÂSÎVISVESVAR TEMPLE AT LAKKUNDI. Scale 1-25th.

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examples of intricate and delicate chiselling; but the shrine doorway, here represented, rivals the others in design and workmanship. This doorway, though small—the entrance being only 2 ft. 9 in. wide by 5 ft. 8 in. high—is of good proportions. The variety of ornamental detail on the three fascias within the pilasters may be studied on the illustration. It is so delicately chiselled and in parts so undercut as to be almost detached from the stone. The pilasters support a cornice over the door frame, and from its centre depends a shield presenting Gaja-Lakshmî or Srî, the goddess of success, bathed by elephants. On the upper side of the cornice are elephants fighting, soldiers and other figures, spiritedly executed, but now much damaged. Above is a frieze divided into five panels by carved uprights, and containing figures of Siva and Pârvatî with attendants in the central one, Brahmâ and Vishnu in those to left and right, and devotees in the end panels. This is surmounted by a projecting moulding carved with a leaf ornament that appears in all ages of Hindû art. In the recesses between the mouldings of the doorway and the pilasters, supporting the roof, a single figure is inserted and a rod or stalk with leaf tracery branching off but stopping below the capitals of the door pilasters. The three fascias of the architrave are also very richly and beautifully sculptured.

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At Chaudadâmpur on the Tungabhadrâ, about 12 miles north from the railway at Rânibennûr, is a fine bold temple of black stone belonging to the 11th century, with all its details more completely finished than in some others. As will be noticed in the photograph (Plate XV.), its defects in design are the form of its dome and the insignificance of its crowning member or finial, which latter, however, is probably not the original Kalas.

Kuruvatti.

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At Kuruvatti on the right bank of the Tungabhadrâ, 17 miles west from Harpanahalli, and about 3 miles from Chaudadâmpur, is a temple now dedicated to Malikârjuna (Woodcut No. 249). It is on the same general plan as that of Somesvar at Gadag, but with a porch and doorway on the north as well as the south side of the mandap. In the shrine are three recesses in the walls, either for so many important images, where the temple had only one shrine, or for the vessels used in the worship.¹

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¹ In the Kesava temple at Huvinahadagalli, in the old Chalukya temple at Nagai, 25 miles south-east from Kulbargâ, and in others, are similar deep recesses. —Rea’s ‘Chalukyan Architecture,’ p. 21 and plate 92; H. Stone, ‘The Nizam’s State Railway,’ plan at p. 198.

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249. Plan of Kuruvatti Temple. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

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The square antechamber has two narrow windows and a richly-carved doorstep—the "moonstone" of Ceylon—in front of the cell door. As may be seen from the plan, the mandap is small—only about 19 ft. square, with the usual four pillars supporting the roof. They have square bases, highly carved on each face, and round shafts broken into numerous members. As will be seen from the south elevation (Woodcut No. 250),¹ the roof of the mandap has been destroyed, but the sikhar is entire—except the finial which is a modern restoration. The projecting porches to the north and south entrances have three pillars on each side—square in plan with the corners slightly recessed. The panels in the walls, formed by very attenuated pilasters, are carved above, some with imitations of sikharas and others with a sort of festoon issuing from the mouths of makaras on each side. In

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¹ From Rea's 'Chalukyan Architecture.'

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250. Kuruvatti Temple, south elevation. Scale 1-200th.

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the south door stands a loose slab over 6 ft. high by 4 ft.

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broad, carved with a male figure with two arms and attended by four females. All the details are sharp and the carving so good that even at Halebîd it would be difficult to point out any individual piece showing more complete mastery over the material than the brackets representing female figures with encircling wreaths on the fronts and inner sides of the capitals at the east entrance.¹ The temple is probably of somewhat later date than the preceding.

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¹ Rea’s ‘Chalukyan Architecture,’ pp. 21-24 and plates 56-68.

