Courtesy : Progressive customs of architecture

Dravidian Style

Main article: Dravidian Architecture

Dravidian Architectural Elements

Single storey gopura (Dravidian architecture)

Two storey gopura (Dravidian architecture)

Pillar elements (shared by Nagara and Dravidian)

Athisthana architectural elements of a Hindu temple

Entablature elements

A vimana with mandapam elements (Dravidian architecture)

Dravidian style or the South Indian temple style is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent or South India and in Sri Lanka, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. It is seen in Hindu temples, and the most distinctive difference from north Indian styles is the use of a shorter and more pyramidal tower over the garbhagriha or sanctuary called a vimana, where the north has taller towers, usually bending inwards as they rise, called shikharas. However, for modern visitors to larger temples the dominating feature is the high gopura or gatehouse at the edge of the compound; large temples have several, dwarfing the vimana; these are a much more recent development. There are numerous other distinct features such as the dwarapalakas – twin guardians at the main entrance and the inner sanctum of the temple and goshtams – deities carved in niches on the outer side walls of the garbhagriha. # ISO certification in India

Mayamata and Manasara shilpa texts estimated to be in circulation by 5th to 7th century AD, is a guidebook on Dravidian style of Vastu Shastra design, construction, sculpture and joinery technique  Isanasivagurudeva paddhati is another text from the 9th century describing the art of building in India in south and central India.

From 300 BCE – 300 CE, the greatest accomplishments of the kingdoms of the early Chola, Chera and the Pandyan kingdoms included brick shrines to deities Kartikeya, Shiva, Amman and Vishnu. Several of these have been unearthed near Adichanallur, Kaveripoompuharpattinam and Mahabalipuram, and the construction plans of these sites of worship were shared to some detail in various poems of Sangam literature. # ISO certification in India

The architecture of the rock-cut temples, particularly the rathas, became a model for south Indian temples. Architectural features, particularly the sculptures, were widely adopted in South India  Descendants of the sculptors of the shrines are artisans in contemporary Mahabalipuram.

South Indian Temples

Vijaynagara Empire

Badami Chalukya

Chola thalassocracy

Pandya Dynasty

The Badami Chalukyas also called the Early Chalukyas, ruled from Badami, Karnataka in the period 543 – 753 CE and spawned the Vesara style called Badami Chalukya Architecture. The finest examples of their art are seen in Pattadakal, Aihole and Badami in northern Karnataka. Over 150 temples remain in the Malaprabha basin.

The Rashtrakuta contributions to art and architecture are reflected in the splendid rock-cut shrines at Ellora and Elephanta, situated in present-day Maharashtra. It is said that they altogether constructed 34 rock-cut shrines, but most extensive and sumptuous of them all is the Kailasanatha temple at Ellora. The temple is a splendid achievement of Dravidian art. The walls of the temple have marvellous sculptures from Hindu mythology including Ravana, Shiva and Parvathi while the ceilings have paintings. These projects spread into South India from the Deccan. The architectural style used was partly Dravidian. They do not contain any of the shikharas common to the Nagara style and were built on the same lines as the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal in Karnataka. # ISO certification in India

Vijayanagara architecture of the period (1336–1565 CE) was a notable building style evolved by the Vijayanagar empire that ruled most of South India from their capital at Vijayanagara on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in present-day Karnataka.The architecture of the temples built during the reign of the Vijayanagara empire had elements of political authority. This resulted in the creation of a distinctive imperial style of architecture which featured prominently not only in temples but also in administrative structures across the deccan. The Vijayanagara style is a combination of the Chalukya, Hoysala, Pandya and Chola styles which evolved earlier in the centuries when these empires ruled and is characterised by a return to the simplistic and serene art of the past. The South Indian temple consists essentially of a square-chambered sanctuary topped by a superstructure, tower, or spire and an attached pillared porch or hall (maṇḍapa or maṇṭapam), enclosed by a peristyle of cells within a rectangular court. The external walls of the temple are segmented by pilasters and carry niches housing sculpture. The superstructure or tower above the sanctuary is of the kūṭina type and consists of an arrangement of gradually receding stories in a pyramidal shape. Each story is delineated by a parapet of miniature shrines, square at the corners and rectangular with barrel-vault roofs at the centre. # ISO certification in India

The Warangal Fort, Thousand Pillar Temple, and Ramappa Temple are examples of Kakatiya architecture.

Vesara Architecture

The style adopted in the region that today lies in the modern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (Deccan) which served in its geographical position as buffer between north and south, that architectural style has mix of both the Nagara and Dravidian temple styles.^[64] While some scholars consider the buildings in this region as being distinctly either nagara or dravida, a hybridised style that seems to have become popular after the mid-seventh century, is known in some ancient texts as vesara. In the southern part of the Deccan, i.e., in the region of Karnataka is where some of the most experimental hybrid styles of vesara architecture are to be found. # ISO certification in India

Vesara style

Durga temple at Aihole showing Chaitya style

Kailasa Temple, Ellora

Pattadakkal Temple, Karnataka

Lad Khan temple is one of the oldest Hindu temples.

An important temple is Papnath temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is one of the best early examples of the South Indian tradition. By contrast other eastern Chalukyan Temples, like the Mahakuta, five kilometres from Badami, and the Swarga Brahma temple at Alampur show a greater assimilation of northern styles from Odisha and Rajasthan. At the same time the Durga temple at Aihole is unique having an even earlier style of an apsidal shrine which is reminiscent of Buddhist chaitya halls and is surrounded by a veranda of a later kind, with a shikhara that is stylistically like a nagara one. Finally, mention must be made of the Lad Khan temple at Aihole in Karnataka. This seems to be inspired by the wooden-roofed temples of the hills, except that it is constructed out of stone. # ISO certification in India

Historians agree that the vesara style originated in what is today Karnataka. According to some, the style was started by the Chalukyas of Badami (500-753AD) whose Early Chalukya or Badami Chalukya architecture built temples in a style that mixed some features of the nagara and the dravida styles, for example using both the northern shikhara and southern vimana type of superstructure over the sanctum in different temples of similar date, as at Pattadakal. However, Adam Hardy and others regard this style as essentially a form of Dravida. This style was further refined by the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (750-983AD) in sites such as Ellora. # ISO certification in India

Though there is clearly a good deal of continuity with the Badami or Early Chalukya style, other writers only date the start of Vesara to the later Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (983–1195 AD),  in sites such as Lakkundi, Dambal, Itagi, and Gadag, and continued by the Hoysala empire (1000–1330 AD). # ISO certification in India

The Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebidu and Somnathpura are leading examples of the Vesara style. These temples are now proposed as a UNESCO world heritage site.