Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.11

c15.11

Another noteworthy monument at Guṇṭapalle is a Stūpa with a casing of stone blocks (aśma-śilā), joined without mortar as at Sanchi. It is a hemispherical dome of 16' in diameter, 8½' high, resting on a cylindrical drum, 11½' in diameter and 5' high. The harmikā and the umbrella on top are missing. The stone blocks of casing (śilā-kañchuka) are neatly cut and accurately fitted in courses of regular stone masonry with slight curvature on their exterior side in order to bring out the round form of the Stūpa.