Table Of ContentGeorge Michell provides a pioneering and richly illustrated introduc-
tion to the architecture, sculpture and painting of Southern India under
the Vijayanagara empire and the states that succeeded it. This period,
encompassing some four hundred years, from the fourteenth to the
eighteenth century, was endowed with an abundance of religious and
royal monuments which remain as testimonies to the history and
ideology behind their evolution. The author evaluates the legacy of this
artistic heritage, describing and illustrating buildings, sculptures and
paintings that have never been published before. In a previously
neglected area of art history, the author presents an original and much-
needed reassessment.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE NEW CAMBRIDGE HISTORY
OF INDIA
Architecture and art of Southern India
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE NEW CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF INDIA
General editor GORDON JOHNSON
President of Wolfson College, and Director, Centre of South Asian Studies,
University of Cambridge
Associate editors C.A. BAYLY
Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, University of
Cambridge, and Fellow of St Catharine's College
and JOHN F. RICHARDS
Professor of History, Duke University
Although the original Cambridge History of India, published between
1922 and 1937, did much to formulate a chronology for Indian history
and describe the administrative structures of government in India, it has
inevitably been overtaken by the mass of new research published over
the last fifty years.
Designed to take full account of recent scholarship and changing con-
ceptions of South Asia's historical development, The New Cambridge
History of India will be published as a series of short, self-contained
volumes, each dealing with a separate theme and written by a single
person, within an overall four-part structure. As before, each will
conclude with a substantial bibliographical essay designed to lead non-
specialists further into the literature.
The four parts are as follows:
I The Mughals and their contemporaries
II Indian states and the transition to colonialism
III The Indian Empire and the beginnings of modern society
IV The evolution of contemporary South Asia
A list of individual titles already published and those in preparation will
be found at the end of the volume.
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
Krishnaraya and queens, brass, Venkateshvara temple, Tirumala, sixteenth century
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
THE NEW
CAMBRIDGE
HISTORY OF
INDIA
I : 6
Architecture and art of Southern India
Vijayanagara and the successor states
GEORGE MICHELL
CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Cambridge University Press 1995
This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of- Cambridge University Press.
First published 1995
Reprinted 2003
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
Michell, George.
Architecture and art of Southern India: Vijayanagara and the
successor states / George Michell.
p. cm. — (The new Cambridge history of India: 1, 6)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ).
ISBN o-521-44110-2
1. Art, India - India, South. 2. Art, Hindu - India, South.
1. Title. 11. Series
DS436.N47 1987 pt. 1, vol. 6
(N7307.S68)
954 s — dc20
(7°9'-54'8) 94-32l84«P
ISBN 0521441102 hardback
CE
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations page x
Preface xix
Maps xxii
i Introduction i
2 Historical framework 7
3 Temple architecture: the Kannada and
Telugu zones 25
4 Temple architecture: the Tamil zone 73
5 Palace architecture 121
6 Sculpture IJ5
7 Painting 220
8 Conclusion
271
Bibliographical essay 278
Bibliography 283
Index 295
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Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008
ILLUSTRATIONS
Abbreviations: AIIS, American Institute of Indian Studies; VRP, Vijayanagara
Research Project.
Unless otherwise noted, photographs of objects in museum collections have been
provided by the relevant institutions.
Krishnaraya and queens, brass, Venkateshvara temple, Tirumala, sixteenth
century (Archaeological Survey of India) Frontispiece
1 Plan of Vijayanagara (VRP) page 11
2 Plan, section and elevation, Krishna temple, Vijayanagara,
dated 1516 (VRP) 26
3 Gopura, Pattabhirama complex, Vijayanagara, sixteenth century
(John Gollings) 27
4 Triple-shrined temple, Hemakuta hill, Hampi, fourteenth century
(AIIS) 29
5 Ganigitti Jain temple, Vijayanagara, dated 1386 (John Gollings) 30
6 Plan, section and elevation, ruined temple, Vijayanagara, fourteenth
century (VRP) 31
7 Ceiling, Madhavaraya temple, Gorantla, dated 1354 (AIIS) 33
