Pattadakal Group of Monuments – Significance

Pattadakal Group of Monuments – Significance

The monuments at Pattadakal are a historically significant example of religion, society and culture, particularly Hindu and Jain, in the Deccan region and is an expression of Hindu kingship and religious worldview of 8^th Century India. The artisans express the conflicting concepts of Dharma (duty, virtue, righteousness) and Moksha (liberation) in Hindu theology, particularly Pashupata Shaivism. The significance lies not just within individual images but also in their relative location and sequence as well how it expresses the historic tension in Hindu religious tradition between the stately life of the householder and the life of the renouncer monk.

The expression of Dharma, particularly raja-dharma (royal authority and duty) as exemplified by Rama, and Moksha are seen throughout the various temples at Pattadakal. The former is depicted in various friezes using examples of the life story of Rama from the Ramayana, while the latter is expressed with images of Lakulisha, Nataraja, Yoga, and numerous ascetics. Other imagery that is particularly prevalent at Pattadakal is that between Purusha and Prakriti, the soul and the matter, the masculine and the feminine.

The temples at Pattadakal are symbolic of the Chalukya inclination towards integration, and experimentation, resulting in a merging of the Northern and Southern Indian architectural styles. This is particularly evident when the architecture at Pattadakal, Aihole and Badami are viewed together. Aihole, in the 5^th century, served as the incubator for the concepts that would lead to this integration of styles. These concepts were further refined in Badami during the 6th and 7th centuries.

The culmination of this is, as described by UNESCO, "the apogee of an eclectic art which, in the 7th and 8th centuries, achieved a harmonious blend of architectural forms from the north and south of India". Among the sculptures at Pattadakal is one of a long neck lute (Sitar-like) dated to the 10^th Century. The site also shows friezes with more conventional musical instruments, but the long neck lute suggests there was a tradition of musicians innovating with new instrument designs. Another example are the 7^th Century stick zithers found carved in the bas-relief at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.