South India Upper Dravidadesa Later Phase- Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture (Set of 2 Books) - An Old and Rare Books

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It gives me great pleasure to write a few lines as Foreword to this third part of Volume I of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. The efficacy of following a schema which was adopted by a group of scholars, as far back as 1967, has already been established through the earlier volumes, Vol. I (parts 1 and 2) and Vol. 11 (parts 1 and 2). A new generation of archaeologists and art historians are already using the technical terminology identified in these volumes. The present volume surveys/investigates some four hundred temples of Karnataka and Telingana. The sheer volume of material collected is vast as is borne out by the impressive documentation of 1674 illustrations, 315 drawings, and 16 maps. This is perhaps the most comprehensive documentation of medieval period and the region under reference. M. A. Dhaky, in his Introduction, has competently reviewed the recent literature on the subject, specially the work of Adam Hardy, The Knrndtn Drdvidn Tradition: Development of Indian Temple Architecture in Karnataka, 7th to 13th Centuries (now published by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts under the title Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation, 1995), Ajaya Jagannath Prasad Sinha, S. Settar, G. Foekema, and others; it is, therefore, not necessary for me to comment in detail on the shift of emphasis and change of perspective on the study of temple architecture.

From these studies, specially the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture, A. Hardy's work, and the recent study of The Temple of Muktesvara at Caudaddnapura by Vasundhara Filliozat (both IGNCA publications), it appears that critical scholarship has come a long way since the days of the early pioneers in the field, e.g., Fergusson, Cunningham, Burgess, Rea, and Cousens. Valuable and basic as their works were, they surveyed and documented only pieces of archaeology including structural remains dissociated from the matrix of life on the one hand and the textual traditions on the other. Their concern was the material form. Indeed the approach continued to be followed by many distinguished Indian archaeologists until the fifties of our century.

Parallel and concurrent was the search for manuscripts, the Sastras, not only on architecture (Vastu and Silpa) but also on all other arts, natya, sungitu, and alankara. Chapters of the Agnipurdnn and the Mntsyupurdnn had been published; the third khanda of the Visnudharmottara-purdna had been brought to light and there was an active debate on the relationship of Sds•tra and Prayoga, not to be understood in their English equivalents as 'theory' and 'practice'. The discourse was most vibrant in the field of poetics and dramaturgy as is borne out by the works of P.V. Kane, and S. K. De. This was a departure from the line followed by Indologists earlier. Neither Sylvain Levi nor for that matter A. B. Keith made an attempt to apply the tenets of the Natyasastra to Sanskrit drama nor identified regional texts for studying medieval Indian theatre. The situation in the field of Indian architecture was similar. There was one group of archaeologists who studied Indian temple architecture through the application of methodological tools more appropriate for other cultures, and another set of scholars, largely Sanskritists, who indentified texts and even compiled glossaries but did not have the technical wherewithal to examine actual monuments. P. K. Acharya's Indian Architecture According to the Manasarasilpasastra and Dictionary of Hindu Architecture are a case in point. Resultantly, there was a hiatus between the study of texts and the analysis of architecture. There was no doubt a lurking feeling in both that each was inadequate and partial.

The first attempt at providing a corrective was, however, made as early as 1834 by Ram Raz who tried to relate temple architecture to living cultural traditions of south India. James Prinsep, too, tried slightly earlier to evaluate northern Indian shrines in the light of Vastusastra traditions.

It was A. K. Coomaraswamy who gave a new turn to the study of architecture, Indian and Asian, by delving deep into literary sources and related concepts and technical terminology for assessing monuments, stupas, and temples alike. Also, he was the first to unambiguously state that the "origin of any monument can be considered either from an archaeological and technical or from an aesthetic or cognitive point of view: in other words either as fulfilling a function or as expressing meaning." He went on to point out that there may be logical distinctions, but not real distinction, for the monument was both, in fact more; it was the symbol of the life of the spirit. Equally significant was his incisive analysis of P. K. Acharya's Dictionary of Hindu Architecture, and its inadequacy. At the level of understanding the evolution of form, he perceptively drew attention to the origins of monumental architecture in huts and humble dwellings. The two volumes of Essays on Indian Architecture published by the IGNCA (edited by Michael Meister) offer ample proof of the manner in which Coomaraswamy gave a new turn to the study of Indian architecture. My Forewords to these volumes identify the milestones of this new path.

