The temples constructed over the centuries boast of the sculptures, exhibiting the Indian artisans' talent. The numerous sculptures on temple walls are all hewn out of hard rock & last to date. Rock-cut architecture was perfected by the Buddhists, and was followed by several Hindu rulers. The Pallavas excelled in this art in the South of India.

The sculptures or idols in temples are made of granite (if it is mula vigraham) & the Utsava murthis are made of bronze & panchaloha. Apart from these, there are the huge Iyyanar statues & horses which still exist in South Indian villages.
Terracota (clay figurines) is an art in which various techniques are folowed by artisans in different parts of India. Sculptures are also made in various other metals such as brass, copper, white metal, glass, papier-mache, etc.,
 

::: Rock-cut Architecture :::   ::: Metal Sculptures :::

ROCK-CUT ARCHITECTURE

Hindu & Jain rock-cut architecture can be seen mainly at Badami, Aihole, Ellora, Elephanta, Aurangabad & Mamallapuram.
The Rashtrakutas produced the Brahmanical Kailasa temple at Ellora. Badami has four cave temples executed at various levels of the sand stone hill. Cave 1 is dedicated to Siva, 2 & 3 to Vishnu & cave no.4 is a Jaina structure.
Aihole has two rock-cut temples, one Jaina & the other Brahmanical. 
At Ellora there are 17 Brahmanical caves & 6 Jaina caves.

The Pallavas of Kanchi initiated rock-cut architecture in the South. They used the available hard granite to cave out their structures. Because of the hardness of the granite rock, there was a limitation on the size of the caves as well as the details on the sculptures.

Mahendra Varman ( Vichitrachithan) was responsible for the Laksitayatna Trimurti cave temple at Mandagapattu dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu & Iswaran. At least 9 more temples were carved out during his time.
Other Pallava kings also followed his style, with a few differences. Narasimha Pallava built the coastal town of Mamallapuram (Chennai). The Mamalla style cave temples were more elaborate. Monolithic rathas &vimanas belong to Narasimha's period.

METAL SCULPTURES

Metal sculptures became popular throughout India during the post-Gupta period. In South India, they mastered the art of making huge exquisite sculptures with great stress on designs and details. The art achieved its zenith in the Chola period. The Cholas were Saivites and hence they mostly cast idols of Siva ( Nataraja ), other Saiva Gods such as Muruga, Sakthi, Ganesha, Saivite Saints.They also erected and renovated Vaishnavite shrines. Idols of Vishnu, Lakshmi in various aspects were also cast. The utsava murthis (idols) of temples, which are taken out in procession during temple festivals were made of bronze and panchaloha.

All of these idols were cast based on rules, proportions and methods laid down in the ancient texts based on scientific principles. The artisans who were involved in this art are called the Sthapathis.
Basically, the metal sculptures were cast using wax models.Two methods are followed, one yielding solid figures and the other hollow images.

In one process, a wax model of deity (or any figure) is made. Over this wax model, a clay mould is made. After the clay around the wax is dried, the wax within the clay mould is heated for the wax to melt and molten metal poured into the clay mould. Once the metal is cooled and set, the outer mould is broken. The image thus created is of rough finish and lots of work will go into polishing and finishing the resulting solid sculpture.

In the second process, a clay model is first made, which is coated with an even layer of wax, strictly following the form of the figure. On top of this wax layer, fine clay is applied in thin layers in stages till a thick outer coat of clay is formed. Now there is a wax layer in between two layers of clay. Once the clay is dried, the mould is heated till the wax melts. Molten metal is poured into the gap between the two layers. The clay layers are removed to yield a hollow metal sculpture.