Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture - North and South India
author: Michael W. Meister
edition: 1986, American Institute of Indian Studies
pages: 6147
language: English
Topic: History
Summary: Hindu temples result, in the early centuries A.D., from a felt need to give shelter to images that could make present for worship a divine force that otherwise remained invisible. "Seeing" the divinity - in this period increasingly presented in both aniconic and anthropomorphic form - becomes the central act of this developing form of worship, for which architects were called upon to provide a suitable environment.
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Source: exoticindiaart.com
Introduction:
Vol. I of this Encyclopaedia has covered the Dravida form of architecture as it developed in southern India. Vol. Il, which begins with these volumes, traces the evolution of that form of temple architecture known as Nagara, found principally in northern India but with extensions also into the Deccan under the Calukya and Rastrakuta dynasties.Building on earlier pan-Indian forms of urban and domestic architecture, architects of the Dravida mode of temple in South India had created, by the late sixth or early seventh century A.D., a palatial structure out of recognizable wooden forms to act as encasement for the inner sanctum in which the divine image was placed.
In North India, on the other hand, architects in the fourth to sixth centuries A.D. participated directly in the process of religious and symbolic experimentation that made visible forms of divine manifestation possible. A variety of solutions resulted, some tied directly to the ontology of manifesting divinity (as is the case with the created cave-cells at Udayagiri and the simple masonry cave-like cells that followed in Central India in the fifth century A.D.). Some solutions mixed sheltering fence-forms with that of the altar, as in later mandapika shrines. Kashmir, building partly on earlier Candharan forms, by the early seventh century A.D. had created a pragmatic pent-roof shed as shelter for divinity that survived there as a regional form for many centuries.
Some architects, however, began to play with symbolically subtle solutions to the need for an architectural shelter for divinity that led, by the sixth century A.D., to a new form of monument - the Nagara temple with its Latina sikhara - that spread widely across North India as a symbol for an emergent Hinduism. This form - potent in its architectural vocabulary - provided a symbolically vital integument for the interior sanctum; in which manifesting divinity was revealed.
This volume provides a background for the formation of temple architecture in North India, surveying the varieties of North Indian experimentation and their survivors as well as the emergent, dominant form of early Nagara structure in western, central, and eastern India and the Deccan. Further volumes will carry the evolution of this form forward and explore its expression and efflorescence in the high Hindu "medieval" period and after.
Conventions
As in volume I, the system of diacritics used in this volumes that used by Epigraphia Indian only by using c, ch, and s to suit international. As in Epigraphia Indica, corpus Inscriptionum, and most Archaeological Survey of India publications, e and o are used in order to make possible the distinction between these forms in Sanskrit and e and o in words of Dravidian origin.
Drawings made by the Institute have scales in feet or miles. Others retain those provided by their sources.
Contents of this online book (index):
The full text of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture - North and South India in English can be quickly summarized in the following table of contents. Becaue these pages are not available to read online, I would recommend you buy the book.