Nevertheless, as in some other spheres, it was left to Stella Kramrisch finally to change the course of critical studies on temple architecture more specifically. Her approach was complimentary to, but not identical with that of Coomaraswamy. Her small, but great work, the Indian Sculpture, has already re-assessed the value of medieval Indian art and had connected the medieval factor in Indian sculpture and the evolution of regional styles. In The Hindu Temple she plunged into the primary textual material at the level of concepts (the Vedas and the Upanisads), structure (Satapatha-Brahmana) and process and manifestation (Brhat-samhita). The transformation of the concept of the Purusu into a concrete building of stones was revealed as also was the close connection of the Sastra and architectural plans and scheme of temples.

Despite these towering figures, there is yet another dimension to which attention has been given only recently. The temple no doubt is replication of the cosmos; the symbol of the transcendence and imminence, but it is the ritual which enlivens the deity, and transforms the temple into a living organism of the here and now, not a monument in the historical past. In its very conception, it is the tirtha, the place of pilgrimage where the devotee takes the journey from the outer to the inner. He moves inwards from outer light into the physical darkness of the garbhagrha, this is at the physical level. At the psychical level, he moves from the state of ignorance, the multitudes of forms (sumsara), to receive inward light and luminosity. The architectural programme is designed to facilitate this psychic journey of opening the doors of perception and form. Thus, the journey is from multiplicity to unity, from grossness to subtlety, from time to timelessness. The temple as a concept, form, function and experience is complete only when an inanimate stone is animated and empowered to transform the human. All architectural plans, details of architectural members, the outer and inner spaces - the gopuras, the sikharas and the vimanas, the ardha- and mahd-mandapas, the antaralas and the garbhagrhas, the adhisthanas and the gavaksas - are vehicles of evoking this state of illumined wonder (adbhuta).
However, the study of any manifested form needs to be analysed for understanding its many dimensions and its polyvalence of meaning and style. It is also obvious that, in Indian art in general and Indian architecture in particular, two concurrent movements, can be discerned. One a perennial life line with some immutable concepts of the world view which is sustained through all periods, regions, and levels, and the other of specificity of period, regions, locale, and level of society. The American Institute of Indian Studies, Varanasi Center, (formerly the American Academy of Benares) has attempted to survey and pro-vide classifications and categorisation of temples and has focused attention on the second movement. In doing so, the Encyclopaedia has bridged the gap between textual scholars and archaeologists. Each of the volumes, through very clearly laid out schema, facilitates the understanding of the evolution of multiplicity of styles and schools; construction techniques and function of each architectural member in the totality of the temple structure. The volumes lay emphasis on the role of patronage and dynasties as also local craftsmanship, oral traditions in the evolution of style.

The Vastusastras, like other Sastras and disciplines, have an implicit and explicit level. At the implicit level, they embody a vision, a concept. At the explicit level, they provide the technical vocabulary and metrical norms for creating architectural edifices. They also explain the evolution of distinctive features of each region and sub-region.

The Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture has come as a culminating step in the study of Indian architecture where the technical vocabulary of the texts has been applied to architectural structure. The annotated glossaries, when published, will be an authoritative source on the relationship of the texts and the monuments.

A couple of years ago, when Dr. Pradeep Mehendiratta approached the IGNCA to collaborate in this important ongoing task, we welcomed the proposal. As has been mentioned above, the IGNCA on its initiative has been supporting research and publishing works on temple architecture, each exemplifying a new methodology of comprehending the Indian temple at the level of concept, meaning, and form: The Temple of Muktesvara at Caudadanapura by Vasundhara Filliozat; Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation by Adam Hardy; Ellora: Concepts and Style by Carmel Berkson constitute one series within the overall programme of IGNCA.

