Rise of Hinduism –
1. The new Bhakti deities, such as Krsna, an incarnation of Vishnu, made their appearance in two great epics- Ramayan & Mahabharat.
2. The Ascendancy of Vihnu, Siva & Devi, the Great Goddesss heralded the fall of the Vedic gods, who were reduced to mythological figures. From now on, the 3 great deities of Hinduism would solely be responsible for human redemption.
3. Striking feature of Hinduism – Shiva, the aesthetic divine, the first dancer who sets the universe in motion by dancing. Bharata’s Natyashastra corresponds to Shivas iconography.
4. The Devi, Great Goddess, has enjoyed primacy in Hiduism.
5. The sheer no & names of Hindu deities are confusing, a reflection of the fact that this dense pantheon is the product of a long evolution, accommodating an enormous variety of religions, cults & sects.
The Hindu Temple
1. The temple is a public institution like a Buddhist Chaitya, but did not form a coherent body.
2. The temple is literally the beloved deity’s dwelling (devalaya), a resplendent palace (prasada) where his or her needs are faithfully catered to by temple priests.
3. The temple is a holy site (tirtha), where they can perform circumambulation (pradakshina). They also perform the pious act of gazing at the deity (darsana)& offer prayers, flowers & food (puja).
4. The temple is never a meeting place for a congregation, in the south it came to be a focal point of the community, publicly maintained by land grants, which were often furnished by the ruling powers.
5. The heart of the temple is the dark, mysterious garbha grha (literally ‘embroy chamber’), evoking the mother’s womb, where one is meant to feel the ‘un manifest’ presence of the deity. From this numinous source flow streams of energy outwards in all directions, a dynamic concept that is central to temple design.
Architectural Materials –
1. Wide use of materials – wood, brick, terracotta, and variety of stones, from pale yellow to red sandstone to grey granite, black schist, soft green chlorite, and brilliant white marble.
2. Method of building by placing dressed stones horizontally.
3. Mortar rarely used, and the art of cutting stone by stone mason’s
Principals of Architecture –
1. HA matured by 10th century AD in great temples of the north & south.
2. One architectural treatise classifies the soil on which houses should be built: white soil for Brahmins, red for Kshatriyas, yellow for Vaisyas & black for Sudras. Such impractical advice was given not by architects but by Brahmanical theoreticians, as part of social control.
2. Beauty & complexity of geometric design comes in play with the underlying principle of harmony in HA.
3. Buddhist pefer circle, Hindu preferred square, perfect shape. – ground plan.
4. The installation rituals of Hindu deities go back to the late Gupta text the Brhatsamhita (6th Century CE), which rarely mentions cases of circular & octagonal temple.
5. Two ideal ground plans – based on the grid system of 64 (8 X 8) and 81 (9 x 9) squares. However the ultimate choice of auspicious proportions for the HT depended upon further astrological calculations that left a remainder of a fraction. Finally the underlying connection between sexual rites & fertility in HA is emphasized during the consecration of South Indian temples.
The role of Ornament –
1. External feature – imp – external ornamentation, confined to towers & elevations.
2. All three walls were decorated without a window, with only front entrance as the opening. The architect was guided by the Hindu texts. Three sides – blind doors (Ghana
3. Ornamentation literally to decorate, i.e. to make enough. Things lacking in ornamentation were considered imperfect, or more precisely imcomplete.
4. Temple
5. Repetitive motives – kutas & salas (south) and shikharas & amalakas (north) obey clear geometric rules.
6. Hindu decorative motifs are not merely surface configurations, but are themselves conceived 3-dimensionally, so that they emerge out of the very core of the sanctum in a series of cascading forms.
7. The divine energy radiates in different directions from the garbha grha. The fragmentation & proliferation of motifs on the elevation maybe characterized as the external expressions of this emanation, embodied in the niche shrine mentioned above.
8. Hindu temples were products of invention & experiment, of conscious choices, problem solving, & accumulated technical experience.
9. Chief architects & master sculptors were skilled in vastusastras & silpasastras.
10. Hindu temples, incorporating the principles evolved over many centuries, which can be further divided into two conceptually self-contained parts
a. an experimental period – 5th to 8th century CE.
b. and a period of consolidation / Canonical Period – 8th to 18th century (narrative art to cult icons)
Age of Experimentation (5th to 8th century CE)
The Gupta Beginnings –
1. The Gupta period (320 – 467 CE) stood at the intersection of mature Buddhist Art & genesis of the Hindu Temple .
2. Builders used BA knowledge for creating Hindu edifice. Not only Chaitya widow motif, inspired finest Hindu Excavated temples as late as 8th century, even though structural temples were assuming increasing importance.
3. First Hindu monument – Besnagar, and Shiva in Gudimallam in South India . By 2nd century CE, flourishing workshops at the Kushan religious centre of Mathura
4. The Gupta style is less helpful in tracing the evolution of temple architecture than other clues, such as the development of architectural parts, notably doorways, pillars, & bases.
5. The transmission of styles from the 2nd century workshops in the Kushan centres of Gandhara & Mathura to regional workshops has been proposed as more fruitful tool in tracing the evolution of the Hindu temple as a continuous process.
6. Famous piece of Gupta Period –
a. Udaigiri, in Malwa. Vishnu as the comic boar saving the earth from the ocean.
b. 6th Century Dasavatara temple at Deogarh.
