Timelines

Photographs and documents sit beside change claims. A missing date stays missing.

Historic photograph
1855

Durga Temple, Aihole — East front
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.
Historic photograph
1856

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi — Temple complex, 1856
Oldest named photograph of this temple stored here. Alexander John Greenlaw photographed the Virupaksha complex at Hampi in 1856. His Hampi series is widely treated as the earliest extensive photographic record of Vijayanagara.
Historic photograph
1858

Qutb Minar — Minaret shaft
Felice Beato photographed the Qutb Minar in 1858, in the same year as the Tytler view, during his documentation of Delhi after the 1857 uprising.
Historic photograph
1858

Qutb Minar — General view, 1858
Robert and Harriet Tytler photographed a general view of the Qutb Minar in 1858. This is the earliest photograph of the Delhi monument stored here.
Historic photograph
1858

Meenakshi Temple — East gopuram
Linnaeus Tripe photographed the east gopuram in 1858. This is the earliest photograph of the Madurai temple stored here.
Historic photograph
January–March 1858

Meenakshi Temple — Temple entrance
A second Tripe photograph from the same 1858 campaign, showing the entrance to the Meenakshi shrine.
Historic photograph
1860s

Taj Mahal — East view, 1860s
Samuel Bourne photographed the Taj Mahal in the 1860s. This is the earliest photograph of the mausoleum stored here. Earlier painters’ views were not ingested.
Historic photograph
Around 1868

Jagannath Temple — Lion Gate
William Henry Cornish photographed the Lion Gate around 1868. This is the earliest photograph of the Puri temple stored here.
Historic photograph
1868

Brihadisvara Temple — Temple from the grounds
Edmund David Lyon photographed the temple in 1868. Linnaeus Tripe’s 1858 prints are still not stored.
Historic photograph
1869

Ranganathaswamy Temple — Temple in 1869
Samuel Bourne’s 1869 photograph is titled “Temple of Vishnu, Trichinopoly.” That is the colonial name for the city beside Srirangam. This is the earliest photograph of the temple stored here.
Historic photograph
1869

Brihadisvara Temple — Subrahmanya shrine
Samuel Bourne photographed the Subrahmanya shrine in the same complex in 1869.
Historic photograph
1869

Brihadisvara Temple — Gopura
Samuel Bourne photographed a gateway tower in the complex in 1869.
Historic photograph
About 1870

Ranganathaswamy Temple — Royal gopuram
An albumen photograph of about 1870, titled “Royal Gopuram, Srirangam.” The photographer is not named.
Historic photograph
About 1870

Ranganathaswamy Temple — Gopura
Samuel Bourne photographed a gateway tower in the Ranganatha complex about 1870.
Interior photograph
About 1880

Meenakshi Temple — Painted corridor
An albumen photograph by Bourne and Shepherd, about 1880, of a painted corridor inside the temple.
Historic photograph
About 1880

Ranganathaswamy Temple — Eastern pagoda
A Bourne photograph of about 1880 titled “Eastern pagoda, Trichinopoly,” filed with the Srirangam temple.
Historic photograph
1880s

Kailasa Temple, Ellora — Temple in the 1880s
An albumen photograph catalogued to the 1880s shows the excavated Kailasa Temple. The photographer is not named on this file. A circa-1870 KITLV print is earlier and was not ingested.
Historic photograph
1880s

Konark Sun Temple — Mandapa from the east
William Henry Cornish photographed the mandapa from the east in the 1880s. This is the earliest photograph of Konark stored here.
Historic photograph
1880s

Konark Sun Temple — Mandapa from the south
A second Cornish photograph from the 1880s, taken from the south.
Historic photograph
1885

Great Stupa, Sanchi — Northern view, 1885
Lala Deen Dayal photographed the Great Stupa from the north in 1885. This is the earliest republishable photograph of Sanchi stored here. James Waterhouse’s 1861–62 gateway survey is earlier and is not ingested.
Historic photograph
1888

Kailasa Temple, Ellora — Deen Dayal view, 1888
Lala Deen Dayal photographed the Kailasa Temple in 1888.
Historic photograph
1890

Konark Sun Temple — Horse statues
Two horse statues near the horse gateway, photographed in 1890. The photographer is not named on this file.
Interior photograph
1890s

Meenakshi Temple — Interior pillars
Nicholas & Co. of Madras photographed an interior of the temple in the 1890s.
Historic photograph
1880s–1890s

