The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c19.33

c19.33

The great temples of India were rarely, if ever, built for their own sake, to make a place known as a religious centre. They grew gradually out of the sacred associations of the sites which they occupied. Pattadakal must have been noted as a place of pilgrimage for many centuries before the Virûpâksha temple was built: some yogi of great fame may have lived there under his chosen Bodhi tree, growing where the natural formation of the ground suggested a symbol of his cult, or where the beauty of the prospect inspired pious thoughts. When the yogi died, his stûpa would be raised near the same tree, and pilgrims would flock to worship at the shrine Vishnu the Preserver and Siva the Lord of Death. When the tree died, another shrine crowned with Vishnu's sikhara would be built to mark the place where it grew. The two shrines would remain perhaps for many centuries quite insignificant in size and with no architectural pretensions, until some royal devotee or wealthy merchant would pay for enclosing the holy places in splendid caskets of sculptured stone, and for the accessory buildings which provided accommodation for the priests and pilgrims who worshipped there. An inscription would record the donor's name and the date of this devotional act; the previous history of the shrines would remain only as a tradition in the minds of the people. To the outside observer, who saw only the buildings, it would remain a blank.