South Indian Temple Architecture

The rulers of south India were great patrons of art and architecture. They constructed a number of temples in honour of their gods and goddesses. The temple was not merely a place of worship, it was the centre of the social religious, cultural, economic and political life of the people. The two main styles of temple architecture in India were the nagara type prevailed in the temple architecture of north India. The basic characteristics of the nagara type were. (1) The tower of the temple was curvilinear in structure which ended up in almost appoint. (2) The temple was cruciform in plan, ie in the plan formed a cross. (3)The temples were usually not surrounded by enclosures or boundary walls.