Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

ART

The Later or Eastern Chalukyas (10th-12th C A.D.) The later Chalukyas of Kalyan established their sovereignty in the Deccan when Tailappa, a member of the collateral line of the Western Chalukyas, dethroned the Rashtrakuta king Karkk II in 973 A.D. The temples of this period include the Kalleshvara at Bagali, the Venugopalswami at Magola, the Kotteshvara at Hira- hadagalli, the Mallikarjuna at Kuruvatti and many others in Karna- taka.

South India. The Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram was built by Nara- simha II. The Pallavas also built the rock-cut and free-standing temples at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) and the famous sculpture known as the Descent of the Ganga or Arj una's Penance.

The Cholas (9th-12th C A.D.)

The art of the Cholas, whose ter- ritory extended over southern India below the Tungabhadra river, evolved from Pallava art. The dancing Shiva

was the favourite deity of the Chola kings. Their art became more i complex and culminated in the Shaivite temples at Tanjavur (Tan- jore) and Gangaikondacholapuram. The dance hall of the temple at Chidambaram was covered with gold by the Chola king Parantaka I at the beginning of the 10th C. The gopurams belong to the late Chola, late Pandya, Vijayanagar and even later periods.

Pandyas (12th-14th C A.D.) The Pandyas gained suprem- acy in the south after the Cholas, The most important rock-cut monument of this period is the Shiva temple at Kalugumalai, known as Vattuvankoil, the; 'sculptor's temple'. It has sculp- tures of Dakshinamurthi, a seated Vishnu, a seated Shiva in his Vishapaharana pose, Nara- simha and Brahma. The Pandyas built impressive gopurams, temple gateways at Madurai, Srirangam and Chidambaram.

Hoysalas (11 th-12th C A.D.) The Hoysalas who came to power in Mysore after defeating the Chalukyas, derive their name from the utterance of a sage who commanded the founder of the Sala family to slay a tiger — "Strike, Sala". A prince fighting a tiger is a motif that occurs frequently in the Hoysala temples. The Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebid and Somnathpur are superb specimens of Hoysala architecture. Vijayanagar (14th-16th C A.D.) The Vijayanagar empire was founded in southern India in 1335 by Harihara, Kampa and Bukka, the sons of Sangama. The capital was Hampi. The Vijayanagar rulers favoured Vaishnavism and therefore most of the sculptures of the period represent Vishnu's ayatars, Krishna's pranks- and scenes from the epics. The greatest Vijayanagar monarch was Krishnadevaraya who was a scholar and patron of the fine arts. The Vitthala temple at Hampi is one of the greatest achievements of Vijayanagar architecture. After the battle of Talikota (1565), the Vijayanagar empire weakened. The Nayak kings of Madurai,

Pratiharas (8th-11th C A.D.) The Gurjara-Prathihara empire extended from Gujarat to the borders of Bihar and included Rajasthan, Malwa and Uttar Pradesh. The remains of their temples can be seen at Osian, near Jodhpur. Chandellas (10th-13th C A.D.) The Chandellas who ruled over Central India from their capital at Khajuraho, after the break-up of the Pratihara empire, built the temple complex at Khajuraho from which 20 temples still survive. The finest and biggest temple in the group is the Kandariya Ma- hadeva. All the temples have elaborate sculptural decoration. Solankis (11th-13th C A;D.) The Solankis or Chalukyas ruled over Gujarat and Western Rajasthan, including Mount Abu and Chitor. The sculptures of the Surya temple at Modhera and the Dhilwara group of Jain temples on Mount Abu are superb specimens of the art of this period. Jayasimha Siddharaja, the greatest, monarch of this dynasty, was a Shaivite but patronised Jain institutions. Hemachandra, the famous Jain sage, was held in great respect by Jayasimha and his successor, Kumarapala, who rebuilt the temple of Somanatha, which was destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni.

Tanjore and Vellore who were once loyal to the emperor declared their independence. Tirumala Nayak of Madurai, Raghunatha Nayak of Tanjavur and Chinna- bomma of Vellore were famous patrons of art and literature. The Nayak period at Madu- rai produced the thou- sand-pillared man- dapam of the Meenakshi temple complex.