Buddhist Influences on Hindu Temple Architecture

During my undergraduate years, I took a class called Shrine and Image, under the tutelage of my favorite art history professor Diran Dohanian. In this class, he taught that the design of Hindu temples developed from early Buddhist stupas. I saw evidence to further support this theory during my visit to the temples of Aihole, Patadakal and Badami in Karnataka last week.

The semi-circular shrine chamber, pillared circum-ambulatory path, and pillared entrance hall, which are critical features of the Durga temple at Aihole (640-680 AD), all derive from early Buddhist shrines, such as those at Ajanta.

The structure and ornamentation of pillars at the rock-cut caves at Badami (6 to 8th c. AD) and the interiors of the temples at Patadakal such as the Virupaksha temple (740 AD) and the unfinished temple alongside it are strongly influenced by Buddhist cave designs.

A relief of a couple crowned by an overarching tree at the entrance of one of the temples at Patadakal can be traced to the torana reliefs at Sanchi(1st c. BC).

If these works of art were included in my course, I think Professor's Dohanian's argument would have been even stronger. However, the class would have lost much of it's mystery.