8 Plan and elevation of outer walls, Rama temple, royal centre,
Vijayanagara, fifteenth century (VRP) 34
9 Principal shrine, Rama temple (Snehal Shah) 3 5
10 Basement detail, Rama temple (John Gollings) 36
11 Unfinished gopura, Virupaksha temple, royal centre,
Vijayanagara, fifteenth century (John Gollings) 38
12 Rama temple, Penukonda, fifteenth century (AIIS) 38
13 Main shrine, Vitthala temple, Vijayanagara, fifteenth-sixteenth
centuries (AIIS) 39
14 Mandapa addition, Virupaksha temple, Hampi, dated 1510 (AIIS) 41
15 Internal piers, mandapa addition, Virupaksha temple (AIIS) 42
16 Vimana, Anantashayana temple, Hospet, dated 1524 (AIIS) 43
17 Plan, Tiruvengalanatha complex, Vijayanagara, dated 1534 (VRP) 44
18 Aerial view, Tiruvengalanatha complex (John Gollings) 44
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
19 Plan, Vitthala complex, Vijayanagara, mostly sixteenth century
(Pierre and Vasundhara Filliozat) 45
20 Mandapa, Vitthala temple, Vijayanagara, dated 15 54 (AIIS) 46
21 Interior of mandapa, Vitthala temple (AIIS) 47
22 Chariot-like Garuda shrine, Vitthala complex (AIIS) 48
23 Detached gopura, Kalahastishvara complex, Kalahasti, dated 1516 (AIIS) 50
24 Main shrine, Chintala Venkataramana temple, Tadpatri, sixteenth
century (AIIS) 51
25 Unfinished gopura, Ramalingeshvara complex, Tadpatri, sixteenth
century (AIIS) 52
26 Outer mandapa, Virabhadra temple, Lepakshi, sixteenth century
(AIIS) 53
27 Kalyana mandapa, Chennakeshava temple, Somapalem, sixteenth
century (AIIS) $4
28 Plan, Vidyashankara temple, Sringeri, sixteenth century (VRP) 5 5
29 Vidyashankara temple (AIIS) 56
30 Mandapa extension, Chandranatha Basti, Mudabidri, dated 1452 (AIIS) 58
31 Mandapa columns, Chandranatha Basti (AIIS) 59
32 Manastambha, Chandranatha Basti, dated 1562 (AIIS) 60
3 3 Plan, Chaturmukha Basti, Karkala, dated 1586 (VRP) 62
34 Entrance structure, Chandranatha temple, Bhatkal, sixteenth century
(AIIS) 63
3 5 Ketapayya Narayana temple, Bhatkal, sixteenth century (AIIS) 64
36 Balustrade, Ketapayya Narayana temple (AIIS) 65
37 Ceiling panel, Virabhadra temple, Keladi, sixteenth century (AIIS) 66
38 Aghoreshvara temple, Ikkeri, sixteenth century (AIIS) 67
39 Nandi pavilion, Aghoreshvara temple (AIIS) 68
40 Someshvara temple, Kolar, seventeenth century (AIIS) 70
41 Gateway, Chitradurga, seventeenth century (AIIS) 71
42 Aerial view, Minakshi-Sundareshvara complex, Madurai,
seventeenth-eighteenth centuries (D. Christopher) 74
43 East gopura, Vatapatrashayi complex, Srivilliputtur, seventeenth
century (George Michell) 75
44 Sculptured piers, kalyana mandapa, Varadaraja complex, Kanchipuram,
sixteenth century (AIIS) 77
45 Goddess shrine, Shiva temple, Viramanallur, fifteenth century (AIIS) 78
xi
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
46 Eastern gopura, Varadaraja complex, Kanchipuram, sixteenth
century (AIIS) 80
47 Kalyana mandapa, Varadaraja temple (AIIS) 81
48 Plan, Jalakanteshvara complex, Vellore, sixteenth century 82
49 Kalyana mandapa, Jalakanteshvara complex (AIIS) 83
50 Ceiling, kalyana mandapa, Jalakanteshvara complex (AIIS) 83
51 Entrance mandapa, Marghabhandu complex, Vrinchipuram, sixteenth
century (AIIS) 85
52 Swing pavilion, Pattabhirama temple, Gingee, sixteenth century (AIIS) 86
53 Vimana spout, Bhuvaraha temple, Srimushnam, sixteenth century (AIIS) 87
54 Mandapa with donor sculptures, Bhuvaraha temple (AIIS) 88
5 5 Nandi pavilion, Brihadishvara temple, Thanjavur, seventeenth century
(George Michell) 90
56 Subrahmanya shrine, Brihadishvara complex (AIIS) 91
57 Gopuras, Arunachaleshvara complex, Tiruvannamalai, seventeenth
century (Bharath Ramamrutham, Courtesy Marg Publications) 92
58 Wall detail, Raya Gopura, Arunachaleshvara complex (AIIS) 93
59 Beams in passageway, Raya Gopura, Arunachaleshvara complex (AIIS) 94
60 Pavilion overlooking Mahamakam tank, Kumbakonam, seventeenth
century (AIIS) 95
61 Mandapa piers, Ramasvami temple, Kumbakonam, seventeenth
century (AIIS) 96
61 Eastern gepura, Sarangapani complex, Kumbakonam, seventeenth
century (AIIS) 98
63 Plan, Minakshi-Sundareshvara complex, Madurai, seventeenth-eighteenth
centuries (Permission of Penguin Books Ltd) 100
64 South gopura, Minakshi-Sundareshvara complex, seventeenth century
(AIIS) 101
65 Wall detail, north gopura, Minakshi-Sundareshvara complex (AIIS) 102
66 Potramarai Kulam, Minakshi-Sundareshvara complex (AIIS) 103
67 Viravasantaraya Mandapa, Minakshi-Sundareshvara complex, eighteenth
century (AIIS) 104
68 Kudal Alagar Perumal temple, Madurai, seventeenth century (AIIS) 106
69 Window, Kudal Alagar Perumal temple (AIIS) 107
70 Teppakulam, Madurai, seventeenth century (AIIS) 108
71 Vellai Gopura, Ranganatha complex, Srirangam, seventeenth
century (AIIS) 110
xii
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