GUPTA DYNASTY TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE by Sriteja

Contents 1.  GUPTA DYNASTY TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE a)   Model Questions b)  EVOLUTION OF GUPTA STYLE TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE 2.  TYPES OF GUPTA ARCHITECTURE 3.  SITES OF TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE a)   Temple of Bhitaragaon b)  Parvati Temple at Nachana Kuthara c)   Vishnu Temple at Tigawa d)  Lad Khan Temple at Aihole e)   Shiva Temple at Bhumara f)    Dasavatara Vishnu Temple at Deogarh 4.  SITES OF ROCK-CUT TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE a)   Ajanta Caves b)  Ellora Caves c)   Udayagiri Caves

GUPTA DYNASTY TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

Guest Post By Sriteja

·        Sriteja is the brain behind www.nextgenias.com and NEXTGEN IAS YouTube Channel which help UPSC CSE Aspirants in their preparation process. He has well over 13,000 subscribers on his YouTube Channel.

·        He is a Central Government Employee working for Indian Overseas Bank.

·        Success doesn’t come easy. And it didn’t come easy for Sriteja as well. He failed in 20+ interviews before tasting success. Lack of guidance and exposure taught him life lessons the hard way.

·        Motivated by his own life experiences, Sriteja started the YouTube channel NEXTGEN IAS to help his friends in preparing the most dreaded Culture Topic of CSE.

·        His YouTube channel has grown by leaps and bounds since then and has proved that one doesn’t need an ‘IAS tag’ to reach out to thousands of aspirants.

·        In this post he will try to explain in  brief  about  the development  of  Temple  architecture  under  the  Gupta  dynasty rulers.

·        For more posts on Culture you can visit his website www.nextgenias.com

Model Questions

·        Which was the domain of rule of Gupta rulers?

·        What are the architectural creations which brought acclaim to this dynasty as lovers of art and architecture?

·        What are the characteristics of Gupta style Temple architecture?

·        What  are  the  important  sites  attributed  to  Gupta  Style Temple architecture?

·        The Gupta Period is often described as “ The Golden Age of Art  and Architecture  in  India”.

·        During  this  period  the  iconographic  canons  of Brahmanical, Jain and Buddhist divinities were perfected and standardized, which served as ideal models of artistic expression for later centuries, not only  in  India  but  also  beyond  its  border.

·        It  was  an  age  of  all  round perfection in domestic life, administration, literature, as seen in the works of Kalidasa, in art creations and in religion and philosophy as exemplified in the wide-spread Bhagavata cult, which identified itself with an intensive cult of beauty.

EVOLUTION OF GUPTA STYLE TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

·        During the Gupta period, a firm foundation of temple architecture was laid when  the basic elements of the Indian temple consisting of a square sanctum and pillared porch emerged.

·        The evolved Gupta temple also had a covered processional path for circumambulation (Pradakshana Path) that formed a part of the worship-ritual.

·        Earlier temples of the period had a monolithic flat slab roof 

·        Later  temples  in  brick  and  stone  developed  a Shikhara

·        The gradual evolution of the Gupta style is traceable through development of the plan and the ornamentation on the pillars and doorframe, the later introducing new decorative motifs like goblins, couples, flying angels, door-keepers and a figure relief in the centre of the lintel emblematic of the deity consecrated in the temple

·        Sculptures  of  deities,  their  consorts,  celestial  beings,  couples, directional deities, composite animals and decorative motifs formed the mass of images that adorned the walls of the temples and their interiors.

·        The deities consecrated in the sanctum were carved strictly according to religious  canons  and  installed  by  performing  a  special  consecration ceremony.

·        Temple sculptures were not necessarily religious. Many drew on secular subject matters  and  decorative  motifs.

·        The  scenes  of  everyday  life  consist  of military processions, royal court scenes, musicians, dancers, acrobats and amorous couples.

·        Another group of non-religious figures is the  Apsaras or Devanganas (celestial women) andVyalas (composite animals).

TYPES OF GUPTA ARCHITECTURE

1.  TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

2.  ROCK-CUT TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

SITES OF TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

Temple of Bhitaragaon

·        This  temple  is  the  earliest  and  the most  remarkable example of brick building and bears resemblance to the Buddhist temple of Bodhgaya.

·        The temple at Bhitaragaon stands at the centre of a fairly high plinth.

·        It is a tower-like edifice, rising in diminishing stages to a height of 70 feet.

·        The  projected  porch  on  the  east  side  is  approached  by steps.

·        The  outer  ornamentation  of  terracotta  sculpture  is certainly the most striking feature of the Bhitaragaon temple.

·        The  walls  rise  in  bold  mouldings,  their  upper portions being decorated with a row of rectangular panels alternating with ornamental pilasters.

