{{Short description|12th-century temple in Dambal, Karnataka state, India}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2019}} [[File:Dodda Basappa Temple.JPG|right|thumb|upright|250px|Dodda Basappa Temple at Dambal, a unique 24-pointed, uninterrupted stellate (star-shaped), seven-tiered ''dravida'' plan, 12th century CE]]

'''Doddabasappa Temple''' ({{Langx |kn| ದೊಡ್ಡಬಸಪ್ಪ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನ }}) is a 12th-century Western Chalukyan architectural innovation in Dambal, Karnataka state, India. Dambal is about {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} southeast of Gadag city and {{convert|24|km|mi|abbr=on}} southwest of Ittagi in Koppal district.<ref name="gadag">Cousens (1926), p. 114</ref> The sanctum contains a Shiva ''linga'', the symbol of the presiding deity, God Shiva. The temple interior is a standard construction and consists of a sanctum (cella), a vestibule (''antarala'') and a main ''mantapa'' (also called ''navaranga'' or hall). The vestibule connects the sanctum to the ''mantapa''.<ref name="deity">{{cite web|title=THE CHALUKYAN MAGNIFICENCE|url=http://archive.deccanherald.com/CONTENT/Oct232007/spectrum2007102231808.asp|author=M.S. Dwarakinath|publisher=Deccan Herald|work=Spectrum|access-date=2008-05-14|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811172221/http://archive.deccanherald.com/CONTENT/Oct232007/spectrum2007102231808.asp|archive-date=2011-08-11}}</ref> The Western Chalukya monuments, regional variants of existing dravida (South Indian) temples, defined the Karnata dravida architectural tradition.<ref name="local">Hardy (1995), pp. 6&ndash;7</ref><ref name="local1">{{cite journal |jstor=3250027 |last1=Sinha |first1=Ajay J. |title=Reviewed work: Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation, the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries, Adam Hardy |journal=Artibus Asiae |volume=58 |issue=3/4 |pages=358–362 |year=1999 |doi=10.2307/3250027 }}</ref>

==Temple plan== [[File:Dodda Basappa temple Stellate plan.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Twenty-four pointed stellate plan of ''vimana'' of Dodda Basappa Temple in Dambal, 12th century CE]] thumb|Reliefs on the walls of the temple at Dodda Basappa Dambal, 1897 [[File:Dodda Basappa Temple Wall Relief Sculpture.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Wall relief in projections and recesses: ''Kirtimukha'', Pilasters and ''dravida'' style miniature towers (aedicule)]] thumb|right|upright|Half pillar supports the roof of the porch

===Stellate plan=== The temple is based on a very original 24-pointed uninterrupted stellate (star-shaped) plan and uses soapstone as its basic building material.<ref name="degrees"/> Contemporary stellate plans of the Bhumija shrines in central India where the inspiration for this temple came from, were all 32-pointed interrupted types. No temples of the 6-, 12-, or 24-pointed stellate plans are known to exist in Karnataka or Maharashtra, with the exception of the Doddabasappa temple, which can be described as a 24-pointed uninterrupted plan.<ref name="degrees">Foekema (2003), p. 60</ref> In an 'interrupted' stellate plan, the stellate outline is interrupted by orthogonal (right-angle) projections in the cardinal directions, resulting in star points that have been skipped.<ref name="skip">Foekema (2003), p. 63</ref> thumb|left|upright|Nandi (vehicle of Shiva-bull) facing shrine through the eastern doorway The Doddabasappa temple marks the mature development of the Chalukyan art which originated from basic ''dravida'' architecture of South India. Its departure from conventional ''dravida'' plan used in the Virupaksha temple in Pattadakal is so extreme that it would be very difficult to find similarities without detailed examination.<ref name="gadag"/> A star shape is obtained by rotating a square about its centre. The star points form equidistant projections. The angles and re-entrant angles thus formed make the perimeter of the outerwall of the shrine.<ref name="gadag"/>

The star projections are carried right up the superstructure (tower over the shrine &mdash; ''Shikhara''), giving it an exotic look, though it loses strength in comparison to the square superstructures found in conventional ''dravida'' plans. The storied arrangement of the superstructure found in ''dravida'' plans is not easily distinguishable here.<ref name="cornice">Cousens (1926), p. 115</ref> The upper tiers of the seven-tiered (''tala'') superstructure look like cogged wheels with 48 dents.<ref name="dent">Foekema (2003), p. 61</ref>

===Other details=== The pillars in this temple are finely chiseled and "complicated" but lack the elegance of those at the Kasivisvesvara Temple in Lakkundi.<ref name="cornice"/> The entrance to the shrine has above it a decorative architrave with space for images (now missing) of the Hindu Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Depending on the dedication of the temple, either Vishnu or Shiva would take the central position in this arrangement.<ref name="cornice"/> The entrance to the sanctum is elaborately decorated on either side with designs that are floral containing tiny images of dancers, musicians and even a mithuna couple (Gemini). In the main mantapa (hall) there are three images, one of the "five headed" Brahma and his vehicle (''vahana''), the goose, and two images are of Surya, the Sun God.<ref name="cornice"/>

The temple has two doorways each with a porch, one facing south and the other facing east. The east facing door has on either side the remains of what must have been elegant lintel decoration, and an open hall type of pillared extension containing a large recumbent image of Nandi (bull) which faces the shrine.<ref name="deity"/><ref name="cornice"/>

==Notes== {{Reflist|33em}}

==External links== * [http://www.deccanherald.com/content/287165/F Dambal] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130625081542/http://puratattva.in/2012/12/08/dambal-a-religious-symphony-2048.html Dambal a religious symphony]

==References==

* {{cite book|author=Cousens, Henry|title= The Chalukyan Architecture of Kanarese Districts|orig-year= 1926|year= 1996|publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |location= New Delhi|oclc = 37526233}} * {{cite book |last=Foekema|first=Gerard |title= Architecture decorated with architecture: Later medieval temples of Karnataka, 1000–1300 AD|orig-year=2003|year=2003|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd|location= New Delhi|isbn= 81-215-1089-9}} * {{cite book |last=Hardy|first=Adam |title=Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation-The Karnata Dravida Tradition 7th to 13th Centuries|orig-year=1995|year=1995|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn= 81-7017-312-4}} {{Commons category|Doddabasappa Temple}}

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{{Hindu temples in Karnataka}}

Category:12th-century Hindu temples Category:Hindu temples in Gadag district Category:Chalukya dynasty Category:Western Chalukya Empire Category:12th-century establishments in India