(Last Updated on : 31-08-2010)
Temple architecture of Vijayanagara demonstrates the religious bend of mind of its inhabitants. Moreover, the dynasties that ruled Vijayanagara have also left an indelible mark
(Last Updated on : 31-08-2010)
Temple architecture of Vijayanagara demonstrates the religious bend of mind of its inhabitants. Moreover, the dynasties that ruled Vijayanagara have also left an indelible mark on the culture of this ancient kingdom through the numerous temples and their architectural and sculptural works.
The Vijayanagara period temples have been divided into three groups on the basis of the century in which they were constructed, namely those of the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Temples of the fourteenth century are confined to its last two decades, specifically from the reign of the third monarch of Sangama dynasty
, Harihara II (AD 1377-1404). Of the fifteenth century, the dated monuments are mainly those built in the first half of the century, from the period of the later Sangamas such as Devaraya I (AD 1406-1422), Devaraya II (AD 1424-1446) and even Mallikarjuna (AD 1446-65). During the latter part of the fifteenth century political turmoil and debility entered the kingdom. Since then no dated buildings are available from this period. However, the heyday of Vijayanagara temple architecture was once again initiated in the sixteenth century, prior to AD 1565 during the reigning period of Tuluvas.
Two main traditions of temple buildings, namely the Deccan and the Tamil, merged to form the mature Vijayanagara style of temple architecture. The earlier influence was of the Deccan tradition that had developed in this area from the 10th-11th century AD onwards. Temple architecture in the Deccan, in the centuries prior to the Vijayanagara period, consisted of several closely related styles, using different materials. There were the sandstone monuments of Rashtrakuta dynasty while the later Chalukya-Hoysala temples were constructed entirely of schist. In contrast to sandstone or schist the artisans of this era used to create distinct style using the locally available granite. A number of pre-Vijayanagara temples are extant at the site, mainly on Hemakuta hill and around the Manmatha tank (to the north of the Virupaksha temple
The temples were made plain, with one or smaller sanctuaries, the maximum being three, and opening off a common mandapa, which is often provided with a porch. The exterior walls of the vimana are generally unadorned but the vimanas are capped by pyramidal masonry superstructures. The mandapas have columned interiors, each pillar with a separate base and a double capital. The hall and the porch are at times provided with seating slabs on the periphery. Epigraphs relating to these temples, if they exist, are inscribed on separate slabs, set up precisely for this purpose. The fourteenth-century Vijayanagara temples primarily follow Deccan idiom and this mode of temple building survived partially into the fifteenth century as well.
The predominance of the Deccan style in Vijayanagara period temple architecture was short-lived. By the early fifteenth century the Tamil tradition had earned popularity. During this time, the medium used for the temples built in this idiom was granite and the walls of the shrines were rhythmically divided by pairs of pilasters into alternating projections and recesses. The projections have niches for sculptures, framed by split pilasters and shallow pediments, comprising a kapota capped by a sala; the recesses have isolated pilasters standing in pots decorated with bands and tassels. The superstructures of the vimanas are constructed of brick and plaster, as are the parapets that rise above the roofs of the attached mandapas and porches. Another feature of the Tamil style is the entrance gopuras, which are solid constructions with central passageways. They support imposing pyramidal brick and plaster towers which are capped with enlarged sala roof-forms, resembling barrel-vaults. Inscriptions are engraved directly on to the basement mouldings and walls of the temples of this style. This architectural tradition which had developed in the Tamil zone under the Chola dynasty
and later Pandya dynasty
, reached in its zenith under the Vijayanagara rulers and their successors, the Nayakas.
However, not all temple-building activity at Vijayanagara in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries conformed fully to the Tamil style; for in the fifteenth century, some shrines continued to be built according to the Deccan tradition. Even in the temples which are predominantly in the Tamil style certain characteristics of Deccan architecture persist: in particular, the navaranga pattern of the rangamandapa, in which four central pillars divide the hall into nine bays and its ceiling into nine squares. Other features are the projecting porches off the ra