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Dambal, some 13 miles south-east from Gadag, and 16 miles south-west from Ittagi, must have been, in early days, a seat of Buddhism, for we find that in A.D. 1095 a Buddhist inscription there makes mention of a vihâra built by sixteen Settis, and of another vihâra of Târâdevî at Lakkundi.² It has still three old Saiva temples—all much injured. That of Dodda Basappa or Basavanna, outside the town to the north-east, differs in plan from any of the known temples in Dhârwâr districts (Woodcut No. 251). It presents us with what appears to be a late form of the Chalukyan *sikhara*, without the broad faces on the north, west and south sides. The plan is star-shaped on the outside, being formed of numerous rectangular points, which represent the corners of six squares whose diagonals vary round a common centre by 15 degrees each. The plan of the mandap is similarly formed with eight squares at equal angles. The angles are carried up the walls and roofs of shrine and hall. The smaller string-courses of the roof being left in block, may indicate that the work was not entirely finished, though the effect is as sparkling as if they had been completed to the extent originally intended. But even as it stands it would not be easy to point to a more graceful form of roof for the shrine. At first sight it may appear somewhat strange and *outré*, but its form gains with familiarity on the judgment of the architectural critic.

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² ‘Indian Antiquary,’ vol. x. pp. 185-190.

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251. Plan of Dambal Temple of Dodda Basavanna. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.

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The hall measures 23½ ft. square inside, and, like the Somesvar temple at Gadag and others of the same class, it has an entrance from the south as well as from the east. A long porch has been roughly built at some late date, projecting from the front to cover a gigantic Nandi or bull of Siva. The two pillars of the south porch and the doorway have been elaborately carved; and the dome of the mandap is supported by four pillars also equally richly chiselled. Spanning the two slender pillars in front of the antechamber or antarâla is a frieze, 8 ft. in length and between 3 and 4 ft. in height, richly carved with unrivalled care though now damaged. And at the entrance of the shrine is a doorstep—perhaps the most beautiful in design in any temple in Western India. This temple was perhaps one of the latest, designed late in the 12th century, before the Muhammadan raids put an end to temple building.

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Lastly, about 9 miles north from Chaudadâmpur, at the sacred junction of the Varadâ with the Tungabhadrâ, in the small village of Galaganâth is another Chalukya temple, dedicated to Galageśvara (Plate XVI.). It is built of black granite, and its appearance is striking owing to the base of the shrine or vimâna being entirely surrounded by a peculiar stepped abutment that looks somewhat like an afterthought, and is quite out of place as an architectural feature. Had it been below the shrine walls it might have been contrived to add dignity to the tower; but as it is it gives the whole spire a much more pyramidal form than in other temples, and it is not elegant. It may be, however, that, to prevent the sinking of the foundations in deep sandy soil, the base was extended, at a later date, to great thickness to support the superincumbent weight of the śikhara. Otherwise, though of no great dimensions—about 80 ft. by 40 over all—this temple is a good example of the period when it was erected, or about the first half of the 11th century.

Hanamkonda and Worangal.

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When the Haidarâbâd or Nizam's territory has been examined and completely surveyed, we shall probably be able to trace all the steps by which earlier examples developed into the metropolitan temple of Anamkond or Hanamkonda, the old capital, 4 miles north-west of Orangal or Worangal fort. According to an inscription on it, this temple was erected in A.D. 1162,¹ by Pratâpa Rudra, who, though not a Chalukya in blood, but a Ganapatîya or Kâkatîya, had succeeded to their possessions and their style.

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¹ 'Indian Antiquary,' vol. xi. pp. 9ff.

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The temple itself is triple, having three shrines of very considerable dimensions, dedicated to Śiva, Vishnu, and Sûrya, arranged round a central hall. In front of this temple is a great mandapa or portico, supported on pillars, of which one hundred and thirty-two are free standing, disposed in a varied pattern, but without any sign of the octagonal arrangement for a dome. Between this portico and the temple was the pavilion for the Nandi which has fallen within the last twenty-five years, and the huge granite bull still remains among the fallen pillars and lintels. This Nandi pavilion and the great pillared hall were all of granite

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252. Doorway of Great Temple at Hanamkonda. (From a Photograph.)

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and comparatively plain and devoid of ornament. The temple itself measures outside 102 ft. from east to west, by 83 ft. 8 in. from north to south, and stands on a raised basement or podium 10 ft. wide all round it.¹ Like others of these late temples, this one was never finished. It was too extensive for one king's reign, even for one so powerful as he was who undertook it, and before it was heartily taken up again the Muhammadans were upon them (in A.D. 1310), and there was an end of Hindû greatness and of Hindû art.

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¹ Views of the hall or mantapam and the temple are given in Workman's 'Through Town and Jungle,' pp. 127 and 129.

