With reference to the cultural history of India, the term ‘Panchayatan’ refers to:
Answer & explanation
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)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · An Introduction to Indian Art, Part I, Chapter 6 “This temple is in the panchayatana style of architecture where the main shrine is built on a rectangular plinth with four smaller subsidiary shrines at the four corners”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2014, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 24 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
