SURVEY OF “TEMPLE MOUNTAINS”
WESTERN (LATER, KALYANI) CHALUKYA (973-1189)*
YUCATAN MAYA
THE PROJECT
Templemountains.org is conceived as an open-end, work-in-progress which is gradually surrounding its core of forty Khmer monuments with a widening survey of “temple mountains” from a broad range of cultural and religious traditions. Each site or group of sites in this architectural anthology will be illustrated by a selection of photos annotated by analysis, historical background and the occasional thematic excursus similar to those in the catalog of Angkorian temples.
HOW TO USE THE SURVEY
Sites already available are listed below in CAPITALS followed by their monument or monuments in Mixed Case. To view them: 1) click on the SITE NAME to link to the corresponding Google album; 2) click on that album's title slide (the first image at the upper left) for a full-screen view; 3) click on the arrow (on the right of each image) to advance to the next numbered slide in that album; 4) click on the information icon (an "i" in a circle on the upper right of each slide) to open or close the comment panel describing that image; 5) click on the X (in the tab at the top of each photo) to return to the present page at any time.
CURRENT ACTIVITIES
Three collections are currently under construction: 1) the Hindu temple architecture of Karnataka from 500 - 1300, 2) a necessarily arbitrary smattering of the more than 3000 Buddhist pagodas at Bagan and 3) an overview of the final efflorescence of the Mesoamerican pyramid in the Puuc and Terminal Classical urban complexes of the Yucatan. The first completed albums, devoted to Early Chalukya temples, are listed below.*
EARLY CHALUKYA (543-754)*
BADAMI Cave 3, Upper Shivalaya, Eastern Bhutanatha, Northern Bhutanatha, Mallikarjuna, Yellama
AIHOLE Ravanaphadi Cave, Gauder Gudi, Lad Khan, Durga, Suryanarayana, Chakri Gudi, Badiger Gudi,
Ambiger Gudi Group, Hucchappayya Gudi,Hucchappayya Matha,Kunti Gudi, Mallikarjuna Group, Meguti
MAHAKUTA Vishnu Pushkarini, Sangameshwara, Mallikarjuna (Mahakuteshwara), Kadamba Shrines
PATTADAKAL Kadasiddheshwara, Jambulinga, Galaganatha, the Gavaksha, Kashivishwanatha, Sangameshwara, Virupaksha,
Kallesvara (Bagali,) Navalinga, Kallesvara (Kuknoor)
Muskin Bavi, Manikesvara, Brahma Jinalaya, Nannesvara, Kasivisvesvara
Platform of the Knives, Nohoch-Na, Main Plaza, South Temple, Ball Court, Temple of the Masks, Little Acropolis, Great Acropolis, Southwest Temple, Temple of the Moon, Northwest Temple, North Temple, Building with Five Stories
El Castillo (Temple of K'uk'ulkan,) Lower Temple of the Jaguar, Ball Park, North Temple, Tzompantli, Sacred Cenote, Temple of the Tables, Temple of the Warriors, Court of the Thousand Columns, El Ossario (Hight Priest's Grave,) Venus Platform, Chichamchob (Casa Colorado,) Las Monjas (The Nunnery,) La Iglesia, El Caracol
Temple of the Seven Dolls, Sacbe 1, Structures 36 and 44, Pergola of the Monoliths, Museum, Temple of the Warriors (Mayapan,) Temple of K'uk'ulkan, El Redondo, Gallery of the Solar Disks, Hall of the Chac Masks, Temple of the Crematorium, Temple of the Painted Niches
*The photos and commentary in these albums were selected specifically to introduce a broader public to Prof. Adam Hardy’s definitive account of the development of one of India’s most inventive and prolific “temple mountain” traditions, which he has dubbed the Karnata Dravida. It must be emphasized, however, that Prof. Hardy has had no role in this unauthorized, garbled gloss, illustrated by snapshots from a fevered 11-day marathon in his footsteps to 70 Karnataka sites, with commentary scavenged from scraps of his works on Google books. Their incoherence can perhaps be excused if it encourages readers to seek out the clarity of Prof. Hardy’s own texts; whose methodology, interpretations and generous architectural illustrations exemplify the same dynamic of emergent form as the buildings they so eloquently describe.
The two books by Prof. Hardy most useful to beginning students of Indian architecture (below) are unfortunately available for purchase only in used copies fetching more than $200 each. Many university libraries have these volumes though often sequestered in reserve collections because of their intensive use.
The Temple Architecture of India (Chichester: Wiley, 2007)
Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation: the Karnata Dravida Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries, (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1995)
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