Discuss the contribution of the Pallavas in the field of art and architecture.
The history of architecture and sculpture in South India
begins with the Pallava temples which introduce a new technique called the Dravidian
style. In addition to the temples in Kanchi and other places, ‘some of the
rock-cut temples known as the seven pagodas or rathas of Mamallapurama are built
in this style which may justly be called the Pallava style of art’. In fact,
Pallava contribution to Indian culture is unique. Undoubtedly their edifices
are among the noblest monuments in South India. From an early date they created
an architecture of their own which was to be the basis of all the styles of the
South. The cave and structural temples and other architectural remains of the
Pallavas form an important chapter in Hindu art. The Pallava architecture has
two phases:
1. Rockcut architecture from 610-690; it includes mandapas
or rathas (monolithic temples)
2. Structural from 690-900; it includes temples.
A mandapa is an open pavilion, a hall with cells in the
back wall. It is excavated in a rock. A ratha is a monolithic shrine. Many of
the architectural productions of the Pallavas have a figure of a lion on the
prominent place. This heraldic beast was made to serve as a symbol of the
Pallava Simhavishnu or lion (simha) ancestry.
The twon of Mahavallipuram or Mamallapuram, 32 miles south
of Madras, founded by the great Pallava King Narasimhavarman (625-645) on the
sea-beach, has many cave-temples or mandapas decorated with fine reliefs. The mandapas
are 10 in number and are found on the hill. They are remarkable not for their size
but for the exceptional character of their design and execution. The pillars,
the façade and the sculpture combined with the architecture are the salient
features of these mandapas. The pillar is made to rest on the sedent animal’s
head and it has fluted and banded shaft, refined necking, the elegant curves,
and lotus form with wide abacus. The relief work and architectural features are
designed and executed in admirable way.
The monolithic temples called rathas, known as, ‘seven
pagodas’ are another type of remarkable rock cut architecture at Mamallapuram. They
are named after the five Pandava brothers and Draupadi, each carved out from a
single massive granite stone upon the seashore. They are complete with all the details
of an ordinary temple and stand today as undying testimony to the super quality
of Pallava art. These rathas are of no great size, the largest measuring only
42 feet long, the widest 35 feet and the tallest 40 feet high. They number
eight in all with the exception of Draupadi’s ratha which is the smallest,
simplest and most finished, others are derived from the Buddhist structure of a
Vihara or a monastery and Chaitya Hall or temple. The Dharmaraja ratha is the
largest. The Bhima ratha with its three upper stories is the finest and most
interesting of the group. The Ganesh ratha has architectural form known in
later Dravidian architecture as Gopuram – the gateway. The significant point to
note here is that ‘these rathas formed the originals from which all the vimanas
in South India were copied and continued to be copied nearly unchanged to a
very late period’ (Gokhale). These monolithic shrines or rathas were of Saivism
as in their proximity are images carved in rock, of a lion, an elephant and a
bull, symbolizing respectively Durga, Indra and Shiva. Probably each ratha was
a shrine consecrated to one of the manifestations of Shiva.
These mandapas and rathas are adorned with marvellous
figure sculpture. The Pallava sculpture here reveals a finer feeling for form,
experience craftsmanship, a noteable sense of restraint and a refined
simplicity. Among the sculptures, one large composition on rock has obtained
great celebrity. It is cut down from one standing soldi rock 98 feet long and
43 feet wide. The scene represented is usually described as the penance of Arjun,
but now it is held by art critics and scholars that it represents the Descent
of the Ganges. Towards the end of the 7th century the art of
excavated ratha or mandapa was given up and the second phase of the Pallava
art, the art of structural edifices, was taken up and it occupied the whole of
the 8th century. Splendid temples were constructed; their lofty
towers were built tier upon tier, diminishing in size towards a summit,
typifying all the wealth, munificence and grandeur of the Pallavas. The most
wonderful example of the Pallava structural art is the famous Kailasa temple at
Kanchi. There the shrine with its sikhara or pyramidal tower and flat roofed
mandapam is surrounded by a series of cells, resembling rathas. The temple of
Vaikuntha Perumal at Canjeevaram is another marvelous example of the art. Here the
Pallava style of architecture is seen in its most mature form. It is larger and
more spacious that the afore-stated Kailash temple. Here the principle parts,
the cloisters, portico and sanctuary, instead of being separate buildings, are
amalgamated into one architectural whole. This has produced a unity of
conception and considerable architectural merit. To sum up, the Pallava art
evolved splendid huge temples of stone. Sometimes the upper part was made of
bricks. Above the main shrine pyramidal tower was constructed.
The style of Pallava architecture not only set the standard
in the South but also largely influenced the architecture of the Indian
colonies in the Far East. The Pallava art was transmitted beyond the seas to
the countries of south east Asia like Indonesia ‘where its effulgence,
reflected in the vast monuments of those civilizations, shone with even greater
splendor than in the country of its origin’ (Percy Brown). The schools of sculpture
which developed out of the Pallava art in Java and Cambodia displayed the high
artistic character and the superb quality of the Pallava plastic art. The Khmer
sculptures at Angkor Thom and Angkor Vat and the bas-reliefs on the stupa
temple of Borobudur owe some of their characteristics to the rock cut monoliths
of Mamallapuram. The characteristic Pallava or Dravidian type of shikara is met
with the temples of Java, Cambodia and Annam. But there are important differences
between them and the South Indian temples. The pillars that form an important
adjunct to the latter are altogether absent in the former. Credit goes to the Pallavas
for having kept burning brightly the torch, which kindled by the Buddhist in
the early centuries of the Christian era at Amaravati, was bequeathed to these Simha
Vishnu ‘lion’ kings, Pallvas. Later on its flame glowed with renewed brilliance
in the hands of the Chola and subsequent rulers of Southern India.
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