TEMPLE STYLES

The construction of temples for the images of gods goes
back perhaps to the second century B.C. They were built with
perishable material. It was in the Gupta period that building with
lasting materials began, such as dressed stone and brick.. The
Gupta period marks the beginning of lndian temple architecture.
Out of the initial experimentation two major styles evolved.

Nagara and Dravida styles : The Shilpa Shastras recognize three styles - Nagara Dravida and Vesara - along with a geographical distribution of each. Nagara northern region; Dravida. Dravida country i.e. south; Vesara: the territory between the Vindhyas and the Krishna. These are really not strictly based on geographical divisions, but merely indicate the dominating styles in a region. Actually the three styles ultimately resolve into two, the Nagara and the Dravida.

The Nagara style temple is a square with a number of graduated projections- rathakas - in the middle of each face which gives it a cruciform shape on the exterior. A tower (shikhara) gradually curving inwards and capped by a spheroid slab with ribs round the edge (amalaka) give elevation. Thus the two major characteristics of this style are the cruciform ground plan and the curvilinear tower.

In the Dravida style the sanctum is situated within an ambulatory hall and there is a pyramidal tower formed by an accumulation of several storeys in receding dimensions.

Temple architecture in India reached its final stage of perfection in the late Medieval period. It emerged with a distinct characteristic: indivisibility of architecture and sculpture, executed with superb. technical skill. While the Dravidian form flourished dynastically, the Nagara style. on account of a much wider area of distribution, developed regionally, each region manifesting its own particular qualities. Temples of the Deccan are known to have evolved a hybrid style. borrowing elements and features from the Nagara and the Dravida styles.