With reference to the cultural history of India, the term ‘Panchayatan’ refers to:

Answer: (c) A style of temple construction

Panchayatana is a temple plan with a main shrine and four subsidiary shrines at the corners of the plinth, five shrines in all. The Dashavatara temple at Deogarh is an early example.

• ✓ (c) Panchayatana is a style of temple construction with five shrines.
• ✗ (a) Village councils are called panchayats; the spelling and sense differ.

Remember · Panchayatana = five-shrine temple plan (main shrine plus four corner shrines); Deogarh is an early Gupta example.

📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Ch 6 (practise this chapter)

Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2014, General Studies paper. UPSC did not publish an answer key for 2014: the answer shown is the one the sources above support. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error