Badami Chalukya architecture

Sangameshvara temple 725 Pattadakal

The Badami Chalukya architecture was a temple building idiom that evolved in the 5th – 8th centuries in the Malaprabha river basin, in present day Bagalkot district of Karnataka state. This style is sometimes called the Vesara style and Chalukya style. Their earliest temples date back to around 450 A.D. in Aihole when the Badami Chalukyas were vassals of the Kadambas of Banavasi. According to historian K.V. Sounder Rajan, the Badami Chalukyas contribution to temple building matched their valor and their achievements in battle.

Chalukya architecture history

During 450, the Chalukya style originated in Aihole and was perfected in Badami and Pattadakal.[1] The Chalukya artists experimented with different styles, blended the Indo-Aryan Nagara and Dravidian styles, and evolved Chalukya style.[2]

Their style includes two types of monuments.

Badami cave temples

Cave temple at Badami Karnataka

Badami cave temples have rock cut halls with three basic features: pillared veranda, columned hall and a sanctum cut out deep into rock.

Early experiments in rock cut halls were attempted in Aihole where they built three cave temples, one each in Vedic, Buddhist and Jaina styles. Later they refined their style and cut out four marvellous cave temples at Badami.

One noteworthy feature of these cave temples is the running frieze of Ganas in various amusing postures caved in relief on each plinth.

The outside verandas of the cave temples are rather plain, but the inner hall contains rich and prolific sculptural symbolism. Art critic Dr. M. Sheshadri wrote of the Chalukya art that they cut rock like Titans but finished like jewellers. Critic Zimmer wrote that the Chalukya cave temples are a fine balance of versatility and restrain.

The finest structural temples are located in Pattadakal. Of the ten temples in Pattadakal, six are in Dravidian style and four in Rekhanagara style. The Virupaksha temple in many ways holds resemblance to the Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram which came into existence a few years earlier.

This is a fully inclusive temple, it has a central structure, nandi pavilion in front and has a walled enclosure that is entered by a gateway. The main sanctum has a Pradakshinapatha and mantapa. The mantapa is pillared and has perforated windows (pierced window screens). The external wall surface is divided by pilasters into well-spaced ornamental niches filled with either sculptures or perforated windows. Art critic Percy Brown says about the sculptures that they flow into the architecture in a continuous stream. It is said that the Virupaskha temple is one of those monuments where the spirit of the men who built it, still lives.

Many centuries later, the serene art of the Badami Chalukya reappeared in the pillared architecture of the Vijayanagar Empire. Their caves include finely engraved sculptures of Harihara, Trivikrama, Mahisa Mardhini, Tandavamurthi, Paravasudeva, Nataraja, Varaha, Gomateshvara and others. Plenty of animal and foliage motifs are also included.

Some important sculptors of their time were Gundan Anivaritachari, Revadi Ovajja and Narasobba.

Important Badami Chalukya temples

Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal
Ravana Phadi cave, Aihole

Pattadakal

Aihole

Badami

Gerusoppa

Alampur, Andhra Pradesh

Jain tirthankara Parshvanath, cave No. 4, Badami cave temples
drunken woman supported by a man, Badami cave temples
Sanctum inside cave No. 1, Badami cave temples

References

  1. ↑ "Echoes from Chalukya caves". Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  2. ↑ "Architecture, The Chalukyan magnificence". Archived from the original on 10 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-01.

Notes

Architecture of Karnataka
Architecture of Karnataka
(345 to present)
Kadamba architecture – synthesis of several schools
(345 to 525)
Dravidian architecture (Western Ganga Dynasty)
(350 to 550)
Badami Chalukya architecture or the Vesara style
(543 to 753)
Dravidian & Rekhanagara architecture of Rashtrakutas
(753 to 973)
Western Chalukya architecture (Gadag style of architecture)
(1000 and 1200)
Hoysala architecture of the Hoysala Empire
(1100 and 1400)
Vijayanagara architecture of the Vijayanagar Empire
(1336 to 1648)
Islamic architecture of Bijapur Sultanate
(1490 to 1686)
Keladi Nayaka architecture of the Nayaka kingdoms
(1499 – 1763)
Architecture of Kingdom of Mysore –
Blends of Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic styles of architecture
(1399 to 1947)
Indo-Sarcenic and Muslim architecture of Tippu Sultan
(1780)
Buddhist Viharas, Tibetan Culture & Tibetan architecture at Bylakuppe
(1953 to present)
Sikh architecture of Bidar & Bangalore
(1512 to present)
Neo-Gothic church architecture
(1933 to 1956)
Neo-Dravidian architecture
(1947 to present)

External

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Architecture of the Chalukya Empire.