Dravidian Architecture is an Architectural style of South India, which evolved around 6th century A.D. and developed for about 10 centuries. This style has produced number of magnificent buildings. This growth had been patronized by various dynasties that ruled this region. Architectural Historian sub divide the period of Dravidian Architectural growth into 1. Pallava Period, 2. Chola Period, 3. Pandava Period, 4. Vijayanagara Period and 5. Nayakkar Period.

Gopuram is an important structure in Dravidian Architecture.

NAGARA style temples have curvilinear towers as against DRAVIDIAN temples which have truncated pyramids. The derivative style VESARA is a combination of both NAGARA and DRAVIDIAN type of architecture.

NAGARA style temple architecture originated during the Gupta period (320 -650 AD) and is found mostly in North and Central India. The temple complexes at TIGAWA (In modern MADHYA PRADESH), NACHNA in RAJASTHAN and DEOGARH in UTTAR PRADESH are examples of this. The major developments in temple architecture were during the following periods.

750 – 1250 AD in Orissa

950 – 1050 AD in Central India

10^th to 11^th Century in Rajasthan and

11^th to 13^th Century in Gujarat.

Some of temples worth seeing are LINGARAJA temple at Bhubaneswar, JAGANNATHA temple in Puri, SURYA temple at Konarak.

VESARA STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE

            Vesara is the name given to a particular architectural style which was prevalent in Karnataka for a number of centuries during the medieval era. It is essentially a combination of the ‘nAgara’ and ‘drAviDa’ styles which are typical of North India and the far South respectively. The geographical position of Karnataka, the wide spread activities of the important royal dynasties and an attitude which is not unduly stubborn might have prompted this amalgamation of styles. This phenomenon is observed right from the days of the architectural endeavours of Badami Chalukyas till the days of the Vijayanagara Empire. Some scholars have argued that “the Vesara, which came to prevail mostly in western Deccan and south Karnataka, was a derivation from the apsidal chapels of the early Buddhist period which the Brahmanical faith adopted and vastly improved. In its origin, the vesara is as much north Indian as it is west Deccanese.”