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Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c20: Chapter XIII: The Evolution of the Temple

Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c20

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Chapter XIII: The Evolution of the Temple

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IN the latter half of the seventh century, as the surviving examples show, the temple structure, in its medieval aspect, was beginning to assume a prescribed form. And, just as in describing a Gothic church, one accepts such terms as nave, aisles, chancel, spire etc., so in the Indian temple it will be realized that this building also comprises a number of essential parts, the names of which will figure repeatedly in any account of its structure. The glossary at the end of this work will explain and amplify the various architectural terms which are in general use. It should be noted however that the same words are not always employed in all parts of the country, but where there is a departure from those in common use, as for instance in connection with the important Orissan style, this will be explained in due course.

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The principal architectural features of the temple are as follows. Throughout the greater part of the country, the sanctuary as a whole is known as the *vimana*, of which the upper and pyramidal or tapering portion is called the *sikhara*, meaning tower or spire. Inside the vimana is a small and generally dark chamber or cella for the reception of the divine symbol. This cella is the *garbha griha*, or "womb-house", and was entered by a doorway on its inner, and usually, eastern side. In front of the doorway was a pillared hall, or *mandapa*, actually a pavilion for the assembly of those paying their devotions to the divine symbol in the cella. Some of the earlier temples indicate that the mandapa, was a detached building, isolated from the sanctuary by a definite open space, as in the "Shore" temple at Mamallapuram, and originally in the Kailasanatha at Conjeeveram, both near Madras, and built about 700 A.D. A little later it became the custom to unite the two buildings, thus forming an intermediate chamber, or vestibule, and called the *antarala*. Leading up to the main hall, or mandapa, is a porch or *ardha-mandapa*, while there may be a transept on each side of this central hall, known as the *maha-mandapa*. The most complete illustrations of the fully formed and co-ordinated temple structure, are the tenth century examples at Khajuraho, Central India, especially that known as the Kandariya Mahadeo (Chapter XXII). In this class of temple, each portion named above, has its separate pyramidal roof, rising in regular gradation, from the lowest over the porch (*ardha-mandapa*), to the lofty spire over the sanctum. In some parts of the country it became the practice to enclose the temple building within a rectangular courtyard by means of a continuous range of cells, facing inwards, the whole forming a substantial containing wall, and thus ensuring seclusion. One of the first temples to combine all these attributions, and to present a co-ordinated plan was that of the Vaikunthanatha Perumal at Conjeeveram (cir. A.D. 740). Most of these early temples have a processional passage or *pradakshina patha* consisting of an enclosed corridor carried around the outside of the cella. (Plate LIV).

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It will be seen that, although differing in other respects, there is much the same conventional system and disposition of parts in the Indian temple as in the Christian church, with the nave corresponding to the mandapa, the chancel to the sanctuary, the tower or spire to the sikhara, the cloisters to the rectangular range of cells, and the churchyard, or close, to the temple enclosure. In its plan there is also some resemblance to the temple of the Greeks, with its columned naos before the interior cella, and its pronaos or porch acting the same as the ardha-mandapa of the Indian type. It is not without significance that, as already described, a temple showing Hellenic influence was actually erected, with local modifications, at Jandial in Taxila in the second century B.C. (Plate XXVII). It may be noted, also, that the basic intentions of the Greek and Indian temples were not dissimilar as neither was designed for congregational worship, each being a sacred monument, and an object of devotion in itself. The Indian temple was, in the language of the people, a "dwelling place of the gods", for, in addition to the symbol of the deity within the cella, numerous niches, recesses, alcoves, and altars, were provided as part of the architectural scheme, within which were enshrined sacred images of the immortals, so that the whole structure resolved itself into a place of assembly of the *Devas*, or "Shining Ones".

