Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c18.24

c18.24

Its extreme depth into the rock, including the cella, is 65 feet, but the assembly hall with its 14 columns only takes up half of this, thus making the shape, of the chamber twice as wide as it is deep, not a commendable ratio in view of its position in the plan. The average height of the whole is 15 feet. Every portion is richly carved, either with figures in such high relief as to be almost in the round, or with ornamental patterns so delicately chiselled as to resemble line engravings Most striking of all is the treatment of the portico pillars on which considerable imaginative effort has been expended. Over the moulded cushion-capitals massive brackets have been superimposed, each sculptured into a figure-composition of great boldness In addition to these, on the outer side and supporting the under-frame of the cave or cornice, struts have been projected, carved into images of hippogryphs and other fabulous monsters similar to those which seven centuries earlier, were cut out of the rock to enrich the *gumpha* of Manchapuri at Udaigiri in Orissa. (Chapter VI). This under-frame of the cornice was apparently suggested by the wooden battens which support a thatched roof.