ROCK CUT Temple ARCHITECTURE OF AIHOLE Introduction The early rock cut caves of India excavated in to the hills

s and valleys of western ghats, are all Buddhist monasteries. each sites consists of one or more chaityas- chapels for congregational worship and several viharas which were residential halls for the monks. Rock cut architecture developed in the India during the period of Maurya in Bihar( 250 BC).Number of Buddhist complexes were excavated in this period onward(2nd C.BC). The early Indian Brahmanical cave architecture in the Deccan is one of the most familiar and yet most complicated face in Indian art. Unlike the deep south, where the cave art under the Pallavas starts from rather rudimentary designing of plan, elevation and pillar forms, the Deccani cave techniques have already been in vogue in Deccan itself as well as in the central Indian belt for nearly five centuries, at the time of the advent of Brahmanical excavations under the Chalukyas of Badami. This brought in an amount of evolved concepts in surface ornamentation, but in so far as the cave shrines themselves were concerned, they did introduce new concepts in interior lay-out and indeed even of faade design , which seem to make them a thing apart from the essentially Buddhist cave shrines which had prevailed till then. In fact, the centuries immediately preceding and succeeding the Christian era saw a dominant and almost deep-rooted patronage of the Buddhistic faith by royalty as well as the rich laity, and the resurgence of Brahmanic faith on a national level took place with the Guptas in the north and the early Chalukyas and pallavas in the south. Aihole is a temple complex in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It is a very popular tourist spot in north Karnataka. It lies to the east of Pattadakal, along the Malaprabha River, while Badami is to the west of both. Aihole was the first capital of the Chalukyas, before Pulakesi I shifted the capital to Vatapi (Badami). Aihole is home to some of the most beautiful and varied types of Hindu Architecture. This was the beginning of the era of great temple building in South India. In Aihole, the artists seem to have experimented with different styles of temple building. There are more than a hundred temples scattered about the town, representing various styles and different eras. The earliest works were rock cut shrines. The artisans slowly evolved a Chalukyan style, blending ideas from all the neighboring regions. The first phase of the temple was built in 6th century CE and the second phase went on upto 12 th century CE . Over 125 temples in various styles were built in Aihole. RAVULAPHADI (RAVANAPHADI) CAVE TEMPLE

The faade of these cave carries the adhishthana

mouldings projecting a little more at the ends corresponding to the sopana projection and chandrasila in the centre. The adhisthana shows jagati, kantha, kumbha and pattika over which the face of the prepared wall shows sanka and padma nidhis facing west in the direction. A door sill at the faade entrance is supporting two pillars and two pilasters of plain square section and incomplete character. Inside the cave, the shrines are

separated into three

section, one to the east and remaining two to the north and the south in the form of subsidiary shrine. All the shrine have dissimilar adhishthana mouldings of which, the main shrine has a padma in place of jagati a circular kumuda, a kantha, kapotha and pattika over with the prati rises supporting the pillars with a sopana with vyala-mukha and elephant trunk balustrade and a padma sila in the place of chandrasila. Its pillars, which like those of the faade are two free standing, and the two pilasters have square lower section incomplete and square slightly projecting mandi, schematically rendered square sectioned kalasa,tadi and kumbha, square virakantha and a splayed potika, over which is the uttira. In the case of the northern shrine the adhisthana mouldings are upana, adhopadma like jagati, kampa,round kumuda pattika over which a fairly high prati rises supporting two pillars and two pilasters, the pilasters being plain in the shaft and with only an expanding stepped corbel, while the central free standing pillars have a square lower saduram, sixteen sided fluted shaft, a square mandi with flora festoons and decorative bands and an urdavapadma top, a fluted kalasa a narrow tadi, and square sectioned kumbha, a square virakantha and expanding stepped corbel over which the uttira rests, showing also a vajana, above in the place of a valabhi and a fairly extended and shallow curved kapota with the side of the edge chamfered. It has a sopana similar to that of the main shrine. the southern shrine which on the rare part is an incomplete rock excavation,has an adhishthana of jagati, kanta, pattika and prati, of which the kantha is decorated with frolicsome ganas in different acrobatic postures and co-ordinated groups. Inside the temple highly decorative, embellishment

Northern sub shrine Sapttamatri plan and details of siva ganesha and kartikeya

vidyadara couple Harihara sculpture

Ceiling The ceiling of this front ankana carries three medallions, the central one being a lotus design, while the southern one shows garudarudha Vishnu with two attendents and the northern medallion shows indra riding on elephant with vajra in his hands and with four attendants.