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Some of its details, however, are of great beauty, especially the entrances to the shrines, which are objects on which the architects, as usual, lavished their utmost skill. The preceding woodcut (No. 252) will explain the form of those of the great temple, as well as the general ordinances of the pillars of the

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253. Kîrtti Stambha at Orangal. (From a Photograph.)

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great mandapa. Nothing in Hindû art is more pleasing than the pierced slabs which the Chalukyas used for screens and windows. They are not, so far as I recollect, used extensively in other styles, but as used by them are highly ornamental and appropriate, both externally and internally.

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The pillars, too, are rich, without being overdone;¹ and as the central four in the main hall are of the same design and beautifully carved, the effect of the whole is singularly varied, but at the same time pleasing and elegant. The roof also is covered by great slabs richly sculptured.

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¹ The most elaborately chased pillars of this style are to be seen in the temple of Râmâppâ near Pâlampet, about 30 miles north-east from Hanamkonda.

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In Orangal or Worangal fort there are four Kîrtti Stambhas, as they are called (Woodcut No. 253), of one pattern, facing one another, which have formed the gateways to a large temple that once occupied the centre of the area, but of which only a group of pillars and lintels belonging to its south-west corner now remains. The distance between the north and south gateways is 480 ft., and between those on the east and west 433 ft., leaving ample space for a temple of unusual size and splendour.² It cannot be said they are particularly elegant specimens of art. Their main interest lies in their being the lineal descendants of the four gateways at Sânchi (Woodcut No. 38), and they are curious as exemplifying how, in the course of a thousand years or thereabouts, a wooden style of building may lose all traces of its origin as clearly as they do; for it seems most unlikely that any such form could have been invented by any one using stone constructions, and that only.

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² Cousens’ ‘Lists of Antiquarian Remains in the Nizam’s Territory,’ pp. 46f. To Mr Cousens is due the materials for the revision of this account of the Worangal and Hanamkonda remains.

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There are also in the Orangal fort a great number of smaller temples and shrines, in the same style as the great temple, and, like it, apparently mostly dedicated to Siva, from the presence of his bull almost everywhere. Most are ruined; and, judging from appearances, I am inclined to believe this is owing to Moslim violence. The mode of building is without mortar, and the joints are by no means well fitted. The style is also remarkably free from figure-sculpture, which is generally the thing that most easily excites the iconoclastic feelings of the followers of the Prophet.

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Lastly a simple example of the style in a village temple has been cited at a place called Buchhanapalli, not far from Haidarâbâd³ (Woodcut No. 254). There are four principal faces on the walls of the shrine, larger than the others: three occupied by niches, the fourth by the entrance. The roof is in steps, and with a flat band on each face in continuation of the larger face below. The summit ornament is a vase, in this instance apparently incomplete. The porch is simple, consisting only of sixteen pillars, disposed equidistantly, without any attempt at the octagonal dome of the Jains or the varied

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³ ‘Buchropully’ was placed on Mr Fergusson’s map 50 miles west from Haidarâbâd, and in that position (Lat. 17° 31′ N., Long. 77° 48′ E.) is the village of Buchhanapalli, 14 miles north from Dharûr railway station. Mr Cousens (‘Lists of Antiquarian Remains in the Nizam’s Territories,’ p. 2) conjectured that it might be ‘Bachropully,’ 12 miles north-west of Secundarabad. In ‘Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions’ by A. Claude Campbell’ (1898), pp. 452 and 459, are two views of the shrine of a Hindû temple at ‘Bichpalli.’ This place is 10 miles south-east from Indur; and the temple, which is of unusual plan and considerable merit, stands on a rocky knoll near the village. It consists of shrine, hall, and porch, but the sikhara and roof are ruined. Round the shrine is an open *pradakshina*, in which are inserted short circular pillars surmounted by rampant Vyâlîs.—Cousens, ‘Lists of Antiquarian Remains: Nizam’s Territory,’ p. 63.

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254. Temple at Buchhanapalli. (From a Photograph.)

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arrangements subsequently attempted. The sikhara is a straight-lined cone, and its decorations in steps is as unlike the Dravidian spire in storeys as it is to the curvilinear outline of the Jaina and northern temples. The porch too, is open, and consists of columns spaced equidistantly over its floor, without either the bracketing arrangements of the southern or the domical forms of the northern styles. Situated as it was locally, half-way between the Dravidian and northern styles, the Chalukyan retained or borrowed occasionally a feature or form from one or from the other, but not to such an extent as to obliterate its individuality, or to prevent its being recognised as a separate and distinct style of architecture.

