Gupta temple

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Tigawa (Madhya Pradesh). The Kankali Devi Temple (approx. 420), which consists of a closed and completely unadorned and unstructured cella ( garbhagriha ) with about 1 m thick outer walls and a - somewhat lower, formerly open at the sides - pillared vestibule ( mandapa ) does not stand on a platform ( jagati ), but on flat terrain. The columns each consist of a square plinth (without base), an octagonal center piece, a round, pot-like element ( kalasha ), a cube-shaped block top , a fighter plate decorated with window niches ( chandrasalas ) and a top made of almost three-dimensional lions, which are both sovereign as well as disastrous ( apotropaic ) meanings. The relief panels attached to the side of the vestibule are later ingredients.

The term Gupta Temple refers to a group of around 30 stone temple buildings from North India from around 400 to 600 AD - the heyday of the Gupta Empire . Although no original cult images have survived (exceptions possibly Bhumara and Nachna ), it can be assumed that all buildings - with the exception of the Buddhist temple No. 17 in Sanchi - are very likely to be assigned to Hinduism . They include both cave temples carved into the natural rock and the first (preserved) free-standing stone temples in India. From more than half of the known Gupta temples - after the destruction during the time of Islamic dominance over northern India - only remains of the foundations and / or a few relief fragments remain.

location

The temple buildings mentioned below are mainly located in today's state of Madhya Pradesh , the former center of power of the Gupta dynasty, but also in other regions of northern India - from Gujarat to Bengal - there are a few buildings that can be attributed to the Gupta period .

Not a single one of the Gupta temples is now in the center or even near a city; rather, they are all in the vicinity of smaller villages. It is unclear whether the Gupta temple sites - comparable to the mostly Buddhist cave temples (e.g. Ajanta , Ellora , Karli , Bhaja ) - were conceived from the outset as pure pilgrimage or pilgrimage centers far away from larger settlements, or whether they might have existed in the past Mud and sticks (walls) as well as straw and reeds (roofs) - houses have disappeared over the centuries. The people living in the surrounding villages could neither plan nor finance such solid and expensive buildings; only the respective rulers themselves or their immediate family members or high-ranking court officials came into question. The elaborate stone processing was in the hands of specialized craftsmen and artists who wandered from place to place.

history

Under the rule of the Gupta dynasty, which had ruled northern India since the beginning of the 4th century and was oriented towards Hinduism - especially Vishnuism - v. a. under Chandragupta II (r. approx. 375-415), who was nicknamed Vikramaditya (' conqueror of the world'), and his son Kumaragupta I (r. approx. 415-455) - there were clear efforts to standardize the extremely diverse - and potentially separatist - religious ideas in their extensive territory. Probably as an integral part of their power politics, religious centers were created and existing ones furnished with new buildings and / or sculptures.

The empire of the Guptas, which was largely consolidated in the interior in the 5th century, came into contact with non-Indian cultures through long-standing trade routes - including the Persian and Roman cultures. The latter knew no cave architecture and built their stone temple buildings free-standing.

Dating

None of the free-standing Gupta temples is dated by donor or other building inscriptions or by documents. The approximate dates mentioned below are therefore all based on architectural and stylistic comparisons.

architecture

Nachna - Parvati Temple. The temple stands on a platform ( jagati ) designed as an artificial rock landscape , on which it is possible to walk around ( pradakshina ). The portal above the temple possibly led to a treasure room.

With the exception of the temple buildings in Nachna , all Gupta temples (like most residential buildings of the time) were windowless. The room was lit and ventilated through the always open door portal. The cult image or the lingam could also be illuminated by candles or oil lamps.

Natural stone was preferred as the building material - probably based on the earlier cave temples; In some cases, however, bricks baked on site were also used, whereby the use of brick resulted in the necessity of a pyramidal roof structure, which was reproduced in house stone in the later temples. Most of the brick buildings, however, are largely destroyed.

Early phase (approx. 400-450)

The early phase of the free-standing Gupta temples is characterized by small temple structures consisting of a closed and undivided cella ( garbhagriha = 'mother's lap chamber') and an open pillared vestibule ( mandapa ), which seem to be based on small Roman temples in their conception and structural shape; however, a gable or gable roof was omitted. The cella, built from perfectly handcrafted stones with internal dimensions of only about 2.50 m square, was used to hold the idol or the lingam and its cultic worship by the Brahmins ; the vestibule, protecting it from the effects of the weather, was used for the residence and the making of offerings by believers and pilgrims. Both components were roofed with stone slabs, had no roof structures and were not on a platform ( jagati ) that was significantly higher than the surrounding area .

