Fine Arts: Class 11 — Chapter 6: Temple Architecture and Sculpture

1. Garbhagriha: Literally 'womb-house'; a small cubicle with a single entrance designed to house the principal deity icon, serving as the focal point of all ritual attention.
2. Mandapa: An entrance portico or colonnaded hall preceding the sanctum, providing structural assembly space for worshippers.
3. Shikhara / Vimana: A mountain-like superstructure rising above the Garbhagriha. It is termed Shikhara (curving tower) in North India and Vimana (stepped pyramid tower) in South India.
4. Vahana & Dhvaj: The designated mount/vehicle of the presiding deity placed axially along a standard pillar (Dhvaj) directly before the sanctum entrance.

• Sandhara: Shrines constructed with an enclosed internal pradakshinapatha (circumambulatory path).
• Nirandhara: Shrines designed completely without a circumambulatory path.
• Sarvatobhadra: Advanced layouts with open access from all cardinal directions.

• Latina / Rekha-Prasada: A single, tall tower with a square base whose walls curve or slope gently inward to a pinnacle.
• Phamsana: Broader and shorter roofs composed of multiple stacked stone slabs rising on a straight, uncurved incline. Frequently used for mandapas preceding a Latina sanctum.
• Valabhi: Rectangular wagon-vaulted structures with rounded barrel roofs, derived from ancient covered bullock wagons or Buddhist rock-cut chaitya caves.

Central India (Gupta & Chandela Reigns)

• Deogarh (Gupta Period, 6th Century CE): The Dashavatara Vishnu Temple represents a classic early Nagara layout executed in the panchayatana style (one central shrine with four smaller subsidiary shrines at the corners). Features a curvilinear Latina shikhara and a west-facing portal flanked by Ganga and Yamuna river goddesses. Its walls feature three major Puranic relief panels: Sheshashayana Vishnu (south), Nara-Narayan (east), and Gajendramoksha (west).
• Khajuraho (Chandela Dynasty, 10th Century CE): The Lakshmana Temple ($954\text{ CE}$) and the massive Kandariya Mahadeo Temple represent the peak of central Indian architecture. Towers are clustered as multiple mini-shikharas rising toward a central apex topped by a fluted disc (Amalaka) and a pot (Kalasha). Famous for high-relief, deeply undercut sculptures depicting sensuous Mithuna (auspicious erotic couples) figures, integrating human experience into cosmic philosophy.

Western India (Solanki Dynasty)

• Modhera Sun Temple (Gujarat, 1026 CE): Built by King Bhimdev I. Features a massive, magnificent rectangular stepped reservoir called the Surya Kund, housing 108 miniature shrines between the steps. A grand ornamental arch (Torana) leads to an open-sided assembly hall (Sabha Mandapa). The central sanctum walls are left entirely plain so that the sun shines directly into the shrine during the equinoxes.

Eastern India (Pala, Sena, & Ahom Dynasties)

• Assam: Early 6th-century Gupta-influenced door frames at DaParvatia transitioned by the 12th–14th centuries into a distinct regional style. The 17th-century Kamakhya Temple shows a blend of Upper Burma Tai influences with Bengal's Pala idiom, forming the Ahom style.
• Bengal: The 9th-century Siddheshvara Mahadeva Temple in Barakar represents early Pala architecture with a sharp Odisha-like deul. By the 17th century, under the Malla dynasty, local vernacular traditions inspired by bamboo hut sloping roofs (Bangla Roof) led to unique terracotta brick temples around Vishnupur and Bankura, combining Islamic pointed arches with classic Pala forms.
• Odisha (Kalinga Sub-Style): The shikhara is termed Deul (initially vertical, then curving sharply inward at the top) preceded by a mandapa known as a Jagamohana. The Sun Temple at Konark ($1240\text{ CE}$) represents this style on a colossal scale; its main $70\text{m}$ spire collapsed in the 19th century, leaving the massive Jagamohana (the largest enclosed space in Hindu architecture). The entire complex is carved as a solar chariot with 12 pairs of monumental wheels and 7 charging horses.