Brihadisvara Temple — Temple, photographer not named
A photograph catalogued to the 1880s or 1890s. The photographer is not named on the file.
Historic photograph
1890s

Brihadisvara Temple — Temple and grounds
Nicholas & Co. of Madras photographed the temple and its grounds in the 1890s.
Historic photograph
1890s

Jagannath Temple — North entrance
Poorno Chander Mukherji photographed the north entrance in the 1890s.
Historic photograph
1890s

Jagannath Temple — Street beside the temple
A street scene near the temple, catalogued to the 1890s. The photographer is not named.
Historic photograph
1890s

Jagannath Temple — Temple in the 1890s
A view of the temple catalogued to the 1890s. The photographer is not named.
Historic photograph
About 1890

Konark Sun Temple — West side of the mandapa
Cornish photographed the left half of the west façade and the roof about 1890.
Historic photograph
About 1890

Konark Sun Temple — Elephant gateway
Cornish photographed a stone elephant at the elephant gateway about 1890.
Historic photograph
1890

Konark Sun Temple — Eastern doorway
A close view of the eastern doorway, dated 1890. The photographer is not named on this file.
Historic photograph
About 1892

Jagannath Temple — Temple from the south-east
Cornish photographed the temple from the south-east about 1892.
Historic photograph
About 1892

Jagannath Temple — Temple from the east
Cornish photographed the temple from the east about 1892, with the bazaar in front.
Historic photograph
1895

Meenakshi Temple — Tank and south tower
William Henry Jackson’s 1895 print shows the bathing tank, a golden shrine, and the south tower in one frame.
Historic photograph
1908

Brihadisvara Temple — Postcard view
A 1908 postcard published by Underwood & Underwood shows the temple.
Historic photograph
1923

Meenakshi Temple — Tank and southern gopuram
Georg Morgenstierne photographed the Golden Lily tank with the southern gopuram behind it in 1923.
Interior photograph
1938

Ranganathaswamy Temple — Hall of a thousand pillars
Alfred Nawrath’s 1938 photogravure shows the hall of a thousand pillars.
Historic photograph
January 1989

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Street, gopuram, and temple car
Earliest photograph in this corpus that can be republished. It shows the eastern gopuram from the street and a tall wooden temple car. It does not show the tank or the interior.
Photograph
30 December 2006

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Sculpted eastern gopuram
Close view of the white sculpted tower, its finials, and the figures along the sides.
Photograph
3 February 2006

Meenakshi Temple — Gopuram
One of the temple towers at Madurai.
Photograph
18 March 2007

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Eastern gopuram and entrance
Public-domain view of the sculpted eastern tower, one palm, and entrance buildings in the foreground. It does not show the tank or the interior.
Photograph
7 January 2007

Nagaraja Temple — Temple from outside
A view of the temple at Nagercoil. It does not show the sanctum interior.
Photograph
7 September 2008

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Temple tank and water mandapa
The tank and the mandapa standing in the water. The main gopuram is outside this frame.
Photograph
15 December 2010

Brihadisvara Temple — Gopuram
The tower of the Thanjavur temple. Linnaeus Tripe’s 1858 photographs are still not stored.
Photograph
16 May 2011

Kamakhya Temple — Temple on the hill
The Kamakhya Temple at Guwahati.
Photograph
8 December 2013

Lingaraja Temple — Temple tower
The Lingaraja tower at Bhubaneswar.
Photograph
30 May 2013

Ramanathaswamy Temple — Pillared corridor
A corridor of the temple on Rameswaram island.
Photograph
20 June 2013

Padmanabhaswamy Temple — Eastern gopuram
The eastern tower of the Thiruvananthapuram temple.
Photograph
9 December 2013

Jagannath Temple — Temple tower
The Puri temple seen from outside.
Photograph
4 August 2014

Somnath Temple — Present temple
The standing temple at Prabhas Patan. The year of this reconstruction is not stored.
Photograph
3 January 2021

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Tank, mandapa, and gopuram
Wide view across the tank. The gopuram and the mandapa in the water are both visible.
Photograph
18 February 2021

Nagaraja Temple — Grounds, tree, and serpent stones
Earliest photograph in this record that can be republished. It was taken at the temple and shows a large tree with carved serpent stones around its platform. It does not show the sanctum or a measured elevation.
Photograph
14 November 2024

