Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.57

c2.57

(4) *Nandivarman style.*—This style flourished during the second half of the ninth century and is a development of the apsidal-ended temple of the Māmalla period and similar in style to the Sahadēva temple at the Seven Pagodas. It is the intermediate style between the Rājasimha period and that of the Early Chōla. The lingas are cylindrical and generally smaller than those of the Māmalla period. The doorkeepers have four arms. The gable-window ornament is different in style to that of the earlier period. The pillars and angles of the building have no conventional lions. There is no Sōmaskanda panel in the sanctuary. The niches in the external walls of the sanctuary are generally filled with stone images carved in high relief or in the round. The upper portion of the temple is built of brick with the ornamentation in plaster.