Sacred Architecture of the Deccan

Karla · Bhaja · Kanheri (Maharashtra)

From the 2nd century BCE through the 3rd century CE, communities of Buddhist monks painstakingly carved entire complexes of prayer halls and living quarters—known as chaityas and viharas—into the basalt cliffs of the Western Ghats. Funded by merchants who traveled the trade routes passing through these mountains toward the Arabian Sea, these "cave" sanctuaries were among the earliest major religious monuments in India. This session examines how and why Buddhist communities chose to sculpt their sacred world from living rock, and what the remarkable sculptural programs at Karla, Bhaja, and Kanheri reveal about early Buddhist practice in the Deccan.

Badami · Aihole · Pattadakal (Karnataka)

Between the 6th and 8th centuries, the Chalukya dynasty ruled central Karnataka and left behind one of the most significant bodies of sacred architecture in India's history. Their patronage produced temples for Śiva and Viṣṇu both carved from sandstone cliffs and built as freestanding structures—experimenting with architectural styles from both northern and southern India in the same royal heartland. Embellished with magnificent carved images of deities and celestial attendants, the monuments of Badami, Aihole, and Pattadakal represent the earliest surviving flowering of Hindu temple design in the Deccan, and among the best-preserved early examples anywhere in India.

Shravanabelagola · Mudabidri · Karkala (Karnataka)

Rising above the town of Shravanabelagola in southern Karnataka is one of the most dramatic sacred images in the world: a 57-foot monolithic granite statue of the Jain saint Gommateshvara, consecrated in 981 CE and still the destination of a great pilgrimage festival—the Mahamastak Abhisheka—celebrated every twelve years. This session explores this extraordinary monument alongside the rich network of Jain shrines across southern Karnataka, repositories of exquisite sculpture in stone and metal representing the Tirthankaras (the liberated sages central to Jain devotion). Together they trace the distinctive tradition of royal and merchant patronage that sustained one of India's most enduring religious communities.

Hampi (Karnataka)

At its height in the 15th and early 16th centuries, the empire of Vijayanagara—"the City of Victory"—commanded most of peninsular India, and its capital was one of the largest cities in the world. Today known as Hampi, the ruins of this great capital spread across a landscape of surreal granite boulders and the Tungabhadra River, a setting unlike any other in India. The temples here—dedicated to Śiva, Viṣṇu, the Goddess, and local sacred figures—are celebrated for their imperial scale, florid ornamentation, and intricate stone carving. They represent the culmination of a distinctly Deccani approach to sacred architecture, and one of the supreme achievements of the Indian building tradition.