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With the establishment of the temple type about the eighth century A.D., the people proceeded to embark on an era of temple building, which can have few equals, so much so that before long in all parts of the country superb creations fashioned in stone and, in some instances, hewn out of the living rock, could be counted by the score, if not by the hundred. It was an epoch which implied great religious concentration and intensity of purpose, corresponding in some respects to that wave of passionate building which swept over much of Europe in the Middle Ages, and of which it has been said that it was as if the whole population had to a man, been apprenticed to the stone mason. And, to continue the occidental parallel, as Ralph Glaber in his famous history speaks of the "white robe of churches which covered Europe in the eleventh century", so in India every hamlet had its cluster of shrines, and in every town the tall spires of temples rose singly and in groups, as proved by the remains observable all over the country to the present day. With these structural religious edifices were also rock-cut monuments, showing that this method, previously the monopoly of the Buddhists, was in the eighth and ninth centuries, continued by the Hindus and Jains, notably at such famous sites as Ellora and Elephanta. Although the rock-cut form of production displays many instructive features, as will be shown in due course (Chapter XV), it is in the examples of the structural form of expression that the temple architecture of the country may be most intelligibly estimated.

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In this matter of appraisement, however, one factor should receive special consideration. This is the spectator's mental point of view. It should be realized that in all works of art, and particularly in the temple architecture of the country, in the mind of the Indian people, the religious, philosophical, and metaphysical qualities of the production take first place, the artistic character being regarded as secondary The intellect of the age, absorbed largely in divine contemplation, is reflected in the temple ideal, where the spiritual dominates the material. "O ye works of the Lord, praise ye the Lord," signifies this ideal, and the innate aesthetic sense of the people caused each creation to be an inspired work of art. It is from this standpoint that the architecture of India should be viewed, and from this direction approached.

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A detailed analysis of the temple structure will show that much of its architectonic character was obtained by the surfaces being treated as if they were an organism of repeating cells. This particularly applies to the tower or sikhara which is often built up of repetitions of the same architectural motif, converted into an element of decoration. In a word the *sikhara* is composed of an orderly grouping of miniature multiples of itself, and the same applies very largely to the other parts of the structure. In employing this artistic expedient the designers were proceeding in a perfectly logical and safe manner, for although such a plan may lead to monotony owing to mechanical reiteration, it can never be incongruous, or result in a display of bad taste. But these structural elements repeated so artistically, yet so emphatically, in the temple design are something more than mere architectural motifs; they have a much deeper meaning. It will be found that each unit or constituent part making up the whole building is a reduced model of what is obviously a shrine, and furthermore that two different types of shrine have been utilized, one kind being employed entirely in one form of temple design, and the other in another. Thus it comes about that the bulk of the temple architecture of India resolves itself into two distinct and separate styles in which the pillars, capitals, mouldings, and architectural details generally differ in each, so that as in the case of Greek and Roman architecture, these buildings may be classified into "orders". In India there are two such orders, which emerge about the eighth century, and have been designated by Fergusson the one as Dravidian and the other Indo-Aryan, the former being found in the south of India, a country anciently known as Dravida, while the latter is confined to the north. In its geographical aspect, however, a dividing line between the two regions occupied by the two modes cannot be definitely drawn, as temples in the Dravidian style extend towards the north as far as Ellora (Aurangabad), while there are Indo-Aryan examples as far south as Dharwar on the upper Kistna; in fact in the town of Pattadakal in this region, during the eighth century, both kinds of buildings were erected side by side. It should be also noted that the entire area in which Dravidian temples may be found comprises only one fifth of the country as a whole, the Indo-Aryan being distributed over the remainder, and therefore buildings of the latter type are more numerous and more diversified. Much may be said in favour of a regional and ethnological method of classification, but on the other hand the difference in the two styles seems to be more fundamental, and to be derived from some other sources deep down in the early culture of the people.

