Aihole

Historical site in the state of Karnataka,
just south of the modern city of Bijapur.
Aihole was an important city during the
Chalukya dynasty (4th–8th c. C.E.), and its
surviving buildings are some of the oldest
standing Hindu temples. These temples
represent an early stage in the evolution of
Hindu architecture from earlier architectural forms, such as the rock-cut cave temple (chaitya) or enclosed courtyard
(vihara). One of the earliest temples (ca.
450 C.E.) is a simple square pavilion (mandapa) with a tower (shikhara) over the
main image of the deity, one of the hallmarks of later Hindu temples. A temple to
Durga built about a century later has the
general plan of a chaitya, but a shikhara
was also added. Although the temples at
Aihole are related to the earlier forms, they
also prefigure the mature development of
medieval Hindu architecture.