Dravida and Nagara architecture

Nagara style is one of the styles of temple architecture. It is the temple construction style of North India. In this style of the temple, there is only one peak or Shikhara. The major example of the temple of Nagara Style is Sun Temple at Modhera, Sun Temple at Khajuraho, Jagannath Temple at Puri, etc.

The Gupta Dynasty (3rd century CE to 543 CE) was the first known patron of this style which continued to be prevalent across the geography of northern India until the advent of Muslim invasions in the 13th CE. The Nagara style of temple architecture has a rich historical ground.

In Dravidian Style, the most prominent element is the Gopuram. In Dravidian Style, the entrance has Dwarapalas. In Nagara style, pedestals are higher than the ground. These are the main differences between Nagara Style and Dravidian Style of Temple Architecture.

The Kaḷinga architectural style is a style of Hindu architecture which flourished in the ancient Kalinga previously known as Utkal and in present eastern Indian state of Odisha. The style consists of three distinct types of temples: Rekha Deula, Pidha Deula and Khakhara Deula.

Option c is the correct answer. Explanation: C. Jagannath Temple at Puri.

However, the major difference between the Nagara & Dravidian architecture and Hoysala architecture is that the temple premise of former was laid out in the panchayatan style (principal temple and four subsidiary shrines), whereas the latter is based on stellate plan (star shape layout of the temple).

In Kalinga Architecture, basically a temple is made in two parts, a tower and a hall. The tower is called deul and the hall is called jagmohan. The walls of both the deul and the jagmohan are lavishly sculpted with architectural motifs and a profusion of figures.

It is an example of the Kalinga Style of Architecture. This style broadly comes under the Nagara style. The temple is built in red stone. Lingaraj is referred to as ‘Swayambhu” – self-originated Shivling.

North Indian temple architecture, style of architecture produced throughout northern India and as far south as Bijapur district in northern Karnataka state, characterized by its distinctive shikhara, a superstructure, tower, or spire above the garbhagriha (“womb-room”), a small sanctuary housing the main image or …

Architecture of a Hindu temple (Nagara style). These core elements are evidenced in the oldest surviving 5th–6th century CE temples. The Meenakshi temple complex of Madurai, mostly built between 1623 and 1655 CE, a large complex in the Dravidian architecture of South India, dominated by gopuram gatehouse towers.

A typical Central Indian temple is usually saptaratha in plan and the cube of bada is divided into seven sections by two bandhanas. Constructed under the patronage of the Chandella rulers between the tenth and the twelfth century, the temples of Khajuraho represent the epitome of Nagara style of architecture in Central India.

Context: Recently, the design of the planned shrine of Ram temple to be built in Ayodhya was released by the government. More on the news: The temple, which will be built in the Nagara style of architecture, will comprise three stories with pillars and domes.

In elevation, it resembles a tower gradually inclining inwards in a convex curve. According to the plan the projections are carried upwards to the top of the Sikhara, and thus there is strong emphasis on vertical lines in elevation.

Solanki Rulers were the branches of Chalukyan Rulers in Gujarat. The walls of the Central Shrine of this school are devoid of carvings. As the temple faces the east and every year at the time of equinox the Sun shines directly into this Central Shrine.