How many types of temples are found in South India during 7th Century?

From about the end of the seventh century i.e., from the days of Narasimhavarman II structural temples came to be constructed.

They are usually grouped under two heads, the pre-Rajasimha group (c. 600-700) and the Rajasimha group (c. 700-800). Among the temples in the former group there are three at Mahabalipuram, two at Kanchipuram and one at Panamalai.

The first of these is the Jalasayanesvara temple usually called the shore temple at Mahabalipuram. This cynosure of the mariners has evolved a beautiful and rhythmic vimana.

The temple is characterised by its pillars with rampant lions, the prismatic Linga in the sanctum facing the sea and the surrounding wall which is surmounted by couchant bulls. Pallava art reached its maturity in the temples of Kailasanatha and Vaikunthaperumal both at Kanchipuram.

The main building of the Kailasanatha temple has again a pyramidal sikhara which became the distinctive feature of the Dravidian architecture. It is also noted for its beauty of decoration and numerous puranic sculptures.

The Vaikunthaperumal temple which is the most integrated temple of the period “displays an economy in the disposal of its parts together with a skilful marshalling of the main elements so as to produce a unity of conception, which has resulted in a building having considerable architectural merit”. The pillars in this temple show seated lions at their base and palagai or cushion capital at their tops.

Towered temples

The later Pallava period was not marked by the construction of really attractive temples. But during that period temple architecture developed in the Chola country and a number of structural temples were constructed. They are dominated by the vimana rising over the garbhagriha or sanctum. All these are small.

But they are very complete in their formation and display a freshness and spirit in marked contrast to the last productions of the declining style of the Pallavas. So much so they appear to herald either a new movement or denote some stimulation received from another source. All the temples in the group show by their treatment a close affinity to those of the more distant Chalukyas than to any survival of their predecessors, the Pallavas.

Most of the temples of this period are found in the present Tanjore and Tiruchirapalli districts though some are found in the Chingleput and Urunelveli districts also. The construction of subshrines in the main temple became a characteristic feature of this period. The capital and the abacus undergo some change.

The period of the imperial Cholas was easily the golden age of temple construction in the Tamil country and South Indian art reached its highest watermark then. The number of temples constructed during this period was large and they are found in different places in South India.

The two great temples respectively at Tanjore and Gangaikondacholapuram (the latter a dilapidated village in the Tiruchirapalli district) “are the most developed and representative of the Dravidian style of architecture”; and compared to the smaller temples of the same period, they “are as cathedrals to a village church”.

The great temple of Brihadisvara at Tanjore was begun by Rajaraja I in 1003 and completed about 1010. The temple covers an area of 500 feet by 250 feet. The vimana which dominates the temple rises over the garbhagriha to a height of 190 feet. It consists of three parts.

A vertical base covering an area of 82 feet square rises perpendicularly to a height of 50 feet is surmounted by a pyramidal body in thirteen diminishing tiers and is crowned by a huge monolithic bulbous dome composed of a single block of stone.

Over the dome is placed a puraghata or Kalasa of stone. “This great temple of Tanjore is really the finest single creation of the Dravidian craftman; the Tanjore vimana is also a touchstone of Indian architecture as a whole.”

The temple at Gangaikondacholapuram which is called the feminine counterpart of the Tanjore temple was constructed by Rajendra, the son of Rajaraja within twenty years after the construction of the latter, and contains many of its characteristic features.

It forms a rectangle 340 feet long and 100 feet wide. Inside the temple are a big mantapa measuring 175 feet by 95 feet and a garbhagriha with a square plan of 100 feet side. The tall vimana over the sanctum rises to a height of 160 feet and contains rich curves instead of the straight lines which mark the facade of the Tanjore tower.

“Each is the final and absolute vision of its creator made manifest through the medium of structural form, the one symbolising conscious might, the other sub-conscious grace, but both dictated by that “divinity which has seized the soul”.