Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c12.43

c12.43

Such are the arrangements of the colonnade and the vaulting, with the stupa as the focal point of both these essential parts of the scheme. But although the architectural, decorative, and symbolic fundamentals have been so carefully worked out, there is little doubt that the interior of the hall owes much of its appearance to the position and treatment of that most characteristic feature, the sun-window of the facade. On this great aperture depends the whole system of lighting, as the interior is produced on the same principle as a tunnel with one end closed—it could only be illuminated from one direction. But the method by which the open end was manipulated to make the most of the conditions thus imposed shows no little thought and skill. The aim of the designer was to deflect the glaring sunshine outside through this opening to be distributed, modified, and subdued, so that it is projected not so much as light, but as an effulgence, into all parts. It was, therefore, first filtered between the openings of the clerestory in the fronton screen, then broken up by the wooden grille of the sun-window as through a mullioned oriel, finally to fall evenly on the stupa itself like a delicate mantle of light yet edging it with a black shadow. From this central feature it shaded off imperceptibly by modulated half-tones among the surrounding pillars, to be lost in the comparative gloom of the aisles, thus conveying the impression of a fathomless cavern extending indefinitely into the depths of the mountain. There are few lighting effects more solemnly beautiful than the soft luminous atmosphere diffused in this manner through the sun-window at Karli.