Gupta Temples

The earliest structural Hindu Temples are

at Sanchi and Tigawa near Jabalpur.
As in case of the Mahayana period, the
Hindu worship gradually included the
Image of the deity.
The earliest Hindu shrines, a cell to house
the image are a group of carved out
caves at Udaygiri, near Sanchi. From this
model, developed the structural temple.

Gupta Period 5 C
th

At the end of the 4th century, the rise of the Gupta rulers
coincided with a revival of Hinduism, after almost 700 years
of dominance of Buddhism and Jainism. Although many
elements of this new religion were common with the
religion of the Aryans (e.g. the importance of the Vedas)
there were fundamental differences in rituals and dieties. In
particular, the Aryan element gods (such as Indra and Agni)
were replaced by two main dieties, Shiva and
The preferred method of worship also changed from openair sacrificial altars to viewing the diety (darshana) in a
confined sanctum.
The Guptas patronized this religion and sponsored temples
to Vishnu and Shiva from the beginning of the 5th century
AD. These temples marked the beginning of an architecture
that drew on earlier Buddhist sculptural techniques, but
initiated a new movement, ultimately leading to the great

Gupta Temple: Features

During the Gupta period a firm foundation of temple
architecture was laid when the basic elements of the
Indian temple consisting of a square sanctum and
pillared porch emerged.
The evolved Gupta temple also had a covered
processional path for circumambulation (Pradakshina)
that formed a part of the worship-ritual.
Earlier temples of the period had a flat slab-roof, often
monolithic, but the later temples in brick and stone
developed a shikhara.
The gradual evolution of the Gupta style is traceable
through development of the plan and the ornamentation
on the pillars and door-frame.

Types of Gupta temples.

Two main types of Gupta temples.
FIRST TYPE:
A square sanctuary with a pillared porch in front.
Both porch and sanctum are post-and-lintel style and
without any superstructure. This type of temple
answers the simplest needs of worship, a chamber to
house the deity and a roof to shelter the devotee.
EX: Kankali Devi shrine at Tigawa, which has new
types of pillars, provided with the overflowing vase
(kumbha-panjara) or the vase-and-foliage (ghatapallava) capital.

 The Sanchi Temple, 5th C AD repeats the plan of

Udaygiri rock cut shrines.
The columns in the entrance porch are repeated
from free the standing Ashoka pillar
The columns are in pairs at either end of the
porch
The plan is a windowless cubic volume with an
attached portico

Tigawa 5 c
th

The Tigawa temple

has a small stone
chamber, with a flat
stone roof, and a
porch supported by
four carved stone
columns in the front.
The temple's thick
walls and small size
show that the
builders were not
used to working
Built in
on similar plan as that of Sanchi temple.
stone yet. The columns here are square in plan and boldly
ornamented.
The capitals hold a Purna Kalasa

Tigawa
Capital and Door Surround details

SECOND TYPE:
Also has a square sanctum but with a pyramidal superstructure (sikhara).
Among the most interesting examples are a brick temple at Bhitargaon
and the Vishnu temple at Deogarh built entirely of stone.
The sanctums walls are provided with central projections on the outside
that extend from the base of the walls right upto the top of the sikhara
(spire). The section of the central offset that extends across the wall has
a niche, in which is placed an image.
The frame around the sanctum entrance is very elaborate, carved with
several bands carrying floral and figural motifs. This basic formula
proved highly successful and was to be repeated and adapted
throughout the subcontinent for many of the following centuries.
The Deogarh temple is placed on a large terraced platform with four
corner shrines (now ruined). This arrangement, known as the
panchayatana, also became popular throughout the subcontincent,
even upto the 18th century.

Deogarh UP 5 C
th

The Dashavatara Temple

or Vishnu Temple also
called Gupta temple at
Deogarh

Vishnu
reclining
on the
serpent
Shesha
(Ananta)

(refer cave architecture)

The cave architecture also attained a
great degree of refinement during
the Gupta period. The Chaitya and
Vihara caves at Ajanta and the Ellora
caves are the best specimens of
cave-architecture of the period. The
rock-cut caves at Khandagiri,
Udayagiri and Undavalli also belong
to this period.