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In support of the presumed very ancient derivation of these two architectural orders it is possible to trace back the particular shrine which, for instance, gives its specific character to the Dravidian style, to the rude shelter over the *Naga* altars, or those protecting the sacred fires of the non-Buddhists, as depicted on the Sanchi bas-reliefs executed before the Christian era. Its structural features recall even a more primitive expedient for keeping off the rain and enabling the smoke to escape, consisting of a large earthen-ware bowl inverted with its rim supported on blocks (Plate LIV, Fig. 1), thus providing a crude kind of chimney, still found in domestic buildings to the present day. There seems some probability that in Vedic times the sacrificial altar of each deity was roofed over by a particular form of shelter always associated with that deity, enabling the humblest worshipper readily to recognize each by its shape. So may be explained the occasional appearance in later temples of a range of shrines, square, round, or apsidal in form, as is well illustrated in the Jain temple of Tiruparuti-kunram near Conjeeveram, while the five "raths" at Mamallapuram may be full-scale monolithic models exemplifying the same tradition. In the course of centuries two only out of these several types of primitive shrines survived and became perpetuated in the two types of temple, their initial meaning having become obscured. In some such mysterious and subtle manner derived from an almost pre-historic experience, the two styles of Indian temple architecture, the Dravidian and the Indo-Aryan, may have had their source, and therefore their geographical distribution may have been more or less fortuitous.

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Such an important architectural feature as the *sikhara* or tower, which figures in all the types of temple design in the country, has evoked several theories as to its origin, especially in the form it assumes in the Northern or Indo-Aryan-style. An attempt has been made to prove that this "*spire*" evolved from the peaked or domed huts of Eastern and Central India, which prevailed in those parts before the beginning of the Christian era. "It is quite evident that such huts, whether of bamboo or wood, were the prototype of the Nagara temple with *sikhara*."¹ On the other hand it has been endeavoured to show that the *sikhara* of the Northern Indian type of temple developed out of the Buddhist stupa, gradually becoming elongated from the semi-globular mound, through the various credal changes that took place during the early centuries of the first millennium until it finally took the form of a spire or tower.² This progress has been carefully traced by means of a number of graded authentic examples illustrating that as Buddhism merged into Hinduism so the symbol of the chaitya eventually merged into the sikhara from the ceremonial umbrella through the stupa to the tower. Another theory, based on the fact that the temple is not infrequently referred to as a *ratha*, or car, and so the sikhara may have been derived from the tall covering of the processional car (*ratha*) which containing an image of the deity was carried about on ceremonial occasions. (Plate V, Fig 7).

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¹ Dr. Ramaprasad Chanda in *Rupam*, No. 17, Calcutta Jan. 1924

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² Longhurst in "*The Story of the Stupa*", Colombo, 1936.

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There is little appreciable difference in architectural appearance between the temples of the Jains and those of the Hindus, except that the former preferred enclosed compartments instead of open columned halls, thus ensuring more seclusion for their ceremonial. Nor did the two major divisions of Hinduism, Sivaite and Vishnuvite, affect to any extent the temple structure The device on the finial of the sikhara distinguishes the temples of each system, the three pronged trident signifying a Siva temple, inside the cella of which will be a *linga* or phallic emblem, and outside on the east, in front of the main entrance, an effigy, of the sacred bull (*nandi*). On the other hand above the spire of the Vishnu temple will be a disc, or wheel, and inside the sanctuary a statue of the deity. Other determinating symbols are the dedication stone, which may be seen carved above the doorway of the sanctum on the centre of the lintel, corresponding to the keystone of an arch. Moreover, around the exterior walls of the sanctuary three principal images are often carved, one in the centre of each side, the figure at the back and west generally having some connection with the particular deity enshrined within. The various compartments comprising the general arrangements of the temple are usually co-ordinated axially, being all built on one alignment running east and west, with the entrance to the east. The edifice normally faces east so that the early morning rays of the sun may penetrate into the holy of holies, thus filling it with the fresh glory of the coming day. Such conditions also symbolise the entry of the god into his own temple of the world. This system of orientation, however, is not so strictly adhered to in the temples of the Jains, which sometimes face the north.

