AN ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS ■OF THE EARLY WESTERN CALUIOAN TEMPLES THESIS SUBMITTED POR THE DEGREE OP DOCTOR OP PHILOSOPHY GEORGE MICHELL 1974 ProQuest Number: 10672860 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672860 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT The limitations of this study are evident from the title. Only the architectural monuments of the Early Western Galukyas are here considered and those structures which date from earlier or later periods at the Western Calukyan sites together with the roc.k~cut monuments do not form part of the study. The sculptural and decorated portions of the buildings are only briefly referred to, and comparisons with the architecture of contemporary dynasties will not be attempted. Such severe limitations have been imposed so as to permit a thorough architectural description and analysis of what is the-.;largest earliest group of temples known in India from this period. Such a study takes its starting point from a thorough documentation comprising a set of measured drawings and accompanying detailed descriptions. In comparing the buildings, it has been found necessary to divide them into a number of component features. Theae features are then individually compared, and the variations within each noted. The resulting observations are assembled, so that certain temples may be associated together by the similarity of their features. The few dated monuments may suggest the possibility of a tentative chronology, but such conclusions are not the main objective of this study. A.GimOWLEBCrSEylEFTS Financial assistanc e for the site work -upon which this study is "based was- provided "by the School of. Oriental and African Studies and the Central Research Fund,, both of the University of London, and the Royal Anthropological Institute.. In the. field, the author has. had the expert assistance, of Garry Martin. and diri Sko>pek, architects, and Jeff G-orbeek, photographer. For advice and encouragement, the author has profited, from various n meetings, with Dr.. J. Harle of the Ashmolean Museum Oxford and Madame 0. Kiennot of the Muaee. Guimet Paris. In India, S.R.Rao, the Superintending Archaeologist of the South-West Circle of the Archaeological Survey of India, and M.S. Magaraja. Rao, the Director of Monuments and Museums for the State of Karnataka, have taken an interest in the project. Without the encouragement of John Burton-Page of the School of Oriental amd African Studies.:, University of London, little of this work woLild have been undertaken. To these individuals and institutions, the author expresses his: gratitude. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE EARLY WESTERN CALUKYAN TEMPLES 1 1.1 History 1.2 Relation of Archaeology to History 1.3 Notes 2. METHOD EMPLOYED IN THE ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS 17 2.1 Measured Drawings 2.2 Terminology of the Descriptions, 2.3 Notes 3,. DESCRIPTION OP THE BADAMI TEMPLES 25 3.1 Badami Upper Sfvalaya 3.-2 Badami Lower Sfwalaya 3*3 Badami Malegitti Siwalaya • • 3.4- Badami Bhutanatha 3.5 Badami JambulIAga 3.6 Notes:. 4.- DESCRIPTION OP THE MABAKUTA AND NAGARAL TEMPLES 45 4.1 Mahakuta Mahakutesvara and Mallikarjuna 4.2 Mahakuta Sahgamesvara 4.3 Mahakuta Mahalihga 4.4 Mahakuta Three un-named temples within the enclosure, 4.-5 Mahakuta Bananti 4.6 Nagaral Naganatha 4.7 Notes' DESCRIPTION OF THE AIHOLE AND SIBDHANAKOLLA TEMPLES 5.1 Aihole Meguti 5.2 Aihole Two-storeyed temple 5 .3 Aihole Two xui-named temples, "beneath Meguti 5.4 Aihole Hue©appayyamatha 5.5 Aihole Two temples of the Kunti group • • 5.6 Aihole Gakra 5.7 Aihole G-auda 5.-8 Aihole Ladkhan 5*9 Aihole Narayana 5.10 Aihole Burga 5.11 Aihole Durga gateway 5.12 Aihole Mallikar juna 5..13 Aihole Three templea near the Brahmanical Cave 5.14 Aihole Two structures of temple C21 5 .3-5 Aihole Cikki 5 .-16 Aihole Huccimalli 5.17 Aihole Tarappa. 5.18 Aihole. Temple 049 5.19 Aihole. Huccappayya 5.20 Aihole Galaganatha • 5.21 Aihole Visnu tempia • • 5.22 Aihole Temple 062 5.23 Siddhanakolla Sahgames.vara 5.24 Notes; 6., DESCRIPTION OP THE PATTADAKAL TEMPLES 130 6.1 Pattadakal Kadasiddhesvara 6.2 Pattadakal UambulIAga, 6.3 Pattadakal Galaganatha 6.4 Pattadakal SaAgam.esvara 6.5 Pattadakal Virupaksa and Mallikarjuna « 6.6 Pattadakal Virupaksa Nandi pavilion 6.7 Pattadakal Virupaksa Complex 6.8 Pattadakal Mallikarjuna Nandi pavilion 6.9 Pattadakal Mallikarjuna Complex 6.10 Pattadakal Papanatha 6 .11 Notes, 7. ANALYSIS OP THE FEATURES OP THE PLAN 180 7.1 General Arrangement 7.2 Garbhagrhas. ^ and Pradaksinapathas-_ , 1 . 