Dravida style

Also called: Southern temple style, Dravidian temple architecture · Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Dravida style is the temple style of south India. Its main features are:

• a vimana (a tower over the shrine that rises like a stepped pyramid, storey by storey);
• a prakara (a high wall around the whole temple);
• gopurams (gateway towers in that wall);
• often a temple tank (a stone-lined pool of water).

It is one of the three main temple styles in India, with Nagara (north) and Vesara (a mixed style). UPSC often asks you to tell these styles apart, and to link temples with the dynasty that built them: Pallava, Chola, Chalukya and others.

Explanation

Background: how the temple grew

• The earliest temples date to about the 3rd century CE. They were a small square garbhagriha (the "womb-house", the dark shrine room that holds the image or linga) with one doorway.
• Builders then added more parts, one stage at a time:
• a tower over the shrine;
• sculpted outer walls;

• later, assembly halls, huge walls, gateways and water arrangements (tanks, wells, drains).

• Some early temples were cut out of rock, not built block by block.

• In the south, this growth took its own shape. That shape is the Dravida style.
• Bhakti (loving devotion to one chosen god) made temples important. Shiva was worshipped mainly as the linga, and Vishnu through his avatars (forms he takes on earth). Southern temples were built for both gods.

Main features

• Vimana — the tower over the garbhagriha. It rises in flat, stepped storeys, each a little smaller than the one below, so it looks like a pyramid. It does not curve like a north Indian tower.
• Shikhara — in the Dravida style, this word means only the crowning stone at the very top of the vimana. It is often shaped like a small dome or an eight-sided cap. In the Nagara style, "shikhara" means the whole curved tower. This is a common trap.
• Prakara — a high wall that encloses the whole temple area.
• Gopuram — a tall gateway tower built into the prakara. Early gopurams were small. Later ones became taller than the vimana.
• Mandapa — a pillared hall in front of the shrine where devotees gather.
• Dwarapalas — large guardian figures carved at the entrance to the shrine.
• Temple tank — a stone-lined water tank inside the temple area or close to it.

How it changed over time

1. Rock-cut stage (Pallavas, c. 7th century). At Mahabalipuram, temples were cut from living rock: cave temples and monolithic temples. A monolithic temple is one whole building cut from a single rock. The rathas (monolithic shrines shaped like temple chariots) show the stepped tower in an early form [3].
2. Structural stage (Pallavas, c. 8th century). Builders now put up temples from cut stone blocks. Examples are the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram. Both are usually linked with the Pallava king Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha).
3. High point (Cholas, c. 11th century). The Brihadeshvara (Rajarajeshvara) temple at Thanjavur was built by Rajaraja I and completed around 1010 CE. Its vimana is one of the tallest in India. Rajendra I built a similar temple at Gangaikondacholapuram.
4. Gopuram stage (later dynasties). Under the Pandyas, Vijayanagara and the Nayakas, the gateways grew huge. These temples became temple cities with several walls one inside another, for example at Madurai. Here the gopurams overshadow the central vimana.

Results

• The temple became the centre of town life: worship, festivals, land, water and crafts.
• The style spread with south Indian kings. The Deccan also borrowed from it. At Ellora, the Kailasa temple of the Rashtrakutas is a Dravida-style temple cut from rock.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: from about the 7th century CE (Pallava rock-cut work) to the Vijayanagara and Nayaka period. The dates of early monuments are approximate.
• Region: mainly Tamil Nadu, also Karnataka and Andhra.
• Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu):
• It was a port city of the Pallavas on the Coromandel Coast.
• Its rock-cut cave temples, monolithic temples, bas-reliefs and structural temples were made between the 6th and 9th centuries CE [3].
• The Mahishasuramardini cave has a relief of Durga riding a lion against the buffalo demon Mahishasura, c. 7th century [3].

• The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a UNESCO World Heritage Site [3].

• Aihole (Karnataka): this group of more than a hundred temples belongs to the Early Chalukyas (c. 6th–8th century CE). It is called "the cradle of Indian architecture" because builders tried out many plans there [2].

• Key patrons:
• Pallavas: Narasimhavarman I (Mamalla) and Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha)

• Cholas: Rajaraja I and Rajendra I

• How we know:

• the surviving temples themselves, which are archaeological evidence;
• inscriptions carved on temple walls;
• ASI and UNESCO records of the sites [2][3].

Don't confuse with

• Nagara style — the north Indian style. It has a curved shikhara that rises from the shrine, and usually no big wall or gopurams. Example: Deogarh (UP), one of the earliest temples that still has its shikhara [1].
• Vesara style — the Deccan "mixed" style. It combines Nagara and Dravida features and is linked to the later Chalukyas and the Hoysalas. Aihole's many different plans belong to this world of experiment [2].
• Shikhara vs vimana — in the Dravida style the whole tower is the vimana, and the "shikhara" is only the cap on top. In the Nagara style, the shikhara is the whole tower.
• Kailasa temple, Ellora vs Kailasanatha temple, Kanchipuram — both are Dravida in style. Ellora is rock-cut and was made by the Rashtrakutas (Maharashtra). Kanchipuram is structural (built from stone blocks) and was made by the Pallavas (Tamil Nadu).

Prelims Hooks

• Vimana (stepped, pyramid-like tower), gopuram (gateway tower), prakara (enclosing wall) and temple tank = Dravida style.
• Mahabalipuram — Pallava port on the Coromandel Coast; monuments of the 6th–9th centuries CE; UNESCO World Heritage Site [3].
• Mahishasuramardini cave, Mahabalipuram — Durga on a lion fighting Mahishasura, c. 7th century [3].
• Shore Temple and Kailasanatha (Kanchipuram) → Pallava (Narasimhavarman II). Brihadeshvara, Thanjavur → Chola (Rajaraja I, c. 1010 CE).
• Trap: in later temples such as Madurai, the gopuram is taller than the vimana. In early Pallava and Chola temples, the vimana is the tallest part.
• Aihole (Karnataka) — Early Chalukya, over 100 temples, called "cradle of Indian architecture" [2].

Mains Points

• Temple form grew step by step, and you can still see each stage on the ground.
• It began as a small, plain shrine (c. 3rd century CE).
• It then became rock-cut and monolithic shrines at Mahabalipuram [3].
• Next came structural Pallava temples, and then huge Chola vimanas.

• Finally, giant gopurams turned temples into temple cities.

• Kings used art to send a message. The Pallava kings at Mahabalipuram carved scenes of gods saving the world. One example is Durga killing Mahishasura. Such scenes linked the king's power with a god who defeats evil [3]. Chola temples like Thanjavur showed the power and wealth of the empire.

• Regional styles show variety within one shared tradition.
• Nagara, Dravida and Vesara all grew from the same basic plan: a garbhagriha with a tower over it.
• Each region then developed its own form.
• Places like Aihole, where builders tried many plans, show that this variety came from experiment, not from a single fixed rule [2].

Related concepts

• Puranic Hinduism
• Vaishnavism
• Avatar
• Dashavatara
• Varaha
• Vasudeva-Krishna
• Shaivism
• Linga
• Garbhagriha
• Antarala

Read more

• Puranic Hinduism and the first temples