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As the temple building began to take form, it becomes evident that it obtained some of its architectural character from the older productions of the Buddhists. Such borrowings are readily indentified in the decorative treatment, as for instance the introduction of the chaitya arch (*kudu*), now reduced to a mere ornamental motif, and other similar elements, but the Brahmanical temple builders also brought not only ornamental forms but some portions of the Buddhist architecture itself into their Hindu conceptions. Of the two types of Buddhist monument, the chaitya hall supplied little inspiration, it was too distinctive in its formation and purpose to be readily adapted to other needs, although its unmistakable vaulted roof occasionally survives in the Hindu temple, as for instance in the Teli ka Mandir (eleventh century) at Gwalior, and the singularly interesting Vaital Deul (c. 900 A.D.), at Bhubaneswar both examples of the northern style. In the south, Hindu shrines having the "chaitya" roof with its apsidal end are not so rare, so much so that this form has been given the name of the "elephant back," or *Gajaprishthakriti*, and is illustrated in the Chola temples of Somangalam, Manimangalam (eleventh century), Tennen, and Magaralu, besides others at Chezarla and Tiruparuttikundram already mentioned. These Dravidian examples were probably based on the rock-cut model of the Sahadeva ratha at Mamallapuram. On the other hand from the other Buddhist type, the vihara or monastery, the Hindu craftsmen seem to have appropriated certain architectural forms of which they made considerable use in their temple design, particularly in the buildings of the Dravidian style. Attributions from Buddhist sources show themselves most plainly in the pyramidal character of the earlier sikhara, doubtlessly suggested by the diminishing stories of the monastery, which was composed of ranges of cells or chapels, one above another around a square court. In the temple these cells were conventionalized and converted into ornamental turrets arranged in tiers, while from the central court may have been derived the pillared hall or mandapa. (Plate CLI).

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Although emphasis has been laid on these distinctions in style, underlying the temple architecture of the country as a whole were certain fundamental principles which guided and controlled the art of building in all its phases. There is noticeable throughout the entire movement a standardization of procedure, artistic and structural, implying that the master masons were working not only with one general understanding, but also by means of some comprehensive and well-established technical code. This shows itself unmistakably in the uniformity of the style even where the buildings are situated widely apart, or in the most remote localities. For instance there is much the same character in a temple of Gujarat on the extreme west, as in another at Bhubaneswar on the eastern seaboard, or again in the valleys of the Himalayan foot-hills. Even more remarkable, however, is that a similar stylistic content reveals itself in the distant Indo-Buddhist monuments of Java and Cambodia, postulating that the Indonesian builders were motivated by the same system of aesthetic ideals. In all these structures there may be divergence in the less material forms, but in their broad aspect they express the same thought although in a different idiom.

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This co-ordination of architectural practice was brought about mainly by means of two indigenous institutions, both of which played a considerable part in the aesthetic development of the country; these were the *seni*, or guilds, and the *silpas*, or canons of art. Guilds in India were a very ancient organization, known to have been in existence as early as the seventh century B.C., and therefore the oldest of their kind. At first the craft guilds were maintained by a system of apprentices, whose name, *antevasika*, literally "the boarder," denotes that these young learners were not only professionally but domestically connected with their master's establishment. Later, heredity became the custom, as each craft was specialized, and, like a family property was handed down from father to son. The character of the building art not infrequently necessitated the local guild of masons being moved about the country, and on some occasions the magnitude of their task forced them to settle down near the site of their labours for a generation or more, the great structure on which they were engaged being the sole object of their existence. In this way any large architectural undertaking became an art centre from which a local school and style were derived. For example, in the group of temples at Khajuraho (950-1050), and at Konarak (c. 1250), it is possible to trace the development of individual experience, distilled through long years of "trial and error," during the gradual process of producing such monumental works of art.

