Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v2.c16.280

v2.c16.280

“ In the Chālukyan temples the corners are often made prominent by increments placed over them, or the whole plan is star-shaped, the projecting angles having equal adjacent faces lying in a circle as in the temple of Belur in Mysore (built about 1120 A. D.).” There are other examples, where “ the *Śikhara* did not preserve the southern storeyed form but was rather stepped, forming square pyramid with breaks corresponding to the angles in the wall, and with a broad band answering to the larger face in the middle of each exposed side of the shrine. ” “ The pillars are markedly different from the earlier Dravidian forms; they are massive, richly carved, often circular and highly polished. Their capitals are usually spread out while middle section of the shaft is richly carved with mouldings in the round. They are almost always in pairs of the same design. ” The richly carved and richly ornamented pierced windows belong specially to this (Chālukyan) style as we see it at Ajanta and elsewhere, just like the pierced stone windows employed in Dravidian temples at Ellora and other places. “ The buildings were erected without mortar, and the joints were carefully fitted. The whole was covered with sculpture, often of geometric and floral patterns, intermixed with numerous mythological figures; and in the later examples, the courses of the base were carved with the succession of animal patterns prescribed for them in the *Śilpa-Śāstras*. This is very fully exemplified in the great temple of Hoysaleśvara at Halebid.” ²