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Home > Reference > History of India > History of South India > Pallava
Dynasty > Architecture Under Pallava Dynasty

Architecture Under Pallava

Dynasty
Architecture under Pallava dynasty mirrors the
Dravidian style and consists of rock cut and
structural temples.

Architecture
under
Pallava
dynasty
is
significant
because
it
demonstrates
the
later

development of
the
Dravidian
style
of
architecture.
The
architecture of
the Pallavas is
classified
into
two
periods.
The
earliest
architecture of
the Pallavas are
the rock cut
temples which
dates back to
610-690A.D
under the reign
of the Mamalla
rulers and the
architecture of
the
structural
temples dates
back to 690900A.D
and
these flourished
under
the
Rajasimha
Empire.
The
temples
were
mostly
dedicated
to
Lord
Shiva.
The
rock
cut temples of
Mahabalipura
m are the most
magnificent
features
of
Pallava
architecture. It
was built under
the patronage
of
king Narasimh
avarman
I of
the
Mamalla
period and thus

it
is
also
referred to as
Mamallapuram.
The first phase
of the Pallava
architecture is
influenced
by
the
Buddhist
monasteries
and
chaitya
halls.
The
principal
architectural
monuments of
this
period
consist of some
temples
that
are
free
standing
sculptural
replicas
of
contemporary
structural
temples
or
raths
carved
from
the
granolithic
outcrops on the
shore.
These
monuments are
of the great
importance for
the
later
development of
Dravidian
architecture
because
they
reveal
the
dependence of
the later Hindu
style on preexisting types
of
Buddhist
architecture.
Especially
revealing
for
this
latter
aspect of the

style
is
the
Dharmaraja
rath which has
a
square
ground-storey
with
open
verandahs that
forms the base
of the terraced
pyramidal
sikhara above.
It
has
been
rightly
suggested that
this
typical
Dravidian form
is an adaptation
of a Buddhist
vihara, in which
successive
storeys
were
added for the
accommodation
of the monks.
The
terminal
member of the
structure is a
bulbous
sikhara, which
is repeated in
smaller
scale
on each of the
lower levels of
the
terraced
superstructure.
Perhaps
the
most distinctive
feature of this
and the other
raths
at Mahabalipu
ram lies in the
open verandahs
on the groundstorey.
The
pillars are of a
distinctive
Pallava
type

with the shafts

of the columns
supported
by
the bodies of
seated
lions.
The Sahadevas
rath, which is
classified as the
Vesara temple,
represents
a
different type of
architecture.
The building is
of a longitudinal
type
with
a
barrel roof. This
mausoleum,
terminating in
the semi-dome
of an apse and
with the chaitya
motif
at
its
opposite end, is
very clearly a
survival of the
Buddhist
chaitya-hall
that
had
persisted
in
such structural
temples as the
Gupta example
at Chezarla and
to a modified
extent
in
the Durga
temple at
Aihole.
The Bhimas
rath
has
a
simple
barrel
roof with cross
section and a
chaitya arch on
either side. It is
crowned by a
row of stupikas.

Another
distinguishing
feature of the
Pallava style of
architecture is
perceived in the
Gavaksha motif
of
chaitya
arches framing
busts of deities
that crown the
entablature.
This
architectural
feature
is
typical of the
Dravidian
style.
One
of
the
raths
of
Mahabalipuram
consists of a
one-storey
square
cell
surmounted by
an
overhanging,
curvilinear roof,
suggestive
in
its shape of the
modern Bengali
huts.
This
feature is an
imitation of a
prototype
constructed of
bamboo
and
thatch.
The
resemblance to
the
sikhara
suggests
that
this
most
characteristicall
y
Dravidian
element
may
also have had
its origin in the

form
of
a
bamboo
hut.
The
plastic
embellishment
of the raths
consists
of
images
of
Hindu
deities
set in position
on the exterior
of the shrine,
and
also
of
panels
exemplifying
legends
of
Hindu
mythology
ornamenting
the interior of
the sanctuaries.
The
figures
appear to be a
development
from the style
of the Later
Andhra Period.
The
architecture
retains
the
extremely
refined
attenuation of
the forms at
Amaravati, and
is animated by
the
same
feeling
for
movement and
emotionally
communicative
poses
and
gesticulation. A
new standard of
proportion
is
prominent
in
the
heartshaped
faces
with
high

cheekbones
and the almost
tubular
overstatement
of the thinness
of the arms and
legs.
In
the
reliefs
decorating the
raths the forms
are
not
so
completely
disengaged
from
the
background as
in the Andhra
Period,
but
seem
to
be
emerging from
the medium of
the
stone.
The
greatest
architectural
achievement of
the
Pallava
artisans is the
carving of an
enormous
granite boulder
on the seashore
with
a
representation
of the Descent
of the Ganges
from
the
Himalayas. The
scores
of
figures of men
and
animals,
including those
of the family of
elephants, are
represented in
life size. The
subject of the
relief is that of
all
creatures

