Cardiff,
is the capital and largest city in Wales and the tenth largest city in the
United Kingdom. Cardiff is a significant
tourist centre and the most popular visitor destination in Wales. A
small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a major port for the
transport of coal following the arrival of industry in the region contributed
to its rise as a major city. Cardiff was made a city in 1905, and proclaimed
the capital of Wales in 1955. Since the 1990s, Cardiff has seen significant
development.
Sophia
Gardens, known since 2015 as The SSE SWALEC for sponsorship reasons, is
the cricket stadium in Cardiff and
is home to Glamorgan County Cricket Club
– it has hosted many International matches. The first semi-final between
England and Pakistan was played at
Cardiff on Wednesday and the loss made
the hosts make some remarks on the pitch !
Typologies are a dominant
feature of the diverse Sanskrit treatises surviving from ancient and medieval
India. Canonical texts on architecture, called Vastuśāstras, are no exception.
They put forward elaborate schemes naming and classifying all kinds of
settlements and buildings – palaces, houses, stables for horses or elephants,
altars, and not least temples, the palaces of gods. That distinctive varieties
and categories are central to the way in which Indian temple architecture was
traditionally conceived is as evident in the architecture itself as in the
texts that deal with it. Formal types are the very basis of temple design, both
through variations and permutations of a given type, and through combinations
of types in composite arrangements. ~ ~ an essay written not in Sanskrit but in English and its author
is ‘ Adam Hardy ‘ !!!
Adam Hardy is an
architect and architectural historian, and Professor of Asian Architecture at
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. He is Director of PRASADA, a
centre bringing together research and practice in South Asian art and
architecture. His research is largely in the history of architecture in South
Asia, particularly Indian temple architecture (Buddhist, Hindu, Jain). He has
tried to bring to light a meaningful way of looking at what at first sight seem
bewilderingly complex structures. Drawings have played an important role in his
research, not only for explanation but also as a means of analysis.
‘Prasada’ [no m
(prasadam)] – is a centre devoted to the architecture, visual arts and material
culture of South Asia and its diaspora. The centre aims to integrate academic
research with creative practice through research projects and publications,
design consultancy work, teaching and postgraduate research programmes. Founded
in 1995 by Adam Hardy, it is based at the Welsh School of Architecture
since 2004.
Nearer home,
the Hoysala empire was a prominent
Southern Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern-day state of
Karnataka between the 10th and 14th centuries. The
capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to
Halebidu. In the 12th century, they expanded to areas of present-day Karnataka and the fertile
areas north of the Kaveri River delta in present-day Tamil Nadu. By the 13th
century, they governed most of
present-day Karnataka, minor parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of western Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana in Deccan India. The Hoysala era was an important period
in the development of art, architecture, and religion in South India. The
empire is remembered today primarily for its temple architecture. Over a
hundred surviving temples are scattered across Karnataka.
famous Melukote temple – Sri
Cheluvanaranar.
Well
known temples "which exhibit an amazing display of sculptural
exuberance" include the Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara
Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura. The Hoysala rulers also patronised the fine
arts, encouraging literature to flourish in Kannada and Sanskrit. Their style
of architecture is appreciated by all. Temples
built prior to Hoysala independence in the mid-12th century reflect significant
Western Chalukya influences, while later temples retain some features salient
to Chalukyan art but have additional inventive decoration and ornamentation,
features unique to Hoysala artisans.
An architectural
style that goes back 800 years, a plan for an ornate 21st century temple built
out of soapstone in an obscure village, and an architect from Wales to see it
through. That is what connects things in this post and is the nucleus of the
story of Hoysala-inspired Lord Venkateshwara temple at
Venkatapura, a few km away from Mulbagal in Kolar district of Karnataka. The
usually quiet hamlet hums with activity as people make a clearing, where the
fields lead to a plateau.
In 2010 the Shree
Kalyana Venkateshwara Hoysala Art Foundation commissioned PRASADA, through Cardiff
University’s Research and Commercial Development division (RACD), for Prof.
Adam Hardy to design a new temple in the complex 12th-century style of the
Hoysala dynasty. The traditionally constructed Hindu temple is being built on a hill at Venkatapura near Nangali in
Kolar District, Karnataka, India, made of the blue-grey soapstone (chloritic
schist) beloved of the Hoysalas. It is for our Lord Sriman Narayana in the
form of Shree Venkateshwara (or Balaji). The brief is not for a copy of a
Hoysala temple, but for a new creation arising from the design principles
manifest in the tradition. It is
attempted to revitalise regional
cultural traditions: the temple is to provide a setting for dance performances,
with schools of dance and sculpture envisaged at the site.
A group of master
craftsmen proficient in the Hoysala style of sculpture are on the job. The bhumipuja (initiation of the project,
orientation of the temple, worship of the goddess earth) took place on 21 March
2010, and the shilanyasa (foundation stone ceremony) in April 2012. Large
granite blocks are (2013) being transported to the site and lain to create a
level platform for the whole complex.
The Temple trust
website: www.skvstt.org states that : Rising on its hill of granite and commanding
wide views over the surrounding plains, the temple will stand on a 450 ft x 650
ft platform, surrounded by a prakara wall lined by ancillary rooms and a
colonnade, all of granite. Entry to the enclosure will be from the east through
a soapstone rajagopura. The entire complex will be ordered by a geometry of
circles and squares, and a corresponding grid, originating in the dimensions of
the garbhagriha. The temple itself will
be built of soapstone, standing on a 6 ft jagati encircled by seven shrines.
The vimana and rangamandapa will be preceded by a fifty-four pillared
sabhamandapa, a place for performances, open and visible from all around. This
will have a star shaped plan around a central octagon, like the sabhamandapa at
Arsikere, but with a central dome of twice the span and surrounded by eight
smaller domes.
Beyond the
sabhamandapa a flight of steps will lead via an imposing porch to the grand
doorway of the rangamandapa. The hall will have solid walls, except at the
front, where the doorway will be set in a pillared screen with a kaksasana seat
and perforated jalis. Inside, sixteen freestanding pillars will support nine
principal ceiling bays, with minor ceiling divisions set at a lower to allow
light to enter and glow across the main domes. Two further doorways will lead,
via the antarala, to the garbhagriha. The pillars and ceilings of the two
mandapas will be infused with a spirit of variety, generated through the
figurative and geometrical principles that underlie the temple as a whole.
The structure shuns
modern-day cement. Floated by a public trust, it promises to be bigger than the
Belur Chennakeshava temple. Leading the team is architect Adam Hardy, Professor
of Asian Architecture at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. The temple has been commissioned by a public
trust. “ Prof. Hardy says, “The Hoysala style is known for architectural
planning, detailed iconography, beautifully carved pillars and use of soapstone
instead of sandstone. To replicate it will be no easy job.”
The foundation for
the ambitious plan has been laid now, and the ceremony was attended by the
erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore Yaduveera Chamaraja Wadiyar. Sure, it promises to
be a glorious piece of architecture dedicated to Sriman Narayana.
adiyen
Srinivasadhasan
19th June
2017.
http://www.prasada.org.uk/prasada-design-projects-hoysala-temple
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