Virupaksha Temple, Half-plan and Section
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Rowland, Benjamin
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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Dedicated to Siva in 740, built by Vikramaditya II. Of typically Dravidian type, with a series of terraced roofs above the sanctuary, dominated by the characteristic stupika of the Dravidian order. The main shrine is preceded by an assembly hall and a small porch
in front is a separate shrine for Siva's bull Nandi. The horizontality of these structures is emphasised by the use of heavy overhanging cornices, which are evidently an imitation in stone of some earlier thatched construction. The same type of entablature crowns the individual panels with reliefs of Hindu deities that are let into the walls of the temple proper and the Nandi porch. Light is admitted through pierced stone grilles in the walls of the enclosed hall. Each one of the buildings is supported on a high basement or podium ornamented with reliefs of lions and fantastic monsters. The thatch-like entablature decorated with blind chaitya arches is repeated in each of the higher levels of the superstructure of the main temple, so that one gets the impression that the whole is a component of many cell-like organisms infinitely repeated in its structure. This effect is echoed also in the repetition of the shape of the terminal stupika in smaller replicas at the corners on the successive levels of its terraced spire.
in front is a separate shrine for Siva's bull Nandi. The horizontality of these structures is emphasised by the use of heavy overhanging cornices, which are evidently an imitation in stone of some earlier thatched construction. The same type of entablature crowns the individual panels with reliefs of Hindu deities that are let into the walls of the temple proper and the Nandi porch. Light is admitted through pierced stone grilles in the walls of the enclosed hall. Each one of the buildings is supported on a high basement or podium ornamented with reliefs of lions and fantastic monsters. The thatch-like entablature decorated with blind chaitya arches is repeated in each of the higher levels of the superstructure of the main temple, so that one gets the impression that the whole is a component of many cell-like organisms infinitely repeated in its structure. This effect is echoed also in the repetition of the shape of the terminal stupika in smaller replicas at the corners on the successive levels of its terraced spire.
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Archives Series
Basham Collection
Date created
1953
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This item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
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