Pattadakal And Aihole

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Today was a good example of an Indian breakfast, dosa which is like a pancake, coconut chutney, a potato dish and a dish with a kind of grain that is in texture more mushy than rice. I prefer Indian breakfast to Chinese breakfast.

On the way to Pattadakal there were many birds in the fields and on the overhead wires. The nests of weaver birds werehanging in the trees.

Pattadakal is a cluster of temples where the Chalukyan kings were crowned. Some of the temples were built in association with military victories. In date these temples come after the Badami caves. Pattadakal was a commercial centre and a meeting place for architects and sculptors from north and south India. The temples display different architectural styles. We are familiar with the Dravidian style which has tiers, but not with the north Indian style where the vimana is more rounded. This slightly rounded style allows rainwater to drain more easily. Some of the temples have been restored to some extent and some are unfinished. The sketches for the carving can be seen. At the far end of the complex are two temples devoted to two sisters who were both married to the king. The larger of the two is for the eldest sister. It is a living temple and has an undamaged and attractive Nandi in its own shrine. There was also a notable carving inside the temple of Parvarti killing a demon. The temples also included everyday life scenes, for example a lady receiving ayurevedic treatment.

We drove further on to visit Aihole. This has temples which are the earliest in date, prior to the Badami caves. Aihole has more than one hundred temples. Many of these temples were lived in until relatively recently. There are depressions in the floor of the temples where grain was ground and games are marked out. We visited one group of temples with our guide. This included an unusual apsidal shaped temple. The shape of this temple was not copied in later temple architecture, but many of the architectural features of these temples were copied and developed. Aihole is therefore known as a school of architecture. The very earliest temples did not have windows for ventilation, but the slightly later ones did. This development can be seen in therdifferent temples. I recognised the vertical pattern surrounding the door which was later copied in the Virupasha temple in Hampi. The first Harihari is also here. A Harihari is half Shiva, half Vishnu.

After our guide returned home walked in the village where the temples and houses are close together. The oxen sit happily just next to temples and the schoolchildren make their common requests, school pen, sweets, money.

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Comments

[Diana Gower]

Aihole
One hundred temples on one site!! Must be an amazing sight.