An interesting architectural special case is the only partially preserved temple in Darra, in which not only the roof of the vestibule, but also that of the relatively large cella (approx. 5 × 5 m) rested on pillars - a construction method that was only just beginning Centuries later at the Kalika Mata Temple in Chittorgarh (approx. 700) and then also at the Lakshmana Temple in Khajuraho (approx. 930–950).

Late phase (from approx. 450)

The temples of the late phase are largely detached from the structural conception of the early buildings and thus also from non-Indian models: the originally rather small mandapa vestibule is regularly replaced by a surrounding wooden roof structure that was destroyed centuries ago; This enabled the faithful and pilgrims to walk around ( pradakshina ) as usual around the sanctuary - now standing on a high pedestal ( jagati ) and sometimes towering up like a tower . On both sides of the staircase or in the corners of the raised platform ( jagati ), small side shrines were erected occasionally (Deogarh, Dashavatara temple ; Bhumara , Shiva temple), so that - later in northern India (cf.Khajuraho, Lakshmana temple ) formed a 5-part temple scheme ( panchayatana ) that can be seen more often .

Architectural jewelry

While in the unstructured and flat-roofed early Gupta temples only the pillars of the vestibule and the frames of the door portals were decorated with ornaments and figurative representations (guardian figures, Ganga and Yamuna , 'heavenly lovers' ( mithunas ) etc.), the later temples mostly show a richer architectural decoration , in which figurative reliefs in the niches of the outer walls (see Dashavatara temple ) or the decoration of the pyramid roof (see Gop) play an increasingly important role. In many temples the stone 'beam' of the lintel (lintel) often protrudes over the side door posts, resulting in a T-shape (see Nachna ) - a reminder of the traditional wooden construction and a characteristic feature of early Indian temples.

List of preserved Gupta temples

Gop Temple, Zinavari (Gujarat) - the towering core of the Shiva Temple (approx. 600) stands on a high platform ( jagati ) and was originally surrounded by a circumferential wooden pent roof that rests on lateral support posts and the visitors both from the sun as well as protection from rain and also made possible the ritual circumnavigation of the temple ( pradakshina ); the holes to accommodate the rafters can still be seen in the upper part of the - completely decor-free - tower shaft.
The pyramid-shaped roof is adorned with a multitude of window-shaped niches ( chandrasalas ), a typical decorative element of early Indian temple architecture , and for the first time shows a kind of hanging lotus flower as a conclusion.

The temple names mentioned below are mostly not original, but either later popular names or numbers chosen by researchers. Due to the lack of a cult image or lingam, nowadays hardly any of the temples are used for cultic-religious purposes.

Cave temple

  • Udayagiri (approx. 400), several caves date from the Gupta period - cave temples No. 1 and No. 19 even had a free-standing stone porch ( mandapa ) built in front of them.

Stone temple

  • Darra (approx. 400)
  • Sanchi , Temple No. 17 (approx. 400)
  • Tigawa , Kankali Devi Temple (around 420)
  • Kunda - near Tigawa (approx. 420)
  • Nachna , Parvati Temple (approx. 460)
  • Bhumara , Shiva Temple (approx. 480)
  • Deori (Madhia), Vamana Temple (approx. 490)
  • Deogarh , Dashavatara Temple (approx. 500)
  • Sakor, Shiva Temple (approx. 520)
  • Gop / Zinavari , Shiva Temple (approx. 600)

Brick temple

meaning

Although the construction of cave temples in India continued into the 10th century, the free-standing Gupta temples in particular document a phase in the reorientation of Indian temple architecture, whereby knowledge or verbal descriptions of late antique Roman temples (e.g. Garni , Armenia ) have had a stimulating effect. The columns / pillars with their multi-level structure, on the other hand, show clear Persian influences (e.g. Persepolis ).

In other regions of Central India, free-standing temples were also built from the 5th century onwards, some of which were based on Gupta temples in terms of their architecture or architectural decorations. B. in Ramtek ( Maharashtra ): Kevala Narasimha Temple (approx. 500) or in Rajim , ( Chhattisgarh ): Rajivalocana Temple (approx. 600). The possibly even older Pranaveshwara temple of Talagunda ( Karnataka ) should also be mentioned in this context.

See also

literature

  • Joanna Gottfried Williams: The Art of Gupta India. Empire and Province . Princeton University Press, Princeton 1982, ISBN 0-691-03988-7
  • Michael W. Meister u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture. North India - Foundations of North Indian Style. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1988, pp. 19ff ISBN 0-691-04053-2
  • George Michell: The Hindu Temple. Architecture of a world religion. DuMont, Cologne 1991, pp. 120 ff ISBN 3-7701-2770-6
  • SR Goyal, Shankar Goyal (Ed.): Indian Art of the Gupta Age From Pre-Classical Roots to the Emergence of Medieval Trends . Kusumanjali Book World, Jodhpur 2000

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