·        Like  many  Brahmanical  structures,  it  was  not  a temple  for  worshippers  but  a  repository  or  a shrine for an image.

·        This is the oldest remaining Hindu shrine with a roof and a high Sikhara in which there is a series of arches.

Parvati Temple at Nachana Kuthara

·        This  is  a  west  facing  temple,  contrary  to  most  of  other Hindu temples which face east.

·        The  sanctum  doorway  is  surrounded  by  finely  carved guardians with Ganga and Yamuna, river goddesses.

·        North  and  south  walls  are  provided  with  pierced  stone windows so that the light can enter the sanctum.

Vishnu Temple at Tigawa

·        The temple has a sanctum and an open portico supported on four pillars.

·        The facade owes its character entirely to the design of its pillars.

·        The pillars form the main elements of its frontage and each consists of  a  massive  abacus  surmounted  by  a  device  of  lions,  a  capital resembling a broad conventional Vase, a short shaft of many sides and a plain square pedestal.

·        The pillar is a descendant of the Vishnu column at Besnagar of five centuries earlier, and the lion motif is of Ashoka’s monoliths.

·        The Tigawa temple’s doorway to the cella, with Yakshini motif reminds of the Buddhist torana, but is transmuted in the Gupta  temple to suit Brahmanical text.

·        In the earlier compositions a dryad embraces a tree but here it has become an allegory of the holy waters of the Jamuna and Ganga with a river goddess standing on a tortoise on one side symbolizing the Jamuna and a similar figure standing on a crocodile or a  makara on the other representing the Ganges.

Lad Khan Temple at Aihole

·        Dedicated to Shiva

·        Temple consists of a shrine (garba griha) with mandapa in front of it rectangular building with a flat roof of stone slabs stone-grills on two sides to admit light

·        The eastern end opens in the pillared porch. The wall is in reality a peristyle of massive stone posts between which the latticed slabs have been placed like screens.

·        The main shrine houses a Shiva Linga with a Nandi and outer walls having many carved images alongwith floral motifs.

·        The mukha mandapa situated in front of the sanctum and consists of a set of twelve carved pillars.

·        Lad Khan temple is the earliest example of the massive bracket-like capital continued throughout the Hindu Renaissance period.

Shiva Temple at Bhumara

·        It resembles in type and plan to the Bhitaragaon temple.

·        This shrine consists of a square masonary cella ( garba griha) of about 35 feet with a flat slab-roof and a carved doorway having representations of river-goddesses on the jambs and a fine bust of Shiva, with flying figures on the lintel.

·        Around the garba griha are the scattered remains of a larger chamber which surrounded it, providing a roofed pradaksina  patha, and of amandapam attached to and preceding this enclosure.

·        These  remains  consist  of  a  great  variety  of  columns which are not monolithic, of richly carved lintels that supported the roofing slabs, of Chaitya-window niches from the cornice.

·        Some of the  gana figures have  raksasa faces on their Bellies.

Dasavatara Vishnu Temple at Deogarh

·        The  most  important  feature  of  the  temple  is  Sikhara instead of the conventional flat roof

·        Another most important feature of this temple is the arrangement of its portico.

·        In the centre of the over-door slab is a plaque of Vishnu on the great naga

·        To the right and the left at the top and outside the main zone of the frame are reliefs of the river goddess Ganga and Jamuna.

·        Dvarpalas or door guardians and female divinities are carved on the overlapping frames of the door.    

SITES OF ROCK-CUT TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE

·        The cave architecture also attained a great degree of refinement during the Gupta period.

·        The Chaitya and Vihara caves at Ajanta and the Ellora caves are the best specimens of cave architecture of the period.

·        Important sites of Rock-cut Temples of the Gupta Period

Ajanta Caves

·        There  are  two  cave designs  at  Ajanta  called  Chaitya  Grihas and  Viharas.

·        Chaitya Grihas  were  hall  of  worship-  large,  rectangular  chambers separated by rows of pillars into a central nave, surrounded by aisles  on  three sides,  for  circumbulation during  prayer,  with  a sanctuary  opposite  the  entrance

·        Viharas or  monastries  were rectangular shaped halls with  a series of small cells attached on two sides.

Ellora Caves

·        The contemporary  Viharas or monastries at Ellora are the fine examples of Buddhist rock-cut architecture and are in direct line with Ajanta.

·        The Buddhists created twelve rock-cut halls for their creed at Ellora.

·        This series is divided into two sub groups: Cave nos. I-V are known as ‘Dhedwada group’. Each sub-group has a prayer hall and its attached monastries. The later group of monastries nos. VI-XII are notable for their size and extent.

Udayagiri Caves

·        Extensively carved and reworked under the command of Chandragupta II.

·        The most famous sculpture in the monumental figure of Vishnu in his incarnation as the boar-headed Varaha.

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