The earliest phase of architectural activity of the Guptas, who patronized and sponsored temples to Vishnu and Shiva from the beginning of the 4th century AD, can be seen in the rock-cut chambers at Udayagiri, which can definitely be dated to the reign of Chandragupta II on the basis of inscriptional evidence. Hewn out of a sandstone cliff, their significance of the nine rock-cut chambers is that they contain an appropriate shrine chamber with a pillared portico in front which augurs the initial development of a Hindu temple.

It was soon followed by free standing temples which marked the beginning of a new Hindu architecture that drew on earlier Buddhist sculptural techniques, but initiated a new movement, ultimately leading to the great and elaborate Hindu temples from the 8th century onwards. There were five main types of temple built in the Gupta period of which the first consisted of a square sanctuary with a flat-roof and shallow pillared porch in front. Representative types of this early temple include the Temple No 17 at Sanchi, Kankali Devi shrine at Tigawa, and Vishnu and Varaha temples at Eran, all in Madhya Pradesh.

Each of them consists of a simple square sanctum cella with an open pillared porch in front. The richly carved door-frame projects a little beyond the line of the front wall, while the other three walls are kept severely plain. Elaborations of this basic form were soon to emerge as the second type of temples were built with a flat-roofed square sanctum with a square ambulatory around it and preceded by a pillared porch, sometimes with a second storey above as represented by the surviving structures like the Parvati Devi temple at Nachna Kuthara, the Shiva temple at Bhumara (both in Madhya Pradesh) and the Lad Khan at Aihole.

To be continued....