Mysore.

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It is in the province of Mysore, however, that the Chalukyan style attained its fullest development and highest degree of perfection during the three centuries — A.D. 1000 to 1300 — in which the Hoysala Ballâlas had supreme sway in that country. Several temples, or rather groups of temples, were erected by them—one at a place called Somnâthpûr, a small village on the left bank of the Kâverî, south of Mysore, built by Soma, the general of Narasimha Ballâla III., and was completed in 1270;¹ another at Bêlûr, in the centre of the province, owed its origin apparently to Vishnuvardhana, in or about A.D. 1117; the last and greatest at a place they called Dorsamudra — now known as Halebid, 10 miles east by north from the last-named, from which the capital was removed by Vishnuvardhana about 1135. It continued to be the metropolis of the kingdom, till it was destroyed, and the building of the great temple stopped by the Muhammadan invasion in A.D. 1310-1311.

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¹ Rice's ‘Mysore Gazetteer,’ vol. i. p. 514.

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255. Plan of the Kesava Temple at Somnâthpûr. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.[^2]

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Like the great temple at Hanamkonda, the Kesava temple at Somnâthpûr is triple, the cells, with their sikharas, being attached to a square pillared hall, to the fourth side of which a portico is attached, in this instance of very moderate dimensions (Woodcut No. 255). The whole stands in a square cloistered court, measuring 210 ft. by 172 ft. over all, and has the usual accompaniments of entrance-porch, stambha, etc.

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The following woodcut (No. 256) will give an idea — an imperfect one, it must be confessed —of the elegance of outline and marvellous elaboration of detail that characterises these shrines. Its height seems to be only about 30 ft., which, if it stood in the open, would be almost too small for architectural effect; but in the centre of an enclosed court, and where there are no larger objects to contrast with it, it is sufficient, when judiciously treated, to produce a considerable impression of grandeur, and apparently does so in this instance.

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² From a lithographed plan in Rice’s ‘Epigraphia Carnatica,’ vol. iii. pt. i.

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256. Temple at Somnâthpûr. (From a Photograph.)

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The temple at Somnâthpûr is a single but complete whole; that at Bêlûr, on the other hand, consists of one principal temple, surrounded by four or five others and numerous subordinate buildings, enclosed in a court by a high wall measuring 380 ft. by 425 ft., and having two very fine gateways or gopurams in its eastern front.¹ As will be seen from the plan (Woodcut No. 257), the great temple consists of a very solid vimâna, with an antarâla, or vestibule; and in front of this a porch or mahâmantapam of the usual star-like form, measuring 90 ft. across. The entire length of the temple, from the east door to the back of the cell, is 115 ft., and the whole stands on a terrace about 3 ft. high, and from 10 ft. to 15 ft. wide. This is one of the characteristic features of Chalukyan design, and adds very considerably to the effect of their temples.

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¹ By the plan in Mr Rice’s ‘Epigraphia Carnatica,’ vol. v. pt. i., the court is about 404 ft. long on the north side, and 426 on the south.

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257. Plan of Chenna Kesava Temple at Bêlûr. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. (From Rice's 'Epigraphia Carnatica,' vol. v.)

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The arrangements of the pillars have much of that pleasing subordination and variety of spacing which is found in those of the Jains, but we miss here the octagonal dome, which gives such poetry and meaning to the arrangements they adopted. Instead of that, we have only an exaggerated compartment in the centre, which fits nothing, and, though it does give dignity to the centre, it does it so clumsily as to be almost offensive in an architectural sense.

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It is not, however, either to its dimensions, or the disposition of its plan, that this temple owes its pre-eminence among others of its class, but to the marvellous elaboration and beauty of its details. The effect of these, it is true, has been, in modern times, considerably marred by the repeated coats of whitewash which the present low order of priests consider the most appropriate way of adding to the beauty of the most delicate sculptures. Notwithstanding this, however, their outline can always be traced, and where the whitewash has not been applied, or has been worn off, their beauty comes out with wonderful sharpness.

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The following woodcut (No. 258) will convey some idea of the richness and variety of pattern displayed in the windows of the porch. These are twenty-eight in number, and all are different. Some are pierced with merely conventional patterns, generally star-shaped, and with foliaged bands between; others

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258. View of part of Porch at Bêlûr. (From a Photograph.)