Chapter 1: Mauryas Sungas, Kanvas, Kusabas, Ksatrapas [link]
Chapter 2: Guptas and Their Feudatories [link]
Chapter 3: Vakatakas (Main Branch [link]
Chapter 4: Vakatakas of Vatsagulma [link]
Chapter 5: Traikutakas of Aniruddhapura [link]
Chapter 6: Mauryas of Puri [link]
Chapter 7: Kalacuris of Mahismati and Early Rastrakutas of Elapura [link]
Chapter 8: Later Guptas and Minor Dynasties [link]
Chapter 9: Maukharis and Puspabhutis of Kanyakubja [link]
Chapter 10: Minor Dynasties: Mandapika and Early Nagara Traditions [link]
Chapter 11: Aulikaras. Mauryas, and minor Chieftains [link]
Chapter 12: Pratihara Period: Mandapika Shrines [link]
Chapter 13: Kalacuris of Tripuri: Mandapika Shrines [link]
Chapter 14: Maintrakas of Valabhi and Garulakas of Western Surastra [link]
Chapter 15: Mairakas of Valabhi [link]
Chapter 16: Capotkatas of Bhillamala [link]
Chapter 17: Varmans of Kamarupa [link]
Chapter 18: Panduvamsis of Sripura and Nalas [link]
Chapter 19: Sailodbhavas [link]
Chapter 20: Calukyas of Badami: Karnata [link]
Chapter 21: Calukyas of Badami: Andhradesa [link]
Chapter 22: Rastrakutas of Elapura and Manyakhetaka [link]
Chapter 23: Karkotas and utpalas of Kasmira [link]
Chapter 24: Mauryas of Gopagiri and Kanyakubja [link]
Chapter 25: Gurjara-Pratiharas of Kanyakubja [link]
Chapter 26: Kalacuris of Tripuri [link]
Chapter 27: Gurjara-Pratiharas of Kanyakubja [link]
Chapter 28: Candellas of Kalanjara and Kharjuravahaka: Phase I [link]
Chapter 29: Hill Dynasties [link]
Chapter 30: Pratiharas of Mandavyapura [link]
Chapter 31: Pratiharas of Jabalipura and Kanyakubja Phase I [link]
Chapter 32: Surasenas of Sripatha [link]
Chapter 33: Cahamanas of Sakambhari: Phase I [link]
Chapter 34: Pratiharas of Kanyakubja and Their Feudatories: Phase II [link]
Chapter 35: Mauryas of Uparamala and Medapata [link]
Chapter 36: Gurjara-Pratiharas and Their Maurya-Feudatories in Malava [link]
Chapter 37: Saindhavas of Bhutambilika [link]
Chapter 38: Minor Dynasties of Northern Gujarat [link]
Chapter 39: Pratiharas of Jabalipura and Bhillamala [link]
Chapter 40: Capotkatas of Anahillapataka [link]
Chapter 41: Capas of Vardhamanapura: Phases I and II [link]
Chapter 42: Samas of Kaccha [link]
Chapter 43: Palas [link]
Chapter 44: Bhauma-Karas [link]
Chapter 45: Later Pratiharas of Kanauj [link]
Chapter 46: Kacchapaghatas of Gopagiri: Phase I [link]
Chapter 47: Kalacuris of Tripuri [link]
Chapter 48: Candellas of Kalanjara and Kharjuravahaka [link]
Chapter 49: Later Pratiharas of Kanauj [link]
Chapter 50: Cahamanas of Sakambhari: Phase IIa [link]
Chapter 51: Cahamanas of Naddula [link]
Chapter 52: Guhilas of Medapata: Lower Variation, Phase II [link]
Chapter 53: Dvija Dynasty of Vatakara [link]
Chapter 54: Capas of Vardhamanapura: Phase III [link]
Chapter 55: Samas of Kaccha: Phase II [link]
Chapter 56: Paramaras of Candravati [link]
Chapter 57: Capotkatas of Anahillapataka: Phase II [link]
Chapter 58: Solankis of Anahillapataka [link]
Chapter 59: Paramaras of Khetakamandala [link]
Chapter 60: Cahamanas of Sakambhari: Phase IIb [link]
Chapter 61: Uparamala, phase 2a: Local Dynasties [link]
Chapter 62: Gurjara-Pratihara Feudatories and Successors in Malava [link]
Chapter 63: Pratiharas of Rajorgadh [link]