The Regional Art after the Guptas (6th to 8th Century) –
1. The ruler Harsha (606 – 647 AD), the last northern ruler. Buddhism was shrinking but still remained important in Bihar & Bengal, were monasteries thrived until 13th century.
2. Four rival dynasties – Kalacuri dynasty, Calukyas of Vatapi, Pallavas of Tamil Nadu, and Rashtrakutas.
3. During this period monuments of Vishnu gave way to Saiva.
4. Craftsman who worked at Ajanta during the Vakataka ascended southwards, as the demand for Hindu Art & Architecture expanded there.
5. Adoption of each other’s style – local dynasties. Spread of styles by local craftsmen.
The Regional Art after the Guptas (6th to 8th Century) –
1. The ruler Harsha (606 – 647 AD), the last northern ruler. Buddhism was shrinking but still remained important in Bihar & Bengal, were monasteries thrived until 13th century.
2. Four rival dynasties – Kalacuri dynasty, Calukyas of Vatapi, Pallavas of Tamil Nadu, and Rashtrakutas.
3. During this period monuments of Vishnu gave way to Saiva.
4. Craftsman who worked at Ajanta during the Vakataka ascended southwards, as the demand for Hindu Art & Architecture expanded there.
5. Adoption of each other’s style – local dynasties. Spread of styles by local craftsmen.
The Early Western Calukyas of Vatapi –
1. first temples in Deccan were built in four capitals – Aihole, Vatapi (Badami), Pattadakal & Alampur.
The Pasupata rock sanctuaries at Ellora & Elephanta –
1. The greatest Hindu narrative sculpture of the period was completed in rock sanctuaries of Ellora & Elephanta, Maharashtra . A major pilgrim site since the early Buddhist period. Vaishnava art exists at Ellora. Shivas ( Kailashnath temple) dancing form in Ellora cave 14, 15, 16 & 21. Elephanta (for Shiv) (540 – 55 CE) adapts Buddhist vihara of the Ajanta types. Provide by PAsupata ptron.
The Pallava temples of Tamilnadu –
1. first temples in built in Tamilnadu – by Pallava kings – their capital Kanchipuram – showed Shiva with wife Shakti & son Karttikeya.
2. First pallava temples – cave shrines – seaport of Mamallapuram (has been a centre of trade since Roman times. Durga & Buffalo Demon cave is the most famous.
3. The first structural temple – Shore temple – built by Narasimhavarman II Rajasimha in 700 CE.
Canonical Period (8th to 18th century CE)
1. The final phase of Hundu temple – structural temples occurred between 8th to 18th century in North & South India.
2. Perfect balance was struck in 3 greatest temple sites
- Tanjavur in South (Brhadisavra temple)
- Bhubaneswar
- Khajuraho in Central India .
The Southern Temples (8th to 18th century) –
THE IMPERIAL CHOLAS & THEIR SUCCESSORS
1. Greatest imperial power in South India , by 10th Century Cholas had reached the borders of the Rashtrakuta kingdom in the north, replacing brick temples with grander stone ones as they went.
2. Row of temple were built on the banks of the Kaveri river to mark their growing power.
3. Brihdesvara temple, Tanjavur took 15 yrs to build.
4. Finest Chola masterpieces are the bronze images of Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance)
5. After the Cholas three tendencies dominated the South Indian Temple bulding until the modern period.
5.1 Temples
5.2 Dance assumed a greater importance in temple architecture, underlining the importance of temple dancers.
5.3 Gopuras overtook actual temples in size & importance.
6. Shiva inspired the finest art & architecture in South India , the Ranganathan at Srirangam – largest temple complex in the south.
The Northern Temples (8th to 13th century) –
ORISSA
1. From 8th century Nagara styles in the north began evolving in parallel to the Dravida styles in the south.
2. Gupta temple art arrived there in the wake of a dynastic marriage between Orissan & Western Chalukyan rulers in the 8th century. The Pasupata sect, which had inspired Karnataka –ravida monuments had spread to Orissa by this time, inspiring major temples. Unlike those of much of the north, Orissan temples have largely survived.
3. Orissan Architecture – Gavaksa nets, alasa kanyas, love making couples, vyalas, & bho. The architecture was dictated by social needs – the hall for dispensing food (bhog mandapa) & the hall for temple dancers (nata mandapa). Latter an integral part of temple ritual & sacred sexuality.
4. orissan temple dancers – devdasis sexually available to kings & priests.
5. Pinnacle – 12th Century – Lingaraj Temple
6. Pin – 13th Centruy – Sun / Konark Temple
7. The increased use of the dance hall for spiritual discussions, as well as the growing importance of the temple dancers themselves, was turning Orissan temples into the focal point of communal life.
8. The temple’s actual scale is less important that the monumental conception realized by means of proportions.
KHAJURAHO
1. 25 Temples in remote village of Khajuraho
2. The Palas of Bengal, the Gurjara – Pratiharas of north & central India
3. K was a flourishing cultural centre where poets, grammarians, & playwrights rubbed shoulders with affluent Jain merchants & court Officials.
4. K as centric for various Tantric sects.
5. K developed a symmetrical iconographic programme that arranged the emanating deities in different hierarchial orders as well as in complementary pairs in conformity with ritual texts.
