VESARA STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE

Vesara (vEsara) (ವೇಸರ ಶೈಲಿ) is the name given to a particular architectural style which was prevalent in Karnataka for a number of centuries during the medieval era. It is essentially a combination of the ‘nAgara’ and ‘drAviDa’ styles which are typical of North India and the far South respectively. The geographical position of Karnataka, the wide spread activities of the important royal dynasties and an attitude which is not unduly stubborn might have prompted this amalgamation of styles. This phenomenon is observed right from the days of the architectural endeavours of Badami Chalukyas till the days of the Vijayanagara Empire. Some scholars have argued that “the Vesara, which came to prevail mostly in western Deccan and south Karnataka, was a derivation from the apsidal chapels of the early Buddhist period which the Brahmanical faith adopted and vastly improved. In its origin, the vesara is as much north Indian as it is west Deccanese.”

The word has been given two or three etymological explanations. Firstly, it is deemed to be a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word ‘mishra’ meaning ‘mixed’ denoting a mixture of two styles. Secondly, ‘vEsara’ in Sanskrit means a mule which again is a hybrid of two animals. Interestingly, the Kannada word for mule is ‘hEsaragatte’ which can be easily linked to ‘vEsara’. Thirdly, vishra means an area wherin one takes a long walk. The quarters of Buddhist and Jain monks who left urban areas to live in cave temples were called viharas.

According to Cousens the famous scholar, the Vesara style reduces the height of the temple towers even though the numbers of tiers are retained. This is accomplished by reducing the height of individual tiers. The semi circular structures of the Buddhist chaityas are also borrowed as in the Durga temple at Ihole.

Many temples in Central India and the Deccan have used the Vesara style with regional modifications. The Papanatha temple (680 A.D.) in particular and some other temples to a lesser extent located at Pattadakal demonstrate panache for this stylistic overlap. The Svargabrahma temple at Alampur in the state of Andhrapradesh, has similar characteristics.

This trend of merging two styles was started by the Chalukyas of Badami (500-753AD) who built temples in a style that was essentially a mixture of the nagara and the dravida styles, further refined by the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (750-983AD) in Ellora, Chalukyas of Kalyani (983-1195 AD) in Lakkundi, Dambal, Gadag etc. and epitomized by the Hoysalas (1000-1330 AD). Most of the temples built in Halebid, Belur and Somanathapura are classified under this style.

“The surfaces in these Hoysala temples are carved in high-relief with detailed repeating patterns of miniature shrine models, distinguishing them also from contemporary temples in other parts of India that have an elaborate use of human and animal figures on their decorative exterior.”

The temples built in the Vesara style are found in other parts of India also. They include temples at Sirpur, Baijnath, Baroli and Amarkantak. The temple complex at Khajuraho is a typical example of the Vesara style

Further Readings and Links:

1. Imagining Architects: Creativity in the Religious Monuments of India, Ajay J.Sinha, (University of Delaware Press, 2000).

2. Hoysala Architecture: Text, figures, and map, By Gerard Foekema, 1994, published by ‘Books and Books’.

3. ‘The Indian Temple Forms in Karnata Inscriptions & Architecture’ By M.S. Dhaky, M.A. Dhaky, 1977, Abhinav Publications.

4. ‘Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation’ By Adam Hardy, 1995, Abhinav Publications

5. http://ssubbanna.sulekha.com/mstore/ssubbanna/albums/default/GOPURAM.jpg (A temple tower in the Vesara sstyle, Tirupati)

6. http://blog.quasi.in/2009/04/pattadakal-karnataka.html (many temples in Pattadkallu)

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