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are interspersed with figures and mythological subjects, the nearest one, for instance, on the left, in the woodcut, represents the Narasimha Avatâra, and other different scenes connected with the worship of Vishnu, to whom the temple is dedicated. The pierced slabs themselves, however, are hardly so remarkable as the richly-carved base on which they rest, and the deep cornice which overshadows and protects them. The amount of labour, indeed, which each facet of this porch displays is such as, I believe, never was bestowed on any surface of equal extent in any building in the world; and though the design is not of the highest order of art, it is elegant and appropriate, and never offends against good taste.

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The sculptures of the base of the vimâna, which have not been whitewashed, are as elaborate as those of the porch, in some places more so; and the mode in which the undersides of the cornices have been elaborated and adorned is such as is only to be found in temples of this class. The upper part of the tower is anomalous. It may be that it has been white- TEMPLE OF KEDÂRESVARA AT BALAGÂMI, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

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washed and repaired till it has assumed its present discordant appearance, which renders it certainly a blot on the whole design. My own impression rather is, that, like others of its class, it was at first left unfinished, and the upper part added at subsequent periods. Its original form most probably was that of the little pavilions that adorns its portals, one of which is represented in the following woodcut (No. 259), which has all the peculiar features of the style—the flat band on each face, the three star-like projections between, and the peculiar crowning ornament of the style. The plan of the great tower, and the presence of the pavilions where they stand, seems to prove almost beyond doubt that this was the original design; but the design may have been altered as it progressed, or it may, as I suspect, have been changed afterwards.

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259. Pavilion at Bêlûr. (From a Photograph.)

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There seems to be little or no doubt about the date of this temple. It was erected by Vishnuvardhana, the fourth king of the race, to commemorate his conversion by the celebrated Râmânujya from the Jaina to the Hindû faith. He ascended the throne, A.D. 1114, and his conversion took place about 1117; and it is probable that the temple was finished before his death in 1141, but as the capital was removed by the same king to Halebîd, it is just possible that the vimâna of the great temple, and the erection of some at least of the smaller shrines, may belong to a subsequent period.

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Mysore abounds in remains of this style, but they have not been adequately surveyed.¹ In the north-west of the province, at Balagâmi or Belagâvi, an ancient site, there are some five ruined temples whose rich sculpture is equal in taste and perfection of workmanship to any of the class. Among these, the temple of Kedâresvara is perhaps the oldest, and a view of it from the north-east is given in Plate No. XVII.

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¹ A number of lithographed ground plans, to small scales, are published in Rice’s ‘Epigraphia Carnatica,’ but without descriptions. In Workman’s ‘Through Town and Jungle’ (1904) are some well-selected photographic views of Somnâthpûr, Koravangula and other Mysore temples.

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In plan it bears a general resemblance to the Somnâthpûr temple, having three shrines round a hall (Woodcut No. 255), but, as in the Bêlûr temple (No. 257), with projecting entrances to the mandap or porch on both sides as well as on the east front.¹ The roof of the mandap is quite destroyed, probably by Moslim violence, and a miserable covering of tiles replaces it; but the three vimânas or sikharas are fairly entire, with the Syâla or leogriff emblem of the Hoysala kings seen over the block on the roof, projecting in front of the central spire. Beyond, to the west, is seen part of a ruined temple; and to the south is the old Nandi pavilion, now also covered with tiles; and the base of a dhwaja-stambha near the corner of it. These Balagâmi temples are ascribed to Jakanâchârya, the celebrated architect and sculptor of the Hoysala kings, to whom is ascribed also the Halebîd, Somnâthpûr, Mûlbâgal and, by tradition, many other temples in this region.

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¹ There is a plan of this Balagâmi temple and some details in ‘Epigraphia Carnatica,’ vol. vii.

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There are also at Kubbatûr, near Balagâmi, and at Hâranhalli, Arasikere, Koravângula, Nâglapur, Turuvekere, and other places in Mysore, monuments that await and deserve, more than almost any others, to be fully illustrated.²

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² Dr. G. Le Bon remarks: ‘Si jamais il m’arrive de retourner dans l’Inde, je ferai certainement une étude spéciale du Mysore. Cette région, presque vierge, offrira sûrement une abondante moisson au explorateurs.’—‘Les Monuments de l’Inde,’ p. 173.

Halebîd.