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What the guilds did for the practice, the other institution, the *silpas* professed to do for the theory. In their more comprehensive form, the *silpas* were a vast and erudite compilation of canons for guidance in all spheres of human activity, one important section of which, however, concerns itself with aesthetics. At an early date some such regulations appear to have existed in a literary form, as mention is made of them in the *Brahmajala Sutta* of the *Digha Nikaya* or "Dialogues of the Buddha," of probably the fifth century B.C. Later, these ancient aphorisms were codified into the silpas, extracts from which have been preserved textually and may date from the sixth century A.D. There are books, mostly in Sanscrit, professing to be transcripts of portions of this immense work, copies of which were widely distributed, as they have been found in the lamaseries of Tibet, and also in Nepal. In the section on Aesthetics the three forms of artistic expression are dealt with, namely Sculpture, Painting and Architecture. That portion relating to the building art, the *Vastuvidya*, or "Rules of Architecture (*vastu*)" contains detailed directions for the proper construction of every kind of building, religious and secular, and includes an imposing array of technical rules of proportion and recondite prescriptions, with a fund of astronomical [Figure: Fig 1 Mahishasur Mandapa , c 650 A D]

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[Figure: Fig 2 Shore Temple]

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[Figure: Fig 3 Shore Temple, Mamallapuram, Madras , c. A D 700]

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TEMPLE OF KAILASANATHA AT CONJEEVERAM (KANCHIPURAM) C. 700 A.D. SHOWING ORIGINAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE BUILDING. CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF THE SHORE TEMPLE AT MAMALLAPURAM (SEVEN PAGODAS) C. 700 A.D.

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[Figure: PILLARS IN Mandapam Vestibule 12 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 FEET SECTION IN OF THE TEMPLE PERUMAL AT [CONJEVERAM] PERSPECTIVE OF VAIKUNTHA- KANCHIPURAM A.D. 710-20. PLAN 10 5 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 FEET calculations and religious precepts. Bearing unmistakable evidences of having been dictated by a dominating hierarchy, they recall the ordinances of the Holy Tribunal which stood sentinel over the art of Spain in the mediaeval period, with the result that the artists of both countries were fettered to a prescribed formula. And as in Europe all knowledge and culture were in the hands of the Church, so in India the outlook of men's minds was controlled by priestly influence as their aesthetic productions plainly testify. It was the practice therefore for the silpas to be committed to memory by the Indian artisans, and recited by the master-mason to his staff while at work, thus constituting a technical *lingua franca*, or workshop language. Such a system is in accordance with that by which most instruction is conveyed in the east—the reiteration of passages from books, or the repetition of patterns in drawing, until the lesson becomes second nature. The silpas were designed to place in the hands of the workmen an authoritative text-book on the grammar of his art, which if faithfully followed would make failure impossible. They were also intended to be a means of preserving the inner character of the crafts, and communicating this character wherever these crafts were practised, even in the most remote localities or over the seas.

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EARLY PHASES OF THE DRAVIDIAN ORDER PALLAVA PERIOD (610-900). YAMAPURI MANDAPA MAMALLAPURAM KAILASANATHA TEMPLE CONJEEVERAM Ⓐ 620 A.D. MAMALLAPURAM Ⓑ 625 A.D. TRICHINOPOLY Ⓒ PALAGAI IDAJE KUMBHA TADI KALASA STAMBHAM SIMHA (LION) 625 A.D. Ⓓ 700 A.D. STAGES OF THE DRAVIDIAN BRACKET (AFTER DUBREUIL) ① PALLAVA. 7TH AND 8TH CENT. A.D. ② CHOLA. 11TH CENT A.D. ③ PANDYA 13TH CENT. A.D. ④ ⑤ VIJAYANAGAR 16TH CENT. A.D. MADURA 17TH CENT. A.D.

