Vāvāṭa-Prāsādas (Vāvaṭa and later Chalukyan or Hoysal style)

Something has already been told of these two styles in addition to the ternary of the Drāviḍa, Nāgara and Vesara. Vesara being conspicuous by its absence in the Samrāṅgaṇa-sūtradhāra as it is more an admixture than an independent evolution, is also not given any prominence by me. There are two more styles according to our text and they arc represented in the remains of the later Chalukyan or Hoy sal temples and Bihar-Bengal structures. Accordingly this section will deal with these two manifestations.

The cradle of this style as already pointed out, is the capital seats of early Chalukyans—Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal. In the course of time this later phase developed. Mysore, where the majority of the later Chalukyan temples is situated, helped very considerably to the development of this new phase. The Mysore has had a long artistic tradition, an eminent aesthetic sensibility as stimulated by strong and stable Chalukya-Hoysala rule. Nevertheless there are fundamental differences between earlier and later evolutions. Firstly a radical change is perceptible in the use of the material. It was a transition from large and unwieldy blocks of sandstone to a stone of much finer grain a greenish or bluish block chloritic schist. Accordingly the masonry was more refined.

Some scholars have classed these Chalukyan temples as representing the Vesara or mixed style; but in the opinion of Brown, evidences of northern development are almost negligible while the effect of the southern style is distinctly marked. Accordingly he divides the Ghalukyan temples into two developments. Firstly in the more typical style as evolved within the state of Mysore and secondly in those located outside this country and showing the influence of the Dravidian overlapping and interpolation.