The chronological placement of the Lad Khan Temple has undergone significant revision in Indian art history. Colonial-era scholar Percy Brown (1942) assigned the monument to circa 450 CE, arguing that its flat roof, heavy post-and-lintel system, and stone slabs fitted like wooden planks represented the earliest structural stone experiment in South India, directly adapted from timber village assembly halls. V.
Soundara Rajan (1969), Gary Tartakov (1980), and George Michell (2014) demonstrated that the temple's sculptural programme—including elegantly rendered mithuna couples on outer columns, floral arabesques, and river goddess motifs—belongs to a mature Early Chalukya artistic idiom contemporary with the reign of Pulakeshin I or Pulakeshin II (late 6th to early 7th century CE). Today, scholars view the temple not as an awkward primitive first step, but as a deliberate and sophisticated mandapa-style sanctuary built alongside towered vimana experiments across Aihole.
