Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.46

c2.46

cave temples are excavated in the face of the rock in the same manner as those belonging to the earlier period but their facades are usually more ornamental and contain pillars of a different variety. On plan, the interiors are much the same as those of the cave-temples in the Mahendra style, with similar small square shrine chambers cut in the back wall, which are usually free from ornament within. The pillared hall in front of the shrine often contains large panels cut in the side walls filled with sculptural figures in high relief. These are usually of great beauty and executed with remarkable skill. The interior too, of the more ornamental cave-temples, is provided with cornice and plinth mouldings. The cornice is decorated with the Buddhist gable-window ornament often with a frieze of sacred geese below it and the plinth with two or three flat horizontal bands or mouldings running all round the base of the hall.