Dravidian Architecture

Dravidian architecture is a style of building, usually used with the construction of temples and shrines, the elements of which began to emerge in the southern part of India starting as early as the fourth century BCE and with some of its design elements remaining in use until the mid-1700s. Dravidian structures tend to incorporate tall towers, as well as sculptures of Hindu deities. Its most recognizable characteristic is the use of a pyramid-like structure on the roof, with the pyramidal design often including the building’s gate or doorway. Other common features include a porch-like structure known as a mantapa and halls filled with pillars. Dravidian style is also known for ornate carvings of stone—frequently using whole pieces of rock fashioned into elaborate scenes or chambers rather than conglomerations of smaller stones or bricks. Dravidian architecture takes its name from the Dravidian people of the southern end of the Indian subcontinent.

Background

The Dravidians from whom the architectural style derives its name are the peoples of southern India who speak Dravidian languages. Outside of southern India, there are also Dravidian communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. Some research refers to Dravidians as a distinct ethnic group, while other treatises discuss them more in terms of a group sharing a common linguistic heritage than of a shared ethnicity. A number of anthropologists contend that in the distant past, Dravidians occupied a larger portion of India than they do at present or than they have for several centuries, possibly extending much further north and west than contemporary boundaries. It has been argued that most of India was at one time populated by Dravidians, but that successive waves of immigration by Aryans and Indo-Europeans pushed the Dravidians in the north of India further to the south. Interestingly, modern genetic research being conducted in India has tended to show that there is no distinct Dravidian ethnic group. This suggests that Dravidians may have been one of several groups that migrated into India and intermingled with one another long before historical records were kept.

Because Dravidian architecture is primarily seen in the construction of temples, shrines and other holy sites, scholars of its design principles are often intrigued by the theology of the Dravidian people. Dravidian religion can be described as a form of Hinduism not connected with (or at least not sanctioned by) the Vedic tradition. Dravidians worshipped a broad array of extremely localized deities, some of which were tied to specific villages and temples. While the Vedic traditions are not known for requiring worship to take place at temples, for Dravidians it was important to conduct rituals and prayers at such sites, partially explaining the many shrines Dravidian architecture left behind. The step design which is so characteristic of Dravidian architecture creates pyramid-like tiers upon which are perched innumerable carvings of animals, local deities, and representations of heroes and other figures taken partly from history and partly from mythology. This creates the effect of entering into a sacred space populated by otherworldly personages, when one steps over the threshold of a Dravidian temple.

Overview

Dravidian architecture is known for several distinct historical periods within its arc. These periods, in chronological order from oldest to most recent, are Pallava, Chola, Pandava, Vijayanagara, and Nayakkar. The Pallava period ran from roughly the sixth to the tenth century and its greatest architectural achievement is the rock cut temple at Mahabalipuram. The Pallava period also saw the first attempts at constructing buildings out of smaller components, as opposed to carving them out of solid rock cliff faces. The next major era, the Chola period, ran from the ninth through the thirteenth centuries. This period saw the construction of a large number of Dravidian temples, due in part to the military conquests achieved by the rulers of the time; as they expanded their control over larger and larger geographic regions, they would establish control in part through the construction of temples and the imposition of their own religious practices. The Pandava (sometimes found as Pandian) period, spanning from the sixth century BCE to the sixteenth century, continued the move away from rock cut temples toward more modern building techniques. In the Vijayanagara period (the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries) a hybrid style of temple construction prevailed, with the rulers ordering the construction of temples that incorporated features of several different Dravidian periods in the past. The Dravidian use of towers and pillars is often traced to this period. The Nayakkar period was in the sixteenth century and is remembered for its refinement of all of the previous periods’ achievements, with earlier Dravidian themes appearing in new levels of the most minute detail.

Dravidian architecture remains popular throughout India to this day, not least because of its historical and cultural significance. Many city and regional governments use buildings constructed according to the Dravidian tradition as part of their official seal, or as components of their flags, such is the degree to which Indians consider the Dravidian design to be a part of their national identity. Ironically, Dravidian architecture’s reliance on stone is a major reason for its continued cultural significance. The Sangam period, which preceded Dravidian cultural emergence, had elaborate and compelling religious beliefs of its own, but Sangam temples tended to use building materials such as brick, mud, plaster and wood. As a consequence, few structures from the Sangam period have survived up until the modern day, and in their absence the majestically carved Dravidian temples have captured the imagination of tourists, Indians, and historians alike. Archaeologists and anthropologists continue to delve into the Sangam period as well as other eras in Indian history, but without omnipresent structures similar to Dravidian shrines and temples, it is difficult for these segments of the story of India to play as significant a role in the popular imagination as does Dravidian architecture. Each year, tens of thousands of visitors crowd into these structures in order to have a glimpse of masterpieces of living stone, rearing unchanged into the sky just as they did centuries or millennia ago.

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