Pattadakal. Virupaksha Temple

The similarity in architectural styles between the Conjeeveram and Pattadakal Temples is easily seen in comparing their gopura and precinct walls, which show the same decorational plans and, equally, the same proportionate layout of buildings in relation to walls. Both show the same surmounting 'watch-tower' elements along the walls, while the walls themselves are undecorated. The handsome gopura towers rise over the main shrines and are, in each case, richly and exuberantly ornamented and display the same multiplication of the chaitya-window motifs over their surface. The greatest differences between the two lie in the foundations, for the Pattadakal Temple is elevated to a considerable extent above the Conjeeveram Temple, and in this respect is greater in overall height than the Conjeeveram Kailasanath. The north had adopted a southern style in the Pattadakal Temple, but it would soon alter this style and surpass its predecessors in excellence. -- General view from west