LARGE JAINA KAVE TO THE BACK OF THE MEGUTI HILL The cave is a complete composition in itself providing for the shrine cell, a vestibule, on whose flanks are found two sides shrines which were to become in the structural proto types of the later times, a trikutashala formula, which has been adopted in the cave shrines at Ellora and here at Ravulaphadi and elsewhere, accompanied in the front by an agramandapa transversely laid across the maximum extent width of the cave as the inner hall and carrying two sculptural compositions of the side walls at either end. The cave is notable for the fact that the emphasis has been laid here upon ornamentation than upon the dimension of the architectural members. Infact the general effect has been essentially concentrated upon its front appearance in each of the section of the shrine along its orientation. The front mandapa has the plain faced pillars incompletely rendered with their simple curved corbels and uttira resting above. There are four free standing pillars and two pilasters. These rest upon a basal moulding which serves to prevent water from coming in this faade and had been closed subsequently by erecting slabs in the openings and providing a door in the central nave for the safety of the monument. The interior of this front mandapa is characterized by the exuberance of ornamentation of its ceiling. The inner walls are severally plain on the side section but have been provided with the pillared entrance in to the vestibule by frame work cut into this at the centre consisting of plain over doors in two major insets within while the actual pillared front is kept well recessed comprising two free standing pillars set about three feet above and pilasters hardly 0.5 from the pillars at either end. The ceiling of this mandapa is picked out with elaborate care, having been divided into five major zones. Surrounded by a patralata framework, itself bordered by a ratnashakha like band inside. This end zone shows lotus medallions with separate blossoms of the square frame work at the corners, while the two next adjoining zones carry a swastika-bandha with square lotus medallion like nail heads at regular intervals among the swastika. The interior vestibule or sabhamandapa is again having a most prominent ceiling decoration comprising a central lotus medallion very boldly relieved and drooping up to 15cms from the main surface wall, set in a square frame work surrounded by a very broad band on all the four sides characterized by weakly relieved lotus medallion at the diagonal corners and divided on a cardinal direction into four triangular parts by two diagonal partitions decorated with floral motif as well as pare of fish pare of makaras pare of human figures with makara tail ..etc.

JAIN CAVE (SMALL) ON THE MEGUTI HILL FACE, FACING THE VILLAGE, IHOLE This small cave is in the form of a shrine chamber within which the rock-cut hood naga which would have been an accompaniment to a parsvanatha carving is extant

STOREYED JAIN CAVE This cave is divided into three part, the innermost part divided into three cells, the central cell being the largest immediately adjoining a transversely laid ardhamandapa and a further front part comprising a mahamandapa, with the faade of four standing pillars and two pilasters. The main shrine cells and the ardhamandapa have an actually rock hewn roof and sides which later, however, have been secured by stone slabs to prevent water percolation. this devise had also been adopted over the walls of the shrine cells themselves. The shrine cells are mostly empty excepting for non descript steel figure of Jain persuasion apparently brought from somewhere at a later period and laid on a plain low pedestal which is cut in the rock and was originally perhaps carrying a different figure. The ardhamandapa on the other hand show considerable decorative features on the main door frame of the central cell, the structural door frame having been divided into a five shaka frame work of which the lowest part, where preserved, shows Ganga Yamuna, naga figures and mithunas on the three main projecting parts and within the inner most ratnashaka, the recess shows at the lowest level of the shaka standing figure one of either side, apparently attendants of Vardhamana, further surmounted by floral descriptions. The next projection shows pillar schemes in the form of the pilaster complete with a pitha, itself comprising an upana, jagati, a squared-sectioned lower saduram ending with a patti carrying floral decoration followed by a high pillar shaft ending with a malasthana showing looped festoons and urdhavapadma courses succeeded by a band showing a series of three lotus medallions a kalasa, square-sectioned, narrowing towards the neck and below the expanding high tadi, a kumbha, a square vira-kantha in the narrow recess and a padma surmounted by a phalaka which, however, is damaged, the recessed patrashaka coming next shows a series of plans, one above the other each provided which an adhishthana and showing human figures in group composition pairs or in singles, apparently associated with Vardamana. The two end shakas, namely, the naga shaka and the pushpa shaka are

also very carefully picked out. The lintel shows only a ratna shaka the rest of the upper surface being recessed and plain. The front mandapa is much more interesting in that it not only repeat elaborate shakas and the uttaranga and has a lotus medallion on the central bay on the ceiling but also carries well carved lintels on each of the pillar-pilaster units of its five bay composition. Both the pilasters fixed to the inner wall of this mandapa as also the pillars and pilasters of the faade roof have only side ward projecting corbel arms. It is, however, to been that the inner pilasters back to back with the wall show a Taranga corbel of the volute type boldly executed with half the median band shown along the inner ends whereas the faade pillars are of the plain oblong type mildly curved at the angles and rolled out at the upper ends. The shaft part, however, in both the cases , is plain square-sectioned with only a bold mandi part half way up, slightly projecting beyond the main shaft, but without any workmanship. The door frame of the cella has this different that the recessed sakhas show ganas and makara besides floral workmanship. The outer most projecting sakha dose not show the typical adhishthana moulding dividing each of the panel and the carvings themselves are less bold than the corresponding inner ones. The middle projecting sakha indicating the pillar unit is if the fluted order showing over the pitha, an octagonal lower part, a bandha showing looped decorations immediately above it a multi fluted high shaft followed at the upper end by mandi comprising a malasthana, padmabhandha and octagonal body carrying adhopadma and urdhavapadma petal below and above. prastara and sikhar. This is succeeded by an octagonal upper end of the shaft standing for the kalsa, a circular sectioned expanding tadi, a circular kumbha, square padma and palaka, over which a uttira projection rests. The uttaranga shows a set of five projecting relief forms of sala and kuta sikharas with the intervening panjaras of the nasika type. Each of them is provided with an adhisthana a pada and uttira, a CONCLUTION All the Chalukyan cave temples in Aihole are well developed and well organized as well as highly decorative and ornate temples. Especially architectural features like plan, column, and each and every features and also art and sculptures are amazing. References 1. K. V. Soundara Rajan, - Cave Temples of the Deccan 2. Encyclopedia of Indian Temple Architecture, Oxford University press Delhi.