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The earliest temple known to exist at Halebîd was a small detached shrine dedicated to Siva as Kedâresvara,³ and was erected by Vira Ballâla and one of his queens, probably about 1219. Its general appearance, nearly forty years ago, will be understood from the next woodcut (No. 260). It was star-shaped in plan, with sixteen points, and had a porch, so entirely ruined and covered up with vegetation that it was difficult to make out its plan. Its roof was conical, and from the basement to the summit it was covered with sculptures of the very best class of Indian art, and these so arranged as not materially to interfere with the outlines of the building, while they imparted to it an amount of richness only to be found among specimens of Hindû art. If this little temple had been illustrated in anything like completeness, there was probably nothing in India which would have conveyed a better idea of what its architects were capable of accomplishing. But, alas, this cannot be: this gem of Indian architecture is no more;

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³ This has been erroneously called Kaitesvar and Kaitabhesvara by some writers. — ‘Mysore Gazetteer,’ vol. i. p. 514n.

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260. Kedâresvara, Halebid. (From a Photograph by Capt. Tripe.)

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vegetation did its relentless work unchecked, and the pile is long ago a shapeless mound.¹

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¹ In 1876 Mr. Fergusson wrote:—"In a very few years this building will be entirely destroyed by the trees, which have fastened their roots in the joints of the stones. In a drawing in the Mackenzie collection in the India Office, made in the early part of this century, the building is shown entire. Twenty years ago it was as shown at p. 443. A subsequent photograph shows it almost hidden; a few years more, if some steps are not taken to save it, it will have perished entirely. A very small sum would save it; and, as the country is in our charge, it is hoped that the expenditure will not be grudged." But no attention was paid to this warning, and as Mr. L. Rice says:—"'With shame be it written—Mr. Fergusson's gloomy anticipations have been completely fulfilled. . . . Some of the most perfect figures have been conveyed to Bangalore, and set up in the Museum, but divorced from their artistic setting they have lost their meaning. A proposal has been made, I believe, to convey the ruins to Mysore, and erect the restored temple there as a memorial to the late Mahârâja.'—'Mysore Gazetteer' (1897), vol. i. p. 515. Mr. Rice has preserved for us two photographs of the temple in 1866, and 1886 in 'Epigraphia Carnatica,' vol. v. pt. i. Later, in 1907, the Mysore Government tried to restore the temple, but the result is reported as not very successful, as empty spaces had to be filled in with plain slabs. But these are much better than the crude attempts made in other cases to imitate the old work.

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The Kedâresvara temple was, however, surpassed in size and magnificence by its neighbour, the Hoysalesvara temple at Halebid, which, had it been completed, is one of the buildings on which the advocate of Hindû architecture would desire to take his stand. Unfortunately, it never was finished, the works having probably been stopped by the Muhammadan conquest in 1311 A.D.¹

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¹ The date of its foundation is not known, but as Halebid or Dôrasamudra became the capital only in the middle of the 12th century, it was probably begun somewhat later, and possibly well into the next century.

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The general arrangements of the building are given on the annexed plan (Woodcut No. 261), from which it will be perceived that it is a double temple. If it were cut into halves, each part would be complete with a pillared mantapam of the same type as that at Bêlûr above referred to, an antarâla or intermediate vestibule, and a sanctuary containing a lingam, the emblem of Siva. Besides this, each half would have in front of it a detached, pillared porch as a shrine for the Bull Nandi, which, of course, would not be required in a Vaishnava temple. Such double temples are quite common in India, but the two sanctuaries usually face each other, and have the porch between them. Its dimensions may roughly be stated as 200 ft. square over all, including all the detached pavilions. The temple itself is 160 ft. north and south by 122 ft. east and west. Its height, as it now remains, to the cornice is about 25 ft. from the terrace on which it stands. It cannot, therefore, be considered by any means as a large building, though large enough for effect. This, however, can hardly be judged of as it now stands, for there is no doubt but that it was intended to raise two great pyramidal spires over the sanctuaries, four lower ones in front of these, and two more, as roofs—one over each of the two central pavilions. Thus completed, the temple would have

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261. Plan of Hoysalesvara Temple at Halebid. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.

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262. Restored view of Temple at Halebid.

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assumed something like the outline shown in the woodcut (No. 262),¹ and if carried out with the richness of detail exhibited in the Kedâresvara (Woodcut No. 260), would have made up a whole which it would be difficult to rival anywhere.

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