Pallava Dynasty

Pallava's played an important role in the evolution of temple building in the start of the century. They initiated a sea change in the construction of temples. The temples which earlier were built of wood and brick moved to more durable form. Black stone/ Granite was identified by them. Initial temple forms started with cave excavations (Mamandur), Monolithic structures seen in Mahalbalipuram. 

 Then came the giant leap into era of structural temples. In these temples, the raw material - stone could be brought from far off places, carved and moved. This brought in lot of flexibility. Further dynasties took cue and took from the Pallava monuments and rest as they is history.

The spring board of structural temples was the Pallava masterpiece at their capital Kanchipuram - Kailasanathar Temple.

The Kailasanathar Temple was built by Narasimhavarma II ( 691 -728 A.D ) also know as Rajasimha. The temple has been built using sandstone by the architects and craftsmen belonging to the Pallava period.

The Kailasanathar Temple was preceded by the shore temple at Mamallapuram and the Pallava rulers built finely crafted mid sized temples during their reign.

Kailasanathar temple was the inspiration for other monuments of grandeur namely : Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal,Kailasa temple at Ellora, Tanjore Big temple.

Sad part is the fact that, it is not popular amongst the Kanchipuram visiting populace and not much crowd is seen on any given day. Monument is protected by ASI and sadly could not find place in the UNESCO world heritage monument list due to the rampant modifications done after.