Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.27

c12.27

The other example of this small class, the Pandulena at Nasik, with which may also be included the unfinished Manmoda chaitya hall at Junnar, although both differ considerably in their details from the foregoing bear a general resemblance as they are also entirely carved out of the rock and have no porticos or wooden vestibules. A feature of the facade in both instances is a lunette carved with symbolic design, in the Pandulena this is above the doorway, but in the Manmoda it fills the upper space of the archway over the sun-window. In both frontages the decoration on the wall around the main archway contains fresh motifs particularly that on the Pandulena where sculptured in relief there is an arcade containing pilasters of the "Persepolitan" order. The interior of the Nasik example also shows that its designers were beginning to recognise the decorative value of the pillar as instead of these being treated merely as posts, they have introduced on some of them a rudimentary capital in the form of a square abacus. A singular fact however in this connection is that more attention was paid to the embellishment of the bases of the pillars than to the capitals, as here for the first time the pot-shaped base is met with, a motif presumed to have been derived from the primitive expedient of embedding a wooden post in a pot to protect its lower extremity from the ravages of insects or the effect of damp. Another noticeable feature which distinguishes the pillars of this chaitya hall are their proportions. Instead of the broad and massive piers of most of the rock-cut temples, these are tall and slender, with a diameter of one eighth of their height, a proportion very near to the finest Greek and Roman models of approximately the same date. Immediately within the interior of the Pandulena above the doorway there are grooves and sockets for the attachment of a musicians' gallery, which was fixed inside the hall and not as in other examples in the form of a balcony across the outside of the facade. In the design of the stupa there is expressed by the tall proportions of the cylindrical base a still further desire for height in this central object which became more marked as the style advanced.