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10 · Global Traditions

Dravidian

c. 600–1750

Stepped pyramidal towers: gateway gopurams crowded with painted figures, pillared halls, and walled temple enclosures with water tanks.

Look for

Stepped platform Carved stone relief Mural painting Colonnade
Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India: an example of Dravidian architecture
Meenakshi Temple, Madurai, India. Photo: Kumar Appaiah, CC BY-SA 2.5
Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, Srirangam, India
Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam Srirangam, India · Ssriram mt, CC BY-SA 4.0
Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, Thanjavur, India
Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur Thanjavur, India · Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0
Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram, India
Ramanathaswamy Temple Rameswaram, India · Ssriram mt, CC BY-SA 4.0
Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Hampi, India
Virupaksha Temple, Hampi Hampi, India · iMahesh, CC BY-SA 4.0

what it is

Dravidian architecture is the temple style of South India, centered on Tamil Nadu. The sanctuary is covered by a vimana, a tower built as a stepped pyramid of diminishing storeys. Later temples add rectangular walled enclosures, often several nested inside one another, entered through gopurams: gateway towers, also pyramidal, covered in painted sculpture of deities. Inside the walls are mandapas (pillared halls) and usually a water tank.

The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai has 14 gopurams, the tallest being the south tower at 52 m (170 ft). The Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam has seven concentric enclosures and a 73 m Rajagopuram (main gateway tower) finished in 1987. At the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur (1003-1010) the vimana is 63.4 m high and the gopurams are smaller. Northern Indian temples of the same early centuries have curved towers called shikharas. Dravidian vimanas are shorter and pyramidal, and in later temples the gopurams rise higher than the vimana.

how to spot one

Stepped platform A base built as a series of stacked terraces, each smaller than the one below, with a temple or building on top. Mesoamerican pyramids and Mesopotamian ziggurats use this form. Carved stone relief Figures or patterns carved into stone so they project from a flat background, called low relief when shallow and high relief when deep. It appears on ancient temples and Gothic churches. Mural painting A picture or pattern painted directly on a wall or ceiling, sometimes in fresco: paint on wet plaster that becomes part of the wall. Murals appear in churches, palaces and public buildings. Colonnade A row of evenly spaced columns carrying a horizontal beam, called an entablature, or a roof. It often lines a building's front or a courtyard on Greek, Roman and Neoclassical buildings.

Also look for

CourtyardMonumental stairwayDecorative tileworkSymmetrical facade

history

Dravidian architecture developed in the Tamil country under the Pallava dynasty, whose rock-cut monuments at Mahabalipuram include the Shore Temple (700-728). Narasimhavarman II built the Kailasanatha Temple in Kanchipuram. Under the Chola emperors, Rajaraja I built the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur (1003-1010), and his son Rajendra I completed the temple at Gangaikondacholapuram around 1030. In these early temples the vimana was the dominant feature.

Gopurams became the dominant feature in later centuries. The Vijayanagara Empire (1343-1565) combined styles developed in South India in earlier centuries, and its temples include the Virupaksha Temple in Hampi. In Madurai the south gopuram of the Meenakshi Temple dates to the late 16th century, and Tirumala Nayak (r. 1623-1655) added the Vasantha mandapa. At Rameswaram, Muthuramalinga Setupati (r. 1763-1795) built the outer corridor of the Ramanathaswamy Temple. The style never ended: the Srirangam Rajagopuram was consecrated in 1987.

where to find it

Tamil Nadu's temple cities: the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, and the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, plus the Virupaksha Temple in Hampi, Karnataka.

easy to confuse with

Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, an example of Indian Classical Indian Classical Stone temples rising in tall carved towers, with surfaces packed with sculpture. Taj Mahal, an example of Mughal Mughal Bulbous marble or red sandstone domes on drums, pointed arches, small domed pavilions, and inlaid stone patterns. Angkor Wat, an example of Southeast Asian Southeast Asian Timber houses on stilts and stone temple mountains, under steep roofs with soaring horn-like gable tips.