 Hello dear learners. I welcome you today to this lecture session, the topic of which is Society, Religion and Cultural Development in Early Medieval India. This lecture is meant for the BA First Semester Learners of History. We earlier began the lecture session by splitting the topic into three parts. In our previous class, we had discussed the Society and Religious Development in the Early Medieval India. Today, the lecture shall focus on the aspect of art and culture of the period taken up for the study. In the lecture today, we will be discussing the temple architecture in the Early Medieval period. Let us begin then. In the Early Medieval India, the most important activity that received royal patronage was that of temple building. The temples were symbols of grandeur to both the royalty as well as the deity for which it was built. Indeed, there was a definite correlation between the two. The construction of large temples and their regular maintenance required the mobilization of huge amount of resources, both financial and human. This could be possible only when the particular king was wealthy and powerful enough. As for the style, while being variant and rooted to the regional context, however at the same time it included features that were recognized throughout the continent. Another feature of the temple architecture of this period was that the sculptures and the architectures were often identified with a craftsman or shilpi or an association of builders and sculptures and thus it tells us of the fact that they were recognized figures and did not live a life of anonymity. One such name was that of Kokasa. This no doubt points to the respect for expertise and professionalism of the craft. There were manuals on building constructions. Shilpa Shastra were written in Sanskrit. The three types of temple architecture which we will be discussing today are the Nagara, Dravidha and the Vesara or the mixed styles. But before that, let's look into the important elements of an early medieval temple, a garbhagriha. What is a garbhagriha? It's a sanctum sanctorum, a pradakshinapatha or the circulatory path running along the garbhagriha, a mandapa or the hall or a series of mandapas and a porch. By the early medieval period, the temples in India had become grand both in its elevation and plan. Petrons and architects adding several mandapas between the garbhagriha and the porch like the nritha mandapa or the dancing hall, sabha mandapa or the meeting hall and maha mandapa the great hall and ranga mandapa or the color hall. Let us first begin with the nagara style. All the available texts agree that the nagara style was prevalent in the region between the Himalayas and the Vindyas. The characteristic feature of the nagara style of temples was of the lefty tower or spire called the shikhara. The nagara style is typically characterized by the architectural wonder which ideally portrays the craftsmanship of the artist. A study of the temples of northern India reveals two distinct features in planning and in elevation. In plan, the temples were basically quadrangle with graduated projections in the center. In elevation, it resembles a tower gradually inclining inwards in a convex curve. According to the plan, the projections are carried upwards to the top of the shikhara and thus there is strong emphasis on vertical lines in elevation. Temples built in this style were spread over large parts of northern India, particularly in central India, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Orissa. However, even with the general nagara style, there were distinctive regional characteristics. The nagara style is widely distributed over a greater part of India, exhibiting distinct varieties and ramifications in lines of evolution and elaboration according to each locality. Some of the outstanding examples of this style are the Lingaraja temple at Bhuvaneshwar, the San temple at Konark and the Kandaria Mahadeva temple built by the Chandela king at Khachuraho. Let us move to the Dravida style of temple architecture now. The Dravida style of architecture emerged in south India. Temple architecture reached its climax during the rule of the Cholas. The Dravida style was common in south India but it varied region to region. The imprint of regional architecture was a common feature in it. For example, in Kerala, the architecture takes a form that is unique to the region built in wood rather than stone. The early Chola temples were small and simple. An early example of the Dravida style of temple architecture is the 8th century temple of Kailasanatha in Kanchipuram and temple at Naptamalai built during the 9th century. And this is an example of the early Dravida style of temple architecture. Some of the important characteristics of this style are the Garbhagriha, the Bhimana, the Mandapur and the Gopuram. The Garbhagriha was the inner sanctum that housed the chief deity to whom the temple was dedicated. The number of stories varied from 5 to 7 and they had a typical style which came to be called the Bhimana. The Mandapur was a pillared hall with numerous carved pillars and a flat roof which was generally placed before the Garbhagriha. It acted as an audience hall and