7.3 Mandapasr " ,ru #' T 1 and Porches: 7.4 Accessory Structures- 8. ANALYSIS OP THE FEATURES OP THE EXTERNAL ELEVATION 195 8.L Plinths, 8.2 Walls; 8.3 Niches; 8.4 Windows; 8.5 Porches 8.6 Parapet s= 8.7 Superstructures. 8.8 Accessory Structures; 8.9 Notes 9. ANALYSIS OP THE FEATURES OP THE INTERIOR 255 9 ..1 Garbhagrhas 9..2 Doorways 9*3 Columns 9.4 Beams and Panels. 9.5 Roof Systems 9.6 Minor Shrines 9.7 Notes. 10. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS 287 11. ILLUSTRATIONS) 293 1L.1 List of Photographs, 11-2 List of Drawings Photographs; Drawings Note: Names of the temples are those; in current use at the various sites. For the: particular difficulty in providing the Aihole temples with suitable names see 68-9 and 122 note 6. 1 L. introduction to t h e e a r l y w e s t e r n c a h j k y a n tempmes (see Drawing l) Thu archaeological remains of the Early Western Calukyas consist principally of religious monuments:, both excavated and structural, together with their sculptural and decorated portions. The monuments* are concentrated in a small area of what is now the Bijapur District of Karnataka, in particular, in the modern villages of Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal and p the nearby sites of Mahakuta, Nagaral and Siddhanakolla . These are all situated on or near the banks of the Malprabha river which flows in a north-easterly direction towards the Krishna. Hills enclose much of the area. &o as to create a valley about twenty kilometers; long and up to five kilometers wide. At either end, the valley is partly blocked off by large rocky outcrops beneath which the villages of Badami and Aihole have been built as. if to guard the approaches. No doubt the valley was once well irrigated to produce rich crops of grain, sn important source of wealth for the Early Calukyas. Until recently no remains belonging to the Early Western Calukyas. had been found beyond the confines; of this valley . The discovery of a gateway at Ittagi, Raichur district, dating from this, period^, however, has not substantially altered the impression of a; strong concentration of power and population. 2 1.1 History (The Calukyas were the most important dynasty to rule the Deccan until the foiindation of Vajayanagara. With ¥atapi as their first capital, the Oalukyas bro\ight ahout thei effective political unification of this part of India from the middle of the sixth century A.D. and held their own for well over two centuries against powerful antagonists like the Pallavas, to the south and Harsavardhana in the north. Inscriptions, form the main source of information ahout the Calukyas... These are found engraved on the stone walls of various monuments, on loos.e slahs a^d detached columns or on copper plates. They are written in Sanskrit and Kanarese, CO mostly employing the south Indian script. Despite the problems 5 m assembling the inscriptions , the main outline of Calukyan history is now regarded as well established. Outside the information yielded by inscriptions little help is to be had from literature. The only important sources for this period are the notes; of Httan Tsang on the country of Mo-ha-la-ch1 a, g its rulers and people , and a notice by the Persian historian Tabari . ho coins of this period have been positively identified 8 • The appearance of the Calukyas in peninsular India is associated , Q with Pulakesin I who is the first ruler and founder of the dynasty. As to the earlier origins of the family, various legends, are found in the inscriptions'^, but no record has yet been discovered that pre-dates> the rule of Pulakesin I, of whom there is an authentic document. This is an inscription 11 carved on a boulder above Badami which records that the hill 3 at Yatapi had been fortified above and below by Yallabhesvar a prior to Saka 465 (A.D. 543/4).. This ruler is to be identified with Pulakesin I. Ihe ahoice of the capital was probably dictated by strategic considerations but whether it had been the capital of the Kadambas, the rulers who preceded the Calukyas in this part of the Deccan, is not known. T p Kirttivarman 1 ascended to the throne in A.D*. 566/7 , and in the inscription of hia son he is called the first maker of Yatapi and the "night of death" (kalaratri) ' *" — — — - to the Nalas,# 1^ - - Mauryas and Kadambas .