Chapter 64: Northwest Frontier and West Panjab: Local Dynasties [link]
Chapter 65: Somavamsis: Phase I [link]
Chapter 1: Andhras, Iksvakus, and Literary Sources [link]
Chapter 2: Pallavas of Kanci: Phase I [link]
Chapter 3: Pandyas of Madurai: Phase I [link]
Chapter 4: Pallavas of Kanci: Phase II [link]
Chapter 5: Banas of Perumbanavadi [link]
Chapter 6: Pandyas of Madurai: Phase II [link]
Chapter 7: Muttaraiyars of Nemam and Sendalai [link]
Chapter 8: Colas of Tanjavur: Phase I [link]
Chapter 9: Irrukuvels of Kodumbalur [link]
Chapter 10: Paluvettaraiyars of Paluvur [link]
Chapter 11: Rastrakutas of Mankhed: Lowe Variation [link]
Chapter 12: Colas of Tanjavur: Phase II [link]
Chapter 13: Colas, and Cola-Viceroys of Madurai [link]
Chapter 14: Ceras of Mahodayapuram, Musakas of Kolam, and Ays of Vilinam [link]
Chapter 15: Colas of Tanjavur: Phase III [link]
Chapter 16: Pandyas of Madurai (Occupation Period [link]
Chapter 17: Hoysalas of Dorasamudram (Occupation Period [link]
Chapter 18: Pandyas of Madurai: Phase III [link]
Chapter 19: Ceras of Mahodayapuram and Venadu Rulers of Kollam [link]
Chapter 20: Calukyas of Badami: Phase I [link]
Chapter 21: Calukyas of Badami: Phase II [link]
Chapter 22: Alupas of Udayapura: Phase I [link]
Chapter 23: Rastrakutas of Malkhed: Upper Variation, Phase I [link]
Chapter 24: Rastrakutas of Malkhed: Upper Variation, Phase II [link]
Chapter 25: Eastern Calukyas of Vengi: Phase I [link]
Chapter 26: Eastern Calukyas of Vengi: Phase II [link]
Chapter 27: Telugu-Codas and Vaidumbas [link]
Chapter 28: Alupas of Udayapura: Phase II [link]
Chapter 29: Gangas of Talkad [link]
Chapter 30: Nolambas of Hemavati [link]
Chapter 31: Santaras of Humca [link]
Chapter 32: Hoysalas of Angadi [link]
Chapter 33: Calukyas of Kalyana: Phase I [link]
Chapter 34: Calukyas of Kalyana: Phase II [link]
Chapter 35: Later Kadambas of Banavasi, Hanagal, and Candrapura and Goa [link]
Chapter 36: Rattas of Kuhandimandala [link]
Chapter 37: Guttas of Guttavolal [link]
Chapter 38: Seunas of Seunadesa [link]
Chapter 39: Santaras of Humca: Phase II [link]
Chapter 40: Unknown dynasty of Kodanad and Kundanad [link]
Chapter 41: Hoysalas of Dorasamudra [link]
Chapter 42: Calukyas of Vemulavada [link]
Chapter 43: Calukyas of Kalyana [link]
Chapter 44: Telugu Codas of Kandurunadu [link]
Chapter 45: Kakatiyas of Varangal [link]
Chapter 46: Reddis of Recerla and Pillalamarri [link]
Chapter 47: Malyalas of Kondaparti [link]
Chapter 48: Alupas of Barahakanyapura [link]
Chapter 49: End of Hoysala and Kakatiya Domination [link]
Chapter 50: Sangamas of Vijayanagara: Phase I [link]
Chapter 51: Sangamas of Vijayanagara: Phase II [link]
Chapter 52: Saluvas and Tuluvas of Vijayanagara [link]
Chapter 53: Govdas of Yelahanka and Vodeyars of Maisuru [link]
Chapter 54: Bedas of Citradurga, Hiriyur, Kanakagiri, and Sorapur [link]
Chapter 55: Period of Vijayanagara Domination [link]
Chapter 56: Aravidus of Penukonda and Candragiri [link]
Chapter 57: Period of Vijayanagara Domination [link]
Chapter 58: Nayakas of Keladi, Ikkeri, and Bidnur [link]
Chapter 59: Samutiris of Kolikode and Kolattiris of Kannur [link]
Chapter 60: Perumbadappus of Kochi [link]
Chapter 61: Tiruvitankurs of Venad [link]