was a place for various other activities such as ceremonial dances which were performed by the Devadasis, the women dedicated to the service of the gods. The Gopurams were the lofty gates along the high walls that enclosed the entire temple complex. In course of time the Bhimanas rose higher and higher. The number of courtyards was increased to two or three and the Gopurams also became more and more elaborate as seen in the temples at Madurai and Srirangam. It was from the 11th century that the Cholas began building royal temples which were more spectacular and grandeur. An example of this style is the Brihadeshwara temple built by Chola King Raja Raja I at Tanjore. Dedicated to Shiva, the temple was originally surrounded by two prakara walls and has a Gopuram on the east entrance and three small torunas on the other three sides. While the outer prakara is now completely lost the Gopuram still stands on the east. An enormous stone image of Nandi stands in front of the temple. The main temple is constructed out of granite and is 180 feet in length and consists of a Mukhamandapa, Ardhamandapa, an Antarala, a Garbhagriha and a Pradakshinapat. Let us look at the stylistic differences between the Dravidha and Nagara style of temple architecture. First, a Dravidha temple is surrounded by a wall or prakara. Dravidha temples are also known for their colossal gateways or Gopurams which is not found in the Nagara style of architecture. The Shikhara of a Dravidha temple is of pyramid shaped whereas for the Nagara temple it is curvilinear in nature. Let us now move on to the Vesara style of temple architecture. The architecture of the Deccan or Vesara style was an amalgamation of the Nagara and Dravidha style of architecture. These structures were mostly built under the patronage of the Chalukyas and are to be found at Patadakal near Badami in Karnataka. There was also great improvement in the art of making sculptures in this period. An important contribution of Chola artist in this respect was a bronze image of Nataraja. These images represent Shiva in his cosmic dance and are unmatched in their rhythm and balance. A few examples of the Vesara style were the Durga temple at Aihole or the Virupaksha temple at Patadakal. The Virupaksha temple is a symmetrically planned complex with a compound secured by walls and shoved shrines with gateways on the east and the west. Within the compound stands the pavilion of Nandi. The temple consists of a linger sanctuary surrounded by a passageway which opens into a mandapa square in design with freestanding columns creating aisles. The sculptures on the outer walls speaks of the greatness of Chalukyas plastic art. Panels on the passageway walls are mostly devoted to Shiva though the icons of Bhiksathana, Bhairavi, Lakulisha holding its club and Harihara is also to be found. The central projection on the north passageway walls has a formally posed eight armed images of Vishnu. In the Deccan the anti chambers were large probably imitating the Chaitya halls of the Buddhist. This must have been due to the large gatherings of audiences. The Deccan temples preserved the earlier tradition of the Chalukya style. Gradually they became more decorative and accentuated by the use of soap stones than sandstone. The temples built by the later Chalukyas and Hoysalas also revealed the change in the ground plan and elevation. The Hoysala temple at Helibidh Belur and Somnath Pura is a fine example of it. The earlier style of rectangular ground plan was placed by a star-shaped or polygonal one and built on a raised platform. This ground style gave enough space for sculpture and bass relief. The emphasis on Gopurams and Shikharas was not much as in South India. The temple walls carried the decorations of animals and floral motifs, musicians, dancers, battle scenes, etc. As we come to the end of this lecture for a few suggested readings I would recommend our students to go through Satish Chandra's History of Medieval India and Romila Thapar's Early India from Origins to AD 1300. Other significant names of the books in this regard are I suggest that our students could read books on Indian temple architectures or they could also read about art of ancient India or they could read about the temple architectures of Karnataka and also the early history of Deccan in this regard. As for question and answers in this segment the common question would be the architectural trends of the early medieval Indian period. The other question on this topic would be the stylistic differences between the Nagara, Vesara and the Dravidah style of temple architecture. Please use bullet points while writing the answers. In the next session we will be discussing the Jati Pratha or the caste system. Before leaving let me summarize the lecture for today's sessions. We have discussed the development of temple architecture in early medieval India and the different styles that prevailed. We basically focused on the three styles the Nagara, the Vesara and the Dravidah style each unique and yet having features that were widely recognized. Dear learners that is it for today we will meet you soon in yet another interesting session. Till then take care and stay safe. Thank you.