• Gopuram: A monumental, heavily sculpted gateway tower built into the center of the enclosing compound walls.
• Vimana: A strictly geometric, stepped pyramid tower rising multi-storeyed over the primary sanctum.
• Stupika: An octagonal dome-shaped cupola crowning the very top of the Vimana, equivalent to the northern Amalaka.
• Dvarapalas: Fierce, oversized guardian figures carved at gate entries instead of northern river goddesses.
• Temple Tanks: Large enclosed freshwater reservoirs integrated directly within the complex layout.
• Concentric Enclosures: Unlike the northern multi-spire peak clustering, Southern style expanded outwards via concentric boundary walls, keeping the central, original Garbhagriha tower the smallest and oldest, as seen at the 7-walled Srirangam Temple.

The Pallava Dynasty (6th - 8th Century CE)

• Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram): Expanded by King Narasimhavarman I (Mamalla). Houses the Five Rathas and the colossal Arjuna's Penance / Descent of the Ganga relief panel ($30\text{m} \times 15\text{m}$), which utilizes a natural rock cleft for water flow. The Shore Temple, built by Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha), is unique for housing three distinct internal shrines (two dedicated to Shiva, one to Anantashayana Vishnu).

The Chola Dynasty (9th - 12th Century CE)

• Brahadeeshwarar Temple (Thanjavur): Completed around $1009\text{ CE}$ by King Rajaraja Chola. It stands as the largest and tallest of all Indian temples. Its massive 13-storey pyramidal Vimana rises $70\text{ meters}$ high, crowned by a monolithic octagonal stupika. It introduces two massive sculptural gateways (Gopuras) planned alongside the main layout.

• Vesara Style: A dynamic, hybrid architecture created through the selective mixing of northern Nagara and southern Dravida elements.
• Chalukya & Rashtrakuta Reigns: Early Chalukyan rock-cut work includes the Ravana Phadi Cave at Aihole (featuring a dynamic Nataraja with the Saptamatrikas), transitioning into structural experiments like the apsidal-planned Durga Temple at Aihole. The Kailashnath Temple at Ellora (Cave-16), carved under the Rashtrakutas around $750\text{ CE}$, is a complete Dravida temple complex ($30\text{m}$ high) patiently carved out of a single monolithic hill.
• Hoysala Stellate Plans: Centered around Mysore (e.g., Belur, Halebid, Somnathpuram). Carved from soft soapstone/schist, allowing intricate, deep-cut ornamentation. These temples are characterized by a unique Stellate-plan where symmetric, multiple projecting angles emerge from a square base to form a star configuration.

• Pandrethan Temple (Kashmir, 8th–9th Century CE): A Hindu temple built on a stone plinth in the middle of a sacred water tank. Due to heavy winter snow conditions, it features a distinctive peaked, slowly slanting wooden roof tradition executed in stone.
• Chamba (Lakshna-Devi Mandir): Houses 7th-century metal sculptures of Mahishasuramardini and Narasimha made from a unique zinc-copper alloy, showcasing Kashmiri metal casting techniques combined with post-Gupta forms.

• Nalanda Mahavihara (Bihar): A sprawling monastic university complex active from the 5th century CE (founded by Kumaragupta I). The Nalanda School of Sculpture synthesized Sarnath Gupta traditions with local bronze and stucco techniques, generating precise, three-dimensional Vajrayana tantric icons (e.g., Vajrasharada) by the 9th–11th centuries.
• Gomateshwara (Sravana Belagola, Karnataka): Commissioned by Chamundaraya (Prime Minister of the Ganga Kings). A monolithic granite statue of Lord Bahubali standing $18\text{ meters}$ ($57\text{ feet}$) high, making it the tallest freestanding monolithic sculpture in the world.
• Dilwara Temples (Mount Abu): Built by Vimal Shah from soft white marble. Features a highly plain, simplistic exterior contrasted against an interior of deep undercutting, creating a lace-like texture on the domed ceilings.