Four temples, four styles

Until about the 8th or 9th century, temples were small. From the 10th century they grew much bigger, adding more shrines, halls and walls, until some became huge complexes.

Here are four great temples, in four different styles and four different materials.

1. Bṛihadīśhvara Temple, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu). Built by Rājarāja Chola I around 1010 CE, for Śhiva.

• Its vimāna (tower) is over 60 metres high.
• A huge Nandi (Śhiva's bull), carved from one single stone, sits in a hall facing the main shrine.
• It is full of fine granite carving.

2. Lingarāja Temple, Bhubaneswar (Odisha). From the early 11th century, also for Śhiva.

• It has three large maṇḍapas (halls), each used for a different purpose.
• It is built of sandstone and laterite, stones found nearby.

3. Dilwara Temples, Mount Abu (Rajasthan). Five Jain temples built between the 11th and 13th centuries.

• They are made of white marble from the nearby Aravalli hills.
• The carving is so fine that every surface is covered in decoration.

4. Bishnupur temples (West Bengal). From the 17th and 18th centuries.

• They are built of brick, covered with terracotta (baked clay) panels.
• The panels show Rādhā, Kṛiṣhṇa and Rāma, and also scenes of everyday life.
• Each panel was carved by hand and then fired in a kiln (a very hot oven).

So: granite, sandstone and laterite, marble, terracotta. Each temple used what its own region had, and each material allows a different kind of carving.

Work like this needed more than sculptors. It needed skilled architects, engineers and craftsmen. Recent studies show the planning used a lot of mathematics, especially advanced geometry.

And one more surprise: none of the buildings in this chapter so far used cement mortar to hold them together.