Vesara

[1][2][3] It is one of six major types of Indian temple architecture found in historic texts, the others being Nagara, Dravida, Bhumija, Kalinga, and Varata.

[2] The south Indian text Kamika-agama explains that this name is derived from its mixed nature, as its plan is Dravidian, yet its shape is Nagara in the details.

[citation needed] In contrast, it is a term found in most South Indian texts on architecture alongside Dravida and Nagara.

It goes on to state that Nagara emphasizes the four sides, Dravida a polygon (octagon), while Vesara compliments both with circular or elliptical forms.

[9] In general, many South Indian texts state that Vesara is a building that is "circular or round" in plan above its karna (base) or kantha (neck).

However, the realized temples built before the 17th century show such an abundance of experimentation, innovations and overlapping varieties that scholars generally avoid adhering to strict theoretical terms.

[3] This may be because the sthanpati (architect) and silpins (artisans) in 9th to 11th century Karnataka were deliberately ignoring traditional texts and experimenting with novel and innovative approaches.

For example, they used both the northern shikhara and southern vimana type of superstructure over the sanctum in different temples of similar date, such as at Pattadakal.

[12] Vesara, states Sinha, should not be treated as a simple mixture of Nagara and Dravida, but as a deliberate architectural synthesis grounded in the available materials and construction methods in India from the 7th to 12th centuries.

[8] After mentioning Hindu dynasties all over the Indian subcontinent, successful public works, ascetics and the schools of the silpins, it states in verses 16–17: Shankararya constructed in the middle of the town of Shundi[note 2] a dwelling for Nagesvara [Shiva] so that the finials were completed in a manner that none could possibly imagine.

This thereby incorporates Nagara style and takes an initial step in harmonizing the relationship between how the viewer aesthetically experiences the temple from the outside and from the inside.

Thereafter, many more innovations were introduced and increasingly sophisticated Kalayana Chalukya and Hoysala temples were built in the emerging Vesara style through the 13th century.

The Vesara form allowed the architect and artisans to add more narrative panels about the Epics, the Puranas, the Vedic legends, scenes of artha, kama, dharma (divine iconography).

The discovery of early examples of elliptical, circular, apsidal Hindu temples, states Dubey, may correspond to the Vesara as they once existed, and as such what the South Indian texts were referring to when they were composed.

Negeshvara (near) and Chennakeshava (far), Hoysala dynasty , 11th century.
Ornate ceiling in Chennakesava temple, 11th century.
Keshava temple, 11th century
Kedareshvara temple, Hoysala dynasty , 11th century.
Chennakeshava temple, 11th century.
Joda-kalasha temple, Sudi, Karnataka – another early innovator of the Vesara-style ( c. 1060 CE). [ 8 ]
Upper: 7th-century Mahakutesvara temple with Dravida architecture (Mahakuta complex of Hindu temples, east of Badami); [ 8 ] Lower: 11th-century Kedareshvara Temple, Balligavi in developed Vesara form (highly evolved bhadra , with miniature northern shikharas as motifs).