SOUTH INDIAN ARCHITECTUE

After the Guptas, in the early mediaeval times, substantial contribution was made to  Indian architecture by the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and Pallavas in the Deccan and the Palas in Northern India.

The period (also the height of the Gupta Empire) was marked by extensive inventions and discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art, dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion, and philosophy that contributed to Hindu culture.

TEMPLE in GUPTA PERIOD

TYPES OF STYLES in TEMPLE

•Northern Hindu Style•Central Hindu Style•South Hindu Style

The south Indian style of temple architecture is very distinct from that of the rest of India. It is convenient to resolve the types of architecture into four periods corresponding to the principal kingdoms which ruled in southern India down the centuries.

DRAVIDIAN ARCHITECTURE

FEATURES

THE SIGNIFICANCE

Reflects a -synthesis of arts, -the ideals of dharma, -beliefs, -values and the way of life.

 ELEMENTS OF HINDU COSMOS –

• presenting the good, • the evil

and• the human,

THE SYMBOLISMA Hindu temple is a symbolic reconstruction of the universe and universal principles that make everything in it function. The temples reflect Hindu philosophy and its diverse views on cosmos and Truths.

Create and sustain life are present in a Hindu temple – • from fire to water, • from images of nature to deities, • from the feminine to the masculine, • from the fleeting sounds and • incense smells to the eternal

nothingness

Link between man, deities, and the Universal space

THE SITEThe appropriate site for a temple

at sangams (confluence of rivers), river banks, lakes and seashore

• is near water and gardens, where lotus and flowers bloom, where swans, ducks and other birds are heard, where animals rest without fear of injury or harm. 

Villages, towns and kingdoms integrated temples, water bodies and gardens within them to achieve harmony with nature.

THE PLAN A Hindu temple design

follows a geometrical design called vastu-purusha-mandala.. Mandala means circle, Purusha is universal essence at the core of Hindu tradition, while Vastu  means the dwelling structure.

FORMS &

SHAPE of INDIAN TEMPLE

EXCEPTIONS TO THE SQUARE GRID PRINCIPLE

The design lays out a Hindu temple in a symmetrical, self-repeating structure derived from central beliefs, myths, cardinality and mathematical principles.

THE MANUALS

Composition and structure

Basic form of a Hindu temple

PARTS & ELEMENTS OF TEMPLE

1. Garbhagriha:It literally means ‘womb-house’ and is a cave like sanctum.In the earliest temples, it was a small cubical structure with a single entrance.Later it grew into a larger complex.The Garbhagriha is made to house the main icon (main deity) which is itself the focus of much ritual attention.

2. Mandapa:It is the entrance to the temple.It may be a portico or colonnaded (series of columns placed at regular intervals) hall that incorporate space for a large number of worshippers.Dances and such other entertainments are practiced here.Some temples have multiple mandapas in different sizes named as Ardhamandapa, Mandapa and Mahamandapa.

3. Shikhara or Vimana:They are mountain like spire of a free standing temple.Shikhara is found in North Indian temples and Vimana is found in South Indian temples.Shikhara has a curving shape while vimana has a pyramidal like structure.

VIMANA

SIKHARA

GARBHA GRIHA

VIMANA

PRADAKSHINA PATHA

MANDAPA

•Pillared hall•Performing rituals•NATAMANDIRA hall of dance•Also an isolate and separate structures from the sanctuary.

ANTARALA

•vestibule or the intermediate chamber.•It unites the main sanctuary and the pillared hall of the temple.•‘ARDHAMANDAPA’ meaning the front porch or the main entrance of the temple leading to the mandapa

Monumental and ornate tower at the entrance of the temple complex, specially found in south India.

GOPURAMS

The typical gateway of the temple mostly found in north Indian temple.

TORANAS

The plinth or the platform of the temple.

PITHA

Fluted disc like stone placed at the apex of the sikhara

AMAL AKA / CAPSTONE / HARMIKA

SUMMERY•7th to 8th C•Variant forms.•Square chambered sanctuary•Topped by super structureTower – Pyramidal shape.

– gradually receeding stories.- each story dlineated by a parapet of miniature of shrines.-Squares at the corners-rectangular with barrel vault roofs at the center.-tower is crowned

•External walls – pilasters & carry niches housing sculptures.

•GAVAKSHA – dormer windows