Durga temple, Aihole
The name of the temple in this case is misleading as it isn't dedicated to goddess Durga. It is named as such after a nearby fort. (The sanskrit word for the Fort is Durga). The temple was built around 725 AD during the reign of the Chalukya ruler Vijayaditya.
In the context of India temple architecture the temple holds an unique position due to various reasons. First of all the building doesn't fit in any of the conventional category of Indian temple architecture. The Hall and Porch are built into Dravida style, while the Shikhara or the pyramidal top is built in Nagara style. The entire temple itself is built in the apsidal form which is extremely unusual for the Hindu temples of the time.
The biggest mystery however concerns the deity to whom this temple was dedicated, At some point of time the main deity from the inner sanctum was removed and the reliefs on the temple walls contain the representation of wide variety of deities, which makes its identification difficult. Over the years it has been connected variously with Buddha, Shiva, Vishnu, Durga and Aditya (surya - Sun diety). It was associated with Buddhism because in the past the apsidal temple architecture was erroneously associated exclusively with Buddhism. However in reality Apsidal architecture was also used by the Ajivikas, Jaina and Hindu cults too. Besides it is little bit difficult to explain the Hindu iconography in Buddhist temple. Shaiva temples of the region generally had tradition for the separate Nandi pavilion infront of the temple, which is absent in this case, so it can't be Shiva temple either. Since the Goddess isn't the principal presentation on the reliefs it can't be dedicated to Goddess Durga either. Vishnu temples of the region and period tend to have exclusive Vaishnava iconography, while as suggested earlier the temple contains representation of the various deities.. So it can't be Vishnu temple either. Most of the art historians today consider it as Sun temple as there is an image of the Sun deity above entrance, in addition to several representations of Sun god in the temple. Besides an inscription has been found which refers to it as a temple of Aditya. So it is safe to assume that the temple was indeed dedicated to Sun god.
Circular stone on the ground is actually the fallen top of the temple.
Edited by Jinit - 08-May-2014 at 11:04