Kashi Vishwanath Temple — Present temple
The standing temple in Varanasi. Earlier buildings on the site remain unresolved in this record.
Interpreted diagram
Drawn for this corpus, 2026

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Simplified site diagram
Top-down reading of published relationships. It is not a floor plan from a survey.
Interpreted diagram
Drawn for this corpus, 2026

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Interpretive massing
Block model of the same features as the elevation and site diagram. Heights and depths are arrangements. The tower steps are not a storey count and are not a measured height.
Interpreted diagram
Drawn for this corpus, 2026

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — East elevation
Simplified elevation. The tower follows the photographs. The tank is visible in the 2008 and 2021 frames. Hall positions are still not taken from a survey.
Change
1858 photographic campaign

Qutb Minar — Photographed immediately after 1857
Beato, Murray, and the Tytlers made named photographs of the minaret in 1858. This record treats those prints as evidence of the monument’s appearance then, not as a construction date.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
1855–1856 photographic campaign

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi — Earliest extensive photographic survey of Hampi
Greenlaw’s 1855–56 negatives are the earliest known extensive photographs of Hampi. Later reprinting in 1910 does not change the negative date used here.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
1860s photographic campaign

Taj Mahal — Commercial photographic souvenir of the 1860s
Bourne’s Agra photographs circulated widely as souvenirs. This record stores one dated frame as photographic evidence of the standing tomb, not as a construction date.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Published descriptions disagree

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Eastern tower: conflicting published descriptions
One secondary account describes seven storeys. Another describes eleven storeys and a height of about 44 metres. The 2007 photograph shows the tower without settling the count. No single figure is published here as the measurement.

Correlated interpretation · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Somnath Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Ranganathaswamy Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Ramanathaswamy Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Brihadisvara Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Padmanabhaswamy Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Reported 16th century and later

Nagaraja Temple — Later shrines are described, not dated from a drawing
Published accounts say Krishna and Shiva shrines were added after the main Nagaraja shrine, and they cite 16th-century inscriptions. This record does not treat those sentences as a measured building sequence.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Meenakshi Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Lingaraja Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Konark Sun Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Kashi Vishwanath Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Kamakhya Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
1880s photographic record stored

Kailasa Temple, Ellora — Rock-cut temple recorded by colonial and Indian photographers
Commercial and survey photographs of the excavated temple circulate from about 1870 onward. This record stores 1880s frames available as republishable Commons JPEGs.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Date not established in this corpus

Jagannath Temple — Identified from a secondary account
This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
1861–62 survey known; 1885 print stored

Great Stupa, Sanchi — Survey photography precedes the stored print
Waterhouse documented the toranas in 1861–62. This corpus stores a later Deen Dayal view because a republishable Commons file was available. The gap is recorded, not closed by guessing Waterhouse’s frames.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Early 8th century, as reported

Durga Temple, Aihole — Published as an early Chalukya temple
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.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
9th century in one secondary account

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Chola-period masonry is a secondary claim
Wikipedia attributes the present masonry to the Chola period in the 9th century, with later Nayaka and Travancore expansions. Other guides speak of the standing fabric as later. The claim is stored, not confirmed.

Documented fact · Low confidence
Change
16th century in a secondary account

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Navaratri mandapa
Wikipedia describes a 16th-century Navaratri mandapa with Kerala-style timber construction. No drawing of it is stored.

Documented fact · Medium confidence
Change
Told as circa 1740–1930

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Hanuman figure reported hidden, then uncovered
Secondary retellings say the image was buried around 1740 and uncovered in 1930. Primary Devaswom records are not ingested, so this remains a published story with a low confidence.

Documented fact · Low confidence
Change
Late 19th to early 20th century, secondary

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Tower associated with late Travancore patronage
Secondary historical summaries associate major tower work with the reigns of Vishakam Tirunal and Sree Moolam Tirunal. The primary Travancore records are not in this corpus.

Documented fact · Low confidence
Change
Present in 2007; built date unknown

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Entrance buildings visible by 2007
The photograph shows a gateway and lower structures in front of the tower. When they were built is not known. They are not labelled as twentieth-century additions.

Photographic evidence · Medium confidence
Change
Installation date unknown

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple — Crowd fittings and tank edging
Barriers, lighting, and concrete tank edges are often mentioned by visitors. This corpus has no work order and no older photograph to date them, so they are not given a decade.

Unknown · Not established