Temples and Palaces in India

Hi.. Have you ever wondered why there are so many very old temples in South India but no great palaces? When the Kings can construct sturdy and robust temples that have withstood the vagaries of nature, why dont we have great palaces in South India? The few palaces that we have now are not more than 400 years old and they are nowhere as spectacular as the temples.

This is a contrast with North India where we have both temples and palaces. While many temples are ruined most palaces have survived and the palaces are more magnificient than temples.

Why is this so?

I could think of an explanation.

People in the south were more pious and devoted and were willing to sacrifice self for God. Sacrifice was one important facet of their lives. From history, we can presume that they seemed to wait for a chance to sacrifice themselves either for the Kings or God or their family and friends. So they were more interested in using all their knowledge and skills in constructing temples rather than for their own. This applied for the kings too. They lived in modest palaces. For example, consider the Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar Temple. It has the largest Nandi and one of the tallest and biggest Gopurams. It does not cast a shadow and scientists are awestruck at the way a single huge rock stone of several tonnes has been taken to the top of the gopuram. Couldn't Raja Raja Cholan have constructed an equally similar marvel for himself? He didnt because he was more devoted to God.

But in the north, though people were no less pious, they wanted their names to be etched in the annals of history forever. So they constructed extravagant palaces for themselves besides temples.

There can be another explanation too.

We may infer from south Indian history that Kings infact constructed impressive palaces for themselves like their north Indian contemporaries. Where are they now?

When nations conquer each other one of the first things they want is to assert their supremacy over the loser and his nation. So they humiliate him and his assets. Palaces were demolished That may be one of the plausible reasons why there are no palaces found in the south. They didnt touch the temples because the whole of Dravidian India was united by religion. One example of a fantastic palace along with a city demolished is Hampi in Karnataka.

In the north why were the temples demolished? Because the Muslim invaders were more intent on destroying the main uniting factor than the palaces. They used the palaces for themselves and the Indo-Arabic architecture grew out of this confluence.

I beleive I have a given a credible explanation to the issue.

Comments and critics are welcome.