The IGNCA has also initiated two multidisciplinary projects, one in the south and the other in the north, namely the Brhadisvara temple in Tanjavur and the Govindadeva temple at Vrindavana with a view to examining the temple in all its dimensions, the conceptual, literary, textual, historical, epigraphical, crafts traditions, ritual calendars, and ritual treatise and performances. The results of these studies will perhaps demonstrate, in detail, what Coomaraswamy and Kramrisch, intellectually and intuitionally, had perceived but for obvious reasons could not do actual field work.
The volumes of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture thus find a place within IGNCA's conceptual vision. I should like to acknowledge here the contribution of the founding fathers of the American Institute of Indian Studies, particularly, Norman Brown and Edward Dimock. I have always appreciated the leadership provided by succeeding Presidents of the Institute, Joe Elder and Frederick M. Asher. The scholars who have been associated with this project ranging from K.R. Srinivasan, Krishna Deva, K.V. Soundara Rajan, Michael Meister, H. Sarkar, and M.A. Dhaky particularly deserve our profound thank for the dedicated perseverance with which the project of this magnitude is being executed. The deft and sure hand of Dr. Pradeep there will be other opportunities of meaningful and indepth collaboration.

We take pride in the production of another volume in the massive undertaking that results in the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. It is particularly gratifying to acknowledge the support of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, which made the publication of this volume possible, as well as the Smithsonian Institution, which has supported the research since the project's inception, and the Ford Foundation, whose recent generosity has sustained the AIlS Centre for Art and Archaeology.

We have witnessed the encyclopaedia project almost since its inception. When the project was launched, skeptics doubted that even the first volume would ever see publication. After years of intensive site documentation, resulting in tens of thousands of superbly organized photographs and countless architectural plans, the skeptics challenged the Institute to prove itself by publishing a volume. The challenge has been more than met. To date, four volumes have been published, the fifth being this one, bringing the project close to completion.

The results have been much more than books that many around the world admire. Work on the encyclopaedia has produced an unparalleled photographic archive which is used by scholars from many countries. As we move into the twenty-first century, the archive that has prospered as a result of the encyclopaedia will continue to expand as it documents a still broader range of India's visual culture. And plans are being developed to insure even broader accessibility to the materials, for example, through digitized images that can be recalled on computer screens.

The drive and dedication of a huge number of people stand behind the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. They include scholars and administrators, production staff both within the Institute and at our publisher, and a support staff of photographers, draughtsmen, and typists who ventured into the realm of word processing; we cannot forget, too, the staff who maintain the premises and provide the environment in which the work has been undertaken. At two ends of the project, we should acknowledge Pramod Chandra who conceived it and Michael Meister who edited volumes for many years. But we save for last the most special acknowledgement - one expressed with deepest regard and profound personal affection: to M.A. Dhaky, the real force behind the work. He has put aside his fondness for mysteries and science fiction, for plants and ghosts, to sustain a project that has drawn international acclaim. It is a project at the centre of things important to the American Institute of Indian Studies.

The present Part, as with the earlier two and likewise in two binds, is the third in Volume I series and is inevitably the largest due to the enormity of material it covers. It focuses on the buildings in the cognate styles of medieval Karnataka and of the contemporaneous Telingana region in Andhra Pradesh, which together form a vast territorial section of the Upper Dravidadesa, The coastal Andhra Pradesh (including Vengtdesa] possesses a few medieval buildings in a style closely akin to the medieval Colanadu of the Lower Dravidadesa and hence not included in this Part. Buildings described and discussed in this Part are numerous, several among' which are notable for the excellence of their architecture, and the feelings they evoke are ennobling. They were built under the political aegis and the overall patronage of the Calukyas of Kalyana, the Hoysalas of Dorasamudra, the Kakatiyas of Varangal, and the dynasties subordinate to the first and the third. Most of the buildings, however, were the result very largely of the munificence of district and regional governors, powerful generals, affluent tradesmen, and also of burghers and devout citizens, and in a few cases seemingly of monastic pontiffs.

The medieval phase of building activity, which in general began after the mid- tenth century, had been abruptly terminated after the first quarter of the 14th century by the devastating invasions of the Delhi Sultanate. When recovery was effected under the Vijayanagara dynasty, the preceding indigenous building systems and styles were replaced by a more or less homogeneous Dravidian style that had its origins in the Tamil country. This style, together with the various schools of the Nayaka dynasties that followed, will be dealt with in Part 4 of this Volume.

