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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

With the help of representative examples, delineate the main differences between the Nagara and Dravida styles of temple architecture.

  • UPSC 2022
  • Themes in Early Indian Cultural History

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Once the freestanding Hindu temple emerged in the Gupta period, its subsequent elaboration split along regional lines into two principal idioms formalized in later shilpa-shastra texts: the Nagara style of North and Central India and the Dravida style of the Tamil south, with a hybrid Vesara tradition developing in the Deccan between them. The two…

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What the full answer covers

  • Superstructure: Curvilinear Shikhara versus Stepped Pyramidal Vimana
  • Sanctum and Assembly Hall Arrangement
  • Gateway Convention: The Gopuram
  • Enclosure, Water Tanks, and Overall Complex Layout
  • Ornamentation, Iconographic Convention, and Material
  • Representative Examples Set Side by Side
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