The Hoysalas of Karnataka

by Ashish Nangia

The flourishing temple styles in North India - both the Khajuraho and the Orissi versions - were brought to a rude end with the Muslim invasion. When the Muslims consolidated their hold over North India, temple-building activity virtually stopped. Entire families of skilled craftsmen were now presented with two choices - the first of which was to work for their new masters and abandon the idea of building a temple as an offering to God. This resulted in the fusion of Persian and Indian building styles and was to result in an entirely new idiom, as we shall see later.

Another option was to migrate further and further south, in search of work and new patrons, where Muslim influence had not yet made inroads. This was the region around modern Mysore, where the hitherto unknown Hoysala tribe was making its first moves towards glory. Having overthrown their former overlords, the Cholas, the Hoysalas were in no mood to imitate their architectural style and were looking for something with its own distinct identity. The craftsmen migrating from the north were able to provide just such an impetus.

The merging of the Dravidian and North Indian styles created a temple that is unique, so much so that it is often classified as the Hoysala style. The early experiments were found on the extreme edges of the kingdom, around ancient Dwarasamudra. The profile of the temples at Ittagi, Gadag and Lakhundi reveals that the craftsman's most visible contribution was a subtle merging of the two spire forms - the horizontal tiers of the pyramidal south Indian vimana and the round-shouldered elegance of the northern shikhara.

Gradually this hybrid evolved into an identifiable style, rivaling in grace and beauty its predecessors.

The Star in Plan

To add to its distinctiveness, the Hoysala temple in plan composed of numerous cellas or garbha-grihas served by a common mandapa. The plan of each of these cellas was a star. The departure from the accepted square form of the temple is understandable when we analyze the plan and see that it is made up of a grid of rotating squares. The resulting outline thus emerges as a star. The mandapa remained a square, though it was now distinguished by circular columns, the shafts of which had been lathed and thus acquired a number of parallel knife-edges.

Among the examples of the developed Hoysala style, the Chenna Kesava temple at modern Belur is one of the finest. This was designed and planned by the architect Janaka Acharya at the behest of King Vishnuvardhan.

Though built around a single shrine, the temple has all the distinguishing features of the Hoysala style - a pillared mandapa, bell-shaped towers and above all the star-shaped plan. The gaps between the outer pillars were covered with a jaali meant to provide privacy for the Brahmins, and especially the 'highly seductive dancing of the devdasis'.*

The mandapa of this temple has an extremely beautiful circular stone platform, lustrously polished after years and years of dance on it - the ritualistic, devotional Bharata Natyam of the South.

Splendor in Halebid

Not content with this little gem in Belur, the king commissioned an even larger and more magnificent temple in his new capital city of Halebid. The architect proceeded to lay out two identical temples, parallel and connected at their transepts.

The Halebid temple is one of the most fitting climaxes to the sculptor's art in India. While architecturally it was not revolutionary, especially after Belur, it is in its rich sensuous sculpture that this example comes into its own. The high plinth of the temple is a virtual tapestry of sculpture, with bands of dancing figures, animals, vegetation and other objects coming to life on its surface.

According to Percy Brown, the 'Halebid Temple and the Parthenon are probably the two extremes of the architectural art of the world'. 'The one revels in the cold purity of its form and the other in the warm complexity of its sculptural architectonics'.**

The Last Chapter

The Hoysala temples were among the last temples of consequence to be built in India. Muslim invasions were fast taking their toll and kings were more concerned about fighting off the invaders than with artistic and architectural endeavors.

However, the Vijayanagara empire further south held on a little bit longer. The marvels at Hampi are the last examples of mediaeval Hindu architecture we shall discuss - in the next column.

June 23, 2001

* Grover, Satish The Architecture of India - Buddhist and Hindu, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. , New Delhi, 1980.
** ibid

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Index

Content

The Sun Temple of Konark marks the highest point of achievement of Kalinga architecture depicting the grace , the joy and the rhythm of life all it's wondrous variety. There is an endless wealth of decoration from minute pattterns in bas-relief done with a jeweller's precision to boldly modelled free standing sculptures of exceptionally large size. Under the crackling wheels of past events , the Sun Temple has lost its main sanctuary but the remaining structure and the ruins arouns testify till today the boundless creative energy of Orissan artistes and their impresive contribution to the treasury of Indian Art and building technique. Standing majestically on the sandy coast of the Bay of Bengal, the porch, in its solitary grandeur is an eloquent testimony of a gracious and mysterious past. Dedicated to Sun God, this temple was constructed by Raja Narasinghs Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty was dazzling supreme in the political firmament of India

FAME OF THE SUN TEMPLE

That the fame of the this temple as a wonderful monument has spread far beyond the limits of Orissa in the sixteen century is amply borne out not only by the great Vaishnava Saint Chaitanya's (AD-1486-1533) visit to the place but also by the following pithy description which appeared in the A'in-i-Akbari of Abu'l-Fazl, the famous chronicler of the court of Akbar (AD-1556-1605)

..........."Near Jagannath is a temple dedicated to the Sun. Its cost was defrayed by twelve years revenue of the province. Even those whose judgement is critical and who are difficult to please stand astonished at its sight." ......

ARCHITECTURAL GLORY OF THE SUN TEMPLE

The Sun Templ e built in the thirteenth century was conveived as a gigantic chariot of Sun God, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven pairs of horses. Majestic in conception, this Temple is indeed one of the most sublime monuments of India, famous as much for its imposing dimensions and faultless proportions as for the harmonious integration of of architectural grandeur with plastic allegiance. It is admittedly the best in Orissa. Its fine traceries and scroll work , the beautiful and natural cut of animal and human figures, all give it a superiority over other temples. The chief quality is its design and architectural details. The Sun temple belongs to the Kalinga School of Indian Temples with characteristic curvilinear towers mounted by Cupolas. In shape, the Temple did not make any major departure from other sikhara temples of Orissa. The main sanctum which (229 ft. high) was constructed alongwith the audience hall (128 ft. high) having elaborate external projections. The main sanctum which enshrined the presiding deity has fallen off. The Audience Hall survives in its entirely but of the other two viz the Dancing Hall(nata Mandir) and the Dining Hall (Bhoga-Mandap), only small portions have survived the vagaries of time. The Temple compound measures 857 ft. by 540 ft.

The alignment of the Sun Temple is on the east-west direction. The Temple is located in natural surroundings, abounding with casuarina plantations and other types of trees, wchich grow on sandy soil. The environment is by and large unspoiled. Gentle undulating topography around the Sun Temple lends some variation to the landscape