In which style is the Kailasanathar temple of Kanchi built?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — A, Rajsimha (Rajasimha) style. The Kailasanathar temple at Kanchipuram was built by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman II, who bore the title Rajasimha, in the early 8th century CE. Pallava architecture is conventionally split into four phases named after rulers, and the phase of free-standing structural temples built of dressed stone is called the Rajasimha style after this king — the Kanchi Kailasanathar and the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram are its two flagship monuments.

Why the other options are wrong — (b) The Mamalla phase, under Narasimhavarman I 'Mamalla', produced the monolithic rathas and the sculptured mandapas at Mamallapuram — monuments carved out of living rock, not built up from stone blocks, and not at Kanchi.  (c) The Mahendra phase is the earliest Pallava phase, under Mahendravarman I, and consists of rock-cut cave temples (mandapas) scooped into hillsides. It produced no structural temple of the Kailasanathar type.  (d) The Nandivarman phase comes after Rajasimha, under Nandivarman II Pallavamalla, and is represented by smaller structural temples such as the Vaikuntha Perumal temple at Kanchi — later than, and modest beside, the Kailasanathar.

Concept: Pallava temple building moved through four stages: rock-cut caves (Mahendra), monolithic rathas (Mamalla), structural stone temples (Rajasimha), and later smaller structural temples (Nandivarman). The shift from carving into rock to building with quarried, dressed stone is the single dividing line, and Rajasimha's Kailasanathar at Kanchi is the standard example of the built phase. The Pallava structural temple set the vocabulary of the Dravida order — a pyramidal vimana over the sanctum, a pillared mandapa in front, and an enclosing prakara wall lined with subsidiary cells.

State PCS 2025 Q1 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q1 — Art & Culture PYQ with Answer