Durga Temple, Aihole

Oldest named temple photograph stored in this corpus. Thomas Biggs made it in 1855. It shows the east front of the Durga Temple at Aihole. An unidentified temple photograph catalogued at 1843–1845 is earlier and is not this building. The Virupaksha Temple at Pattadakal was also photographed by Biggs in 1855, and that print is not stored.

The article identifies an early temple at Aihole, describes an apsidal plan, and explains the name Durga from a later lookout rather than from the goddess. The 1855 photograph is a separate source.

A secondary account dates the temple to the early eighth century and says a fortified lookout was added after the thirteenth century. Neither date is taken from an inscription edition in this corpus. The 1855 photograph shows the east front as it stood then.