great
and
small, the Gods
in the skies, the
holy men on
the banks of
the life giving
flood, the nagas
in its waves,
and
the
members of the
animal
kingdom,
one
and all giving
thanks to Lord
Shiva for
his
astounding gift
to the Indian
world.
The
fissure in the
centre of the
giant
boulder
was at one time
an
actual
channel
for
water,
simulating the
Descent of the
Ganges from a
basin at the top
of a rock. In the
relief
at
Mahabalipuram
the shapes of
the
Gods
moving
like
clouds
across
the top of the
work
of
art,
have
the
graceful,
disembodied
sophistication
of the art of
Amaravati. This
gigantic,
densely
populated
composition

flows
unrestrained
over the entire
available
surface of the
boulder
from
which
it
is
carved.
The hallmark of
Pallava
architecture is
also witnessed
in
the
freestanding group
of a monkey
family in front
of
the
tank
below the great
relief
of
the
Descent of the
Ganges.
The
understanding
of the essential
nature of the
animals and the
plastic
realisation
of
their necessary
form
could
barely
be
improved upon.
This piece of
architecture is
the
very
personification
of the principle
mentioned
in
relation to the
Indian canons
of painting. The
shapes,
although
only
partially
adumbrated,
connote
the
finished
form
and
proclaim

the nature of
the
glyptic
material
from
which they are
hewn. In the
panel of a cave
in
Mahabalipuram
there is a relief
which
illustrates
Durga fighting
the
demon
buffalo,
Mahisha.
This
episode
is
adapted
from
the
Puranic
legends.
Goddess Durga
is seated on a
lion
in
this
marvelous
example of the
Pallava style at
its finest. She is
eight-armed,
and holds the
weapons such
as the bow,
discus,
and
trident lent her
by Lord Shiva
and Lord
Vishnu for the
epic
struggle.
Her ornaments
include a lofty
head-dress,
necklaces,
jeweled
belt;
and her arms
are
covered
with bracelets.
This figure, like
all
Pallava
architecture,
belongs to the

earliest and at
the same time
classic phase of
Dravidian
art.
The
whole
conception
is
invested with a
peculiarly
dynamic quality
that is always
characteristic of
Dravidian Hindu
art.
After the death
of the Pallava
monarch
Narasimha
in
674 A.D. there
was an end to
the
construction of
raths and other
sculptural work
of
Mahabalipuram.
His
successorRajas
imha was
dedicated
in
the creation of
structural
buildings. The
Pallava
architecture
experiences the
transition from
rock-cut
architecture to
stone temples.
The
Shore
temple is an
example of the
later period of
Pallava
architecture.
The
figural
canon
in

the Shore
Temple
of
Mahabalipura
m varies to a
certain extent
from the earlier
architecture.
The figure of
the triumphant
goddess of the
Shore
temple
has a militant
vigor conveyed
by the moving
pretense
and
the deployment
of the arms in a
kind of aureole.
This
is
combined with
a proposition of
absolute
serenity
and
feminine
softness, as is
entirely
appropriate to
the notion of
the divinity. The
temple
was
planned in such
a way that the
door
of
the
sanctuary
opened to the
east, in order to
catch the first
rays
of
the
rising sun. This
in itself resulted
in
a
rather
unusual
arrangement,
since it required
the placing of
the
mandapa
and the temple
court at the

rear or west
end of the main
sanctuary. The
terraced spires
crowning both
shrine
and
porch
very
visibly
reveal
an
expansion
from the form
of
the
Dharmaraja
rath.
In
the
Shore Temple,
however,
the
dependence on
the vihara type
is less marked,
owing to the
prominence on
the height and
slender-ness of
the tower, like
an attenuated
version of the
Dharmaraja
rath. Actually,
the
characteristic
Dravidian form
of a terraced
architecture
with the shape
of the terminal
stupika echoed
in
lesser
replicas on the
successive
terraces
still
prevails,
but
these
recessions are
so ordered as to
emphasise the
verticality
of
the structure as
a whole. Such
distinguishing

elements of the
Pallava style as
the
pilasters
with
the
extensive lions
continue in the
decoration
of
the portico of
this structural
monument.
The Kailasnatha
temple
at Kanchipura
m is
yet
another
architectural
evidence of the
Pallava dynasty.
It dates back to
700 A.D. The
architecture of
the
building
consists of a
sanctuary,
a
connecting
pillared hall and
a
rectangular
courtyard
surrounding the
entire complex.
The pyramidal
tower of the
main shrine is
again
very
obviously
a
development
out
of
the
Dharmaraja
rath.
The
storeys
are
manifested by
heavy cornices
and
stupikas
echoing
the
form
of
the
cupola.
There
are a group of

supplementary
shrines around
the base of the
central
spire
that
rhythmically
reiterate
the
form
of
the
terminal
stupika.
This
shape
is
repeated once
more in the row
of
cupolas
crowning
the
ramparts of the
patio.
The
gateways of the
enclosure,
surmounted by
hull-shaped
members of the
vesara
type
repeating
the
form of Bhima's
rath
at
Mamallapuram,
suggest
the
form
of
the
temple towers
of
the
last
phase of Hindu
architecture at
Madura. As in
the
Shore
Temple, pillars
rising
from
rampant
leonine
forms
are
employed
throughout.
The
architecture of
the
Pallava
dynasty
was
noteworthy
because of it

followed
the
idiom
of Dravidian
art
and
sculpture. The
magnificent
architecture of
Mahabalipuram
and

Kanchipuram
establish
the
foundation
of
the
classical
Dravidian
architecture.
(Last Updated
on
:
18/09/2014)
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