The basic scheme of this third Part follows the one adopted in the first two Parts already published, the detailed frame-work of which, in essence a continuation of the preceding Part, is tabulated below:

Style Outline

Vol. I, Part 1
I. Lower Dravidadesa, c. A.D. 650-1324

Vol. I, Par 2
II. A.& B. Upper Dravidadesa, Earl and Middle Period, c. A.D. 550-1075

Vol. I part 3
III. C. Upper Dravidadesa, Later Period, c. A.D. 73-1326
1. Northern Karnata style, c. A.D. 973-1250
a. Calukyas of Kalyana Phase I
b. Calukyas of Kalyana, Phase II
c. Later Kadambas of Banavasi, Hanagal, and Candrapura and Goa
d. Rattas of Kuhandimandala
e. Guttas of Guttavolal
f. Seunas of seunadesa
g. Santaras of Humca
h. Unknown dynasty of Kodanad and Kundanad
2. Southern Karnata style, c. A.D. 1047-1346 Hoysals of Dorasamudra
3. Telingana style, c. A.D. 950-1323
a. Calukyas of Vemulavada
b. Calukyas of Kalyana
c. Telugu Codas of Kandurunadu
d. Kakatiyas of Varangal
\ e. Reddis of Recerla and Pillalamarri
f. Malyalas of Kondaparti
4. Tulunadu style, c. A.D. 1000-1300 Alupas of Barahakanyapura

Vol. I, part 4
III. Integrated Style of South India, c. A.D. 1326-1736

Vol. I, part 5 will contain a comprehensive, annotated, and illustrated glossary of architectural terms; the reference glossary, provided in each Part, including the present one, is intended only as a quick aid to the reader.
The present Part incorporates three supplementums necessitated because of some recent discoveries and fresh determinations made on the stylistic grounds and revisions that had to be effected on the chronological positions of some buildings. Also, some lately received photographs, because of their illustrative importance, could not be left out and had to be accommodated, though their inclusion seems at odd or unlikely situations. Some space has been devoted in response partly to the demands in India for more detailed and more complete in response partly to the demands in India for more detailed and more complete descriptions of the buildings and partly to suggestions that come from some continental scholars for incorporating authors' reimages(other than the principal or cult icons but otherwise meant for worship ) placed in the temple-halls, including or cult including the Nandi figures, have sometimes been illustrated; for some of these further clarify the building's date and some possess, going by the medieval standards, artistic pretensions of a higher order.

The first 15 Chapters have been written by the present author, and the last one was contributed by H. Sarkar who, it is profoundly sad, is no longer with us.

Now to the terminology used in this Part. Since Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh do not have any medieval vastu-text pertaining to building traditions, the terms used here are drawn from the relevant Sanskrit textual sources of Tamilnadu, and central and western India. A few terms were also extracted from inscriptions.

For temple and ancillary structures, the medieval epoch is as important in Upper Dravidadesa as in north India. The medieval period here, too, had witnessed the blooming of the perfected architectural styles carrying a sacred building to the apex of the evolutionary pyramid. While the temples of the preceding centuries - founded in the regime of the Calukyas of Vatapi, Eastern Calukyas of Vengl, and the Rastrakutas of Manyakhetaka - are admired for the nobility, meditative expression, and dynamism of their associated divine and subsidiary figural sculptures, as also for-the high quality and vigour of their decorative carving, those that were subsequently built in the domains of the medieval dynasties are notable for further formal development in planning and the total integration of their major architectural components as well as for the harmony of their shapes and decor. The buildings now possess cogency of volumes and masses at all levels as also an organic unity of their mouldings and ornament. As a result, they present a highly articulate appearance.

