chalukyas and the art of aihole

The Chalukyas
The Chalukyas of Badami and Kalyan

In the cultural history of  South India, the emergence of the Chalukyas of Badami andChalukyas of Kalyan is an important event, particularly in the field of art and architecture. They caused the excavations of rock cut temples and construction of structural temples. Having made use of the locally available red sand stone, they experimented to blend the characteristic features of the contemporary Indian architectural styles--Rekhanaga and Dravida.

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The Chalukyan Art of Aihole

Aihole(aye-ho-le) (a.k.a Ihole) was founded by the first Chalukyan king in 450 A.D. on the ruins of the Gupta empire.  This dynasty  controlled the whole of northern Deccan. The Chalukyas were supporters of Brahmanical Hinduism with its life and exuberant vitality. This resulted  in their prolific building activities which evolved their special style of architecture.

Temple of Aihole, 7th Century A.D.
This horse-shoe shaped temple was built duirng the reign of Vikramaditya II. Its gopuram is in the Rekhanagar style of the north. In the corridor of the temple are beautifully carved idols of Vishnu, Shiva, the Matsyayantra and Nagadevatas.

The town has more than 70 temples dedicated to the various deities of the Hindu Pantheon. This was the cradle of architecture of the Dravidian era and north-eastern India. The modest curvilinear towers of Aihole are the prototypes of the massive Gopurams of Madhurai and the Shikharas of Orissa. One can follow the development of these small temples into the imposing structures of later centuries. In these unpretentious shrines, modeled on Buddhist places of worship, one can see the beginning of all the main features of a Hindu temple.