Which of the following type of temple architecture has/have its own tradition of wooden buildings with pitched roofs? 1. Bengal Temples 2. Hill Temples 3. Assam Temples 4. Odisha Temples Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

The correct answer is 2 only . Key Points Hill Temples It is a unique form of architecture developed in the hills of Kumaon, Garhwal, Himachal and Kashmir. Kashmir’s proximity to prominent Gandhara sites (such as Taxila, Peshawar and the northwest frontier) lent the region a strong Gandhara influence by the 5 th century CE. The hills also had their own tradition of wooden buildings with pitched roofs. At several places in the hills, while the main Garbhagriha and shikhara are made in a Rekha-Prasada or Latina style, the mandapa is of an older form of wooden architecture. Sometimes, the temple itself takes on a pagoda shape. The Karkota period of Kashmir is the most significant in terms of architecture. One of the most important temples is Pandrethan, built during the 8 th and 9 th centuries. Additional Information Eastern Indian temples include those found in the North East, Bengal and Odisha. Assam An old 6th century sculpted door frame from Da Parbatia near Tezpur and another few stray sculptures from Rangapara Tea Estate near Tinsukia in Assam bear witness to the import of the Gupta idiom in that region. This post-Gupta style continued in the region well into the 10th century By the 12th-14th centuries, a distinct regional style developed in Assam. The style that came with the migration of the Tais from Upper Burma mixed with the dominant Pala style of Bengal and led to the creation of what was later known as the Ahom style in and around Guwahati. It is an old sixth-century sculpted door frame from Da Parbatia near Tezpur and another few stray sculptures from Rangapara Tea Estate near Tinsukia in Assam bear witness to the import of the Gupta idiom in that region. Odisha The main architectural features of Odisha temples are classified into three orders, i.e., rekhapida, pidhadeul and khakra. The temples of Odisha constitute a distinct sub-style within the nagara order. Important features: The shikhara called Deul is vertical almost until the top when it suddenly curves sharply inwards. Deuls are preceded, as usual, by mandapas called Jagamohana in Odisha. The ground plan of the main temple is almost always square, which, in the upper reaches of its superstructure becomes circular in the crowning mastaka . This makes the spire nearly cylindrical in appearance in its length. Compartments and niches are generally square, the exterior of the temples are lavishly carved, and their interiors are generally quite bare. Odisha temples usually have boundary walls. Most of the main temple sites are located in ancient Kalinga - modern Puri District, including Bhubaneswar or ancient Tribhuvanesvara, Puri and Konark. Bengal The style of the sculptures during the period between the ninth and eleventh centuries in Bengal (including Bangladesh) and Bihar is known as the Pala style, named after the ruling dynasty at the time. While the style of those of the mid-eleventh to mid-thirteenth centuries is named after the Sena kings. It appears that terracotta was the main medium of construction, and also for moulding plaques which depicted Buddhist and Hindu deities in Bengal until the 7th century. Many of the temples from the 9th to the 12th century were located at Telkupi in the Purulia district and were among the important examples of architectural styles prevalent in the region which showed an awareness of all the known Nagara sub-types that were prevalent in the rest of North India. The black to grey basalt and chlorite stone pillars and arched niches of several temples still survive in Purulia district were heavily influenced the earliest Bengal sultanate buildings at Gaur and Pandua. Mahadeva temple in Barakar in Burdwan District shows a tall curving shikhara crowned by a large Amalaka and is an example of the early Pala style. It is similar to the contemporaneous temples of Odisha. In the Mughal period and later, scores of terracotta brick temples were built across Bengal and Bangladesh in a unique style that had elements of local building techniques seen in bamboo huts which were combined with older forms reminiscent of the Pala period and with the forms of arches and domes that were taken from Islamic architecture. These can be widely found in and around Vishnupur, Bankura, Burdwan and Birbhum and are dated mostly to the seventeenth century.