For northern India, medievalism had dawned- at the beginning of the tenth century. For the upper south India it was manifest after 975, its image becoming visibly sharper from the earlier half of the 11th century. Moreover, the buildings built were prolific in number. Including those mentioned in the many inscriptions from several sites but now lost, they would number around 750, and this is one more point where Upper Dravidadesa equals, in the intensity of building activity, the north Indian productions. One other aspect where the development parallels with that in the northern country, particularly western India and Malavadesa, is the occurrence here of the externally as well as internally decorated, closed as well as semi-open, columnar halls. The analogy with the north Indian examples, however, ends here; for there are some noticeable differences in the outlook of, and the attitude towards how the exterior of the halls as well as of the vimanas should be formulated and finished. Northern Karnataka on that score opened new vistas of treatment, a dazzlingly rich variety of columns, and a whole range of sophisticated and schillarent wall patterns where figural decoration in most cases is eliminated and in a few others minimally or unostentatiously applied. For the first time the importance of figural decoration is negated. In elevation, instead, the architectural elements function as the paramount decorative devices. In the case of one special school of Hoysalanadu architecture, of course, the buildings exceptionally reflect figural and ornamental opulence, indeed with considerable insistence. While the figural carving, wherever occurring, progressively became stereotyped, rigid, and mostly uninteresting as individual works of art, the extra-figural categories of decorative carving, on the other hand, often show high qualitative levels and standards. This observation is in large measure valid for the Telingana area as well.

The medieval Karnataka and Telingana buildings and their styles had for long been neglected and hence not subjected to closer studies with analytical tools, nor had their merits and qualities received pointed attention: indeed they were sometimes held in low esteem, even in contempt. In very recent years, the situation has dramatically changed. The contributions made by these buildings to the spheres of Indian art and architecture have now begun to get recognition. Even as the operations on the present Part were in progress, works relevant to these stylistic areas by several scholars came to be known; some of these are in printed form, some still remain in the shape of unpublished dissertation. So far as the northern Karnata or the Kuntala temples are concerned, a monumental thesis by Charles Adam Hardy, "The Karnata Dravida Tradition: Development of Indian Temple Architecture in Karnataka, 7th to 13th centuries," Birmingham 1991, is currently in press and probably will have appeared in print before the present Part is published. By a thorough structural and morphological analysis against the background of the preceding buildings and their styles in Karnataka, Adam has worked out the formal origination and development of the vimana of the medieval Karnatan temple with all its major componental constituents. Then there is the Ph.D. dissertation, "Originality and Origination of Vesara Architecture," Philadelphia 1993, by Ajaya Jagannath Prasad Sinha who investigates the same problem from the angle of the historian of architecture and thus he has a differing approach with results somewhat different from Adam's. Next there is Channabasappa S. Patil's Temples of Raichur and Bellary Districts, Karnataka, 1000-1325, Mysore 1992, which describes several unknown, some less known, and a few known temples from archaeological standpoint and usefully adds to what was till now known in the field of Calukyan temples. (A. Sundara's monumental work on the Calukyan temples has been under preparation for some years, and when published, it is most likely to bring to light several hitherto unknown buildings in their historical and chronological perspectives.) For Hoysalanadu temples, two recent publications are notable, each important in terms of treatment, within its own sphere of emphasis. The Hoysala Temples, Dharwad/Bangalore 1992, by S. Settar discusses, indeed competently and comprehensively, the historical and socio-religious background of the region and the buildings it possesses. Clear and handsomely composed illustrations of the selected Hoysala temples in the second bind of the volume demonstrate the buildings' artistic and photogenic qualities. (Those interested in iconography and particularly in erotic art will, to their amazement and delight, discover in this volume the competence on that score of the Hoysala artists which closely corresponds with that of their northern counterparts.) Following Adam's methodology and approach, the architecture proper of the Hoysala vimanas has been ably analysed by Gerard Foekema of Amsterdam in his memorable work, Hoysnln Architecture: Medieval Temples of Southern Karnataka built during Hoysulo rule, Volumes I & 11, New Delhi 1994. It makes an instructive as well as a pleasurable reading, because it delineates in clearer terms the origins and the structurization processes, together with the evolution of the vimana form and the components involved. Moreover, it perceptively touches the aesthetic aspects of the Hoysala vimanas' exterior. On the Telingana buildings, the most notable is a highly informed dissertation, namely "Mode and Meaning in the Architecture of Early Medieval Telangana (c. 1000-1300)" by Phillip B. Wagoner, Madison 1986. It represents a very systematic, precise, analytical, and insightful study based on intensive field work. Mention must also be made of the Temples of South India (A study of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monuments of the Deccan), New Delhi 1989, by J. Rama-naiah who brought to light several hitherto unknown but important buildings in Telingana territory. The present Part has been benefited particularly from the works of Patil, Foekema, Ramanaiah, and Wagoner.