A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.91

c21.91

The temples built in the western Deccan under the Chālukyas of Kalyāni developed features which received their most mature expression in the architecture of the Hoysala temples in Mysore. These temples often had their principal entrances not at the front but at the sides, and the decoration of their external walls with architectural motifs dividing the wall into well-proportioned areas tended to be singularly graceful and restrained, while their *vimānas* were a compromise between the plain, stepped storeys of the early Chālukyas and the closely moulded tiers of the Hoysala style. The pillars were turned on lathes and had a pronounced knife-edge very considerably projected below the capital. The doorways, both at the outer entrance and of the shrine-chamber, were very elaborately carved with fine detail and finish. The Navalinga (Nine Lingas) and Kalleśvara temples at Kukkanur near Gadag are perhaps the earliest examples of this style and possibly date from the close of the tenth century, though they still bear resemblances to the early Chālukyan group of Aihole and Pattadakal. From among the numerous other examples of this style spread over the entire area of the Chālukyan empire, the temples of Kāśi-viśveśvara at Lakkundi, of Mahadevā at Ittagi and of Mallikārjuna at Kuruvatti may be mentioned as the most typical.