Indian Architecture: Early architecture and temple styles

In Dravida temples the tower over the sanctum is the vimana. It rises in a series of diminishing storeys (talas), like a stepped pyramid, and is crowned by a dome-like element called the shikhara in southern terminology, topped by a finial. The gopuram is the gateway tower in the enclosure wall, while the jagamohana and rekha deul are terms from Odisha.

Vesara is the name given in the shilpa texts to a third mode, commonly described as a hybrid that blends Nagara and Dravida features — often a tower with a Dravida stepped arrangement but a more curved or rounded profile. It is associated mainly with the Deccan, in the temples of the later Chalukyas of Kalyani and the Hoysalas. Many scholars note that the label is applied loosely. It is not specific to rock-cut, Jain or Bengali temples.

Pairs 1, 2 and 3 are correct: the vimana is the tower over the sanctum, the prakara is an enclosure wall, and the kudu is the southern name for the chaitya-arch motif (gavaksha in the north). Pair 4 is incorrect: the stupi is the finial at the very top of the vimana, comparable to the kalasha; the gateway is the gopuram. Hence 1, 2 and 3 only.

Aihole, with over a hundred temples from about the 6th to the 8th century and later, was an important centre of the Chalukyas of Badami (Early Western Chalukyas). Builders there experimented with many plans — flat-roofed halls such as the Lad Khan, the apsidal Durga temple and early Nagara and Dravida towers — before the mature Chalukya style seen at Pattadakal. The famous Aihole inscription of Pulakeshin II, composed by Ravikirti, is on the Meguti Jain temple here.

All three are correct. Hoysala temples typically rise from a raised platform (jagati) with a stellate plan, whose many angles multiply the surfaces for carving. Unusually for Indian art, many sculptors — such as Mallitamma and Dasoja — signed their panels. The Chennakeshava temple at Belur was built by Vishnuvardhana in 1117, traditionally to commemorate a victory.

Pair 1 is correct: the Hoysaleshvara at Halebidu (Dwarasamudra) is a twin-shrine Hoysala temple of the 12th century. Pair 2 is correct: the Thousand Pillar temple at Hanamkonda (Telangana) is a Kakatiya temple of the 12th century. Pair 3 is correct: the Mahadeva temple at Itagi (1112), praised in an inscription as an 'emperor among temples', is a Western (Kalyani) Chalukya work. Pair 4 is incorrect: the Vitthala temple at Hampi was built under the Vijayanagara rulers. Hence 1, 2 and 3 only.

Both statements are correct. Pattadakal, in the Malaprabha valley, has temples of the 7th–8th centuries under the Chalukyas of Badami. Some, such as the Papanatha and Galaganatha, have Nagara-type curvilinear towers, while others, such as the Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna, have Dravida vimanas — so the site shows the two traditions side by side. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.

Statement 1 is correct: the Keshava temple at Somanathapura was built around 1268 by Somanatha, a dandanayaka (general) of the Hoysala king Narasimha III, after whom the village is named. Statement 2 is incorrect: it is a trikuta temple, with three shrines (for forms of Vishnu) opening off a common hall, each with its own tower, all set on a stellate platform inside a cloistered courtyard. Hence 1 only.