Bhuvaneshwaris and their fore runners ...

Bhuvanewaris is the term used to refer to the ornate & intricate domed ceilings found in Hoysala temples.

I first set eyes on a Bhuvaneswari, during our Site Seminar 2023. Needless to say, my eyes just popped out. Such was the precision, detailing and amazing creativity executed to perfection, that one just couldn't have enough of it. All my earlier criticism of lack of proportions in Hoysala temples or lack of grace in their sculptures vanished into thin air.

Anybody who could execute this knew everything about architecture, structure, art, craft, detailing & execution; not to mention a perfect understanding of the medium involved -  the Chlorite Schist stone.  I was so fascinated with their variety & beauty, that I must have clicked at least 100pics of Bhuvaneshwaris alone in the various temples we visited.

A few Beautiful Bhuvaneshwaris

Typically though, when we came back, I catalogued my pics & forgot all about them.

Till in December 2023, THT had their Pechu Kacheri on Hoysala Art and Architecture & Gopu asked me, if I could prepare a 7 minute presentation on the Bhuvaneswaris. He further set me thinking, by asking, if we had Domes in India before this and what were they called?

I spent the next 10 days, happily reading up, researching (to some extent) and conjecturing (to a large extent) on Bhuvaneswaris, their origin, evolution, detailing and the unanswered mysteries about them.

Infact my presentation was called -  புவனேஸ்வரி ஒரு கேள்விக்குறி ? (An oblique reference to a popular Tamizh movie)

A few things I discovered...

What are Structural Domes?

A Structural Dome is a specific Architectural element (similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere) executed to roof a large column free space.

A dome can rest directly upon a rotunda wall, a drum, or a system of squinches or pendentives used to accommodate the transition in shape from a rectangular or square space to the round or polygonal base of the dome. The dome's apex may be closed or may be open in the form of an oculus, which may itself be covered with a roof lantern and cupola

Although earliest Domes have a long architectural lineage that extends back into prehistory, they became predominant with the advent of Islam and evolution of Persian Architecture. Since Islam is a religion based on congregational prayer, large column free halls was a necessity. To answer this Domes were developed. Extending into Byzantine and Sasanian architecture, they were soon borrowed by Rome. Through Middle Ages and Renaissance, they spread across Europe and the entire west, acquiring a parallel language for Christianity.

In India they arrived with the Muslims.

The Alai Dawarza, a gate in the Qutb complex built in 1311, has the first dome in India made of finely dressed stone cut into voussoir blocks. 

However Hoysalas built their Domes as early as 11th Century which led me to conclude that

• Bhuvanewaris were Indigenous innovations built using a corbelling or stepping technique.
• Pioneered by the Hoysalas - to suit their own needs of a Decorative ceiling which is more interesting than a mere flat roof.

The above surmise is based on the facts that 

The Navarangas (ForeCourts) over which Bhuvaneswaris are built, normally have a row of Columns in both directions. Central 4 columns are chosen over which the Dome is built. This area could have easily had a flat roof as well. Thus it is the need to have a differential ceiling surface, to decorate - which has propelled their execution.

Further Bhuvaneshwaris are hardly visible from outside. There is no triumph of Structural achievement here, nor any attempt to integrate them with the overall temple in terms of proportions or architectural equations. It is the Interior which is prominent here.

Thus in my ignorance, I concluded Bhuvaneswaris to be a unique, original, innovative phenomenon discovered by the Hoysalas, not repeated either before or after.

Till we came to Site Seminar 2024 and had our preparatory lecture by none other than the great scholar Ms. Kumud Kanitkar. First she spoke about the Ambernath temple at Mumbai and then about the Bhuleshwar temple at Pune. She used a hitherto unheard term - the Karotaka Ceiling.

This sent me googling again. Without much result. All that I could gather -

Similar to Bhuvaneshwaris (though far less ornate) Karotaka ceilings have been there in temples of Maharashtra & Gujarat. Built around the same time (11th Century CE), the major difference seems to be

•  There is no Exterior dome.
• Inside the hollow of the Corbelled Shikara, a dome has been fitted.
• In all probabilty, this dome was made in parts at ground level as sections (similar to petals) and assembled at the ceiling level.
• Thus Karotaka too has no structural purpose and is purely an Interior element meant to enhance the internal visual appearance alone

When we actually visited Ambernath and Bhuleshwar, though the temples were magnificent with beautiful sculptures - the Kharotakas were a disappointment. Not so well maintained, nor so ornate. Nothing breath taking here. They only served to prove that the Bhuvaneshwaris may not have been completely original, nor pioneering attempts at constructing Interior domes, at floor level and then assembling them at the Ceiling level.

There are, perhaps, similar Domed Ceilings elsewhere in other temples too leading one to wonder - How was it possible that across such a large country (with minimal transport and Communication facilities in those days), we have a similar idiom or language for temple building across the entire expanse - from North to South and East to West?

(Avantipura in Kashmir has a similar plan to Kailasanatha in Kanchipuram).

To quote Adam Hardy -

A symbolic function resides in the temple form. Just as the temple exterior was designed to create a skyward surge visually, the same was the desired effect internally, with intricate ceilings drawing the devotee's eyes upward towards the Manifest and then the Absolute.

It is this basic concept, that perhaps unifies all our temples, even amidst their variations in form, material and the Gods they house.

My own question demanding an answer -

Why is it that all of us know so much about Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel - Marvel about it, study it in detail and discuss and debate on it endlessly - yet know next to nothing about our own beautiful temple ceilings - equally or more difficult to execute, intricate and beautiful in their art, craft and mathematical precision? 

When, if at all, are we going to acknowledge our Art and Artisans?

On that note, let me conclude, with a picture of one of the most beautiful Bhuvaneshwaris