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Corresponding in some respects to the treatise of Vitruvius, the Vastusastra displays the obscurity of that famous Roman architect in his explanation of the "perfect numbers" of the Greeks, many times intensified. There seems little doubt that, although compiled with the best of intentions, the laws of the silpas cast their shadow over the arts, so that they never fully recovered their earlier elasticity and natural charm. In this connection, it may be remarked that at some time towards the middle of the first millennium, there appears to have been a spirit abroad, which aimed at priestly control over all cultural activities, the iron hand of religion being used to restrain complete freedom of expression. That it also affected literature is proved by the Ahamkara, or "Rules of Poetics," and there are indications that similar regulations were framed for the guidance of several of the arts. It has been found that any such discipline, operated by a fixed set of rules, is apt to emerge only during periods of intellectual stagnation, and any system devised to compel expression to conform to certain pre-ordained conditions, is bound to impair spontaneity of utterance. The silpas fall into this category, with the result that they stifled initiative and struck at the very root of inspiration. Only the genius of the Indian workman could rise superior to such circumstances—he maintained a living art, not because of the silpas, but in spite of them

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The magic and mystery which many historical buildings inspire, are, in India, attributed to the supernatural powers of certain mythical beings, or others of legendary fame Some of the finest temples in Central India, are reputed to have been raised by an imaginary prince named Jakanacharya, to expiate the sin of killing a Brahmin, and accordingly he was forced to spend twenty years of his life in this work. On the other hand, a common explanation in most parts of India for any unusual group of structures is, that they were produced in a single night by the Pandavas, those famous sons of Pandu, the heroes of the Mahabharata. In north Gujarat the great temples are ascribed to the piety of the celebrated ruler Siddharaja, King of Gujarat (cir. A D. 1125), and in Khandesh to the dynasty of the Gavali rajas. Many temples in the Dekkan are said to have been raised through the religious zeal of Hemadpant, a minister of king Ramachandra with the result that some of them of the thirteenth century are rather vaguely styled Hemadpanti. Towering above all these relatively lesser personalities, however, the great force which is universally recognized as divinely responsible for all mechanical and structural enterprises, is the god Visvakarma, "Lord of the Arts," the embodiment of creative power. He is the patron saint of the Indian artificer and all those who work by their hands, one day in their calendar being set apart for his worship, when the tools and instruments of the craft are treated as objects of veneration. Throughout the Epics Visvakarma figures not only as the great architect of the universe, the master of the science of mechanics, but also as the welder of Agneyastra, or fiery weapon, "the executor of a thousand handicrafts, the carpenter of the gods, the fashioner of all ornaments, who formed the celestial chariots of the deities, on whose craft men subsist, and whom, as a great and immortal god, they continually worship." Visvakarma's antiquity is referred to in the Rig Veda (X. 72). "In the earliest ages of the gods, even as a smith, the Lord of Prayer, together forged this universe. With such a personification of omnipotence as their presiding deity, it is not surprising that skilled master craftsmen are sometimes credited with magical powers.

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Very few indeed of the names of these master masons have survived, for Indian art as a whole, and particularly its architecture, is anonymous, a fact which applies to the Hindus as well as to the Islamic productions. The name and character of the Indian genius who conceived and supervised the execution of that marvelous masterpiece, the rock-cut temple of Kailasa, is unknown, and that of the Moslem architect who much later planned that unique monument the Taj Mahal is also matter for speculation. Much of this was due to the system by which architecture was treated not so much as an art, but as a craft, the building was not the creation of one man, but the combined and often equal efforts of several, each an expert in his profession and each making his own particular contribution to the whole. Here and there a name has been preserved in the same manner as those of some of the leading master masons of the Gothic cathedrals have been handed down, but not as the names of the great architects of Greece and the Renaissance were known, each of whom was the sole author of the monument with the design and construction of which he was entrusted.

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The constructional methods of the Hindus, not unlike those of the Greeks, were of a simple but effective order, showing little inventiveness, or any serious attempt to solve structural problems. No effort was made to apply in their building productions the principles of the equilibirum of forces in action by means of the arch, vault, or other mechanical devices, which, instituted by the Romans, were by this time, being put into universal practice by the architects of the western world. Instead, the Indian craftsman, clinging to his own traditional technique and unmoved by the progress being made elsewhere, achieved his purpose solely by the judicious observance of the laws of gravity, strength being obtained by mass supporting mass, and stability by the solid resistance of weights acting only vertically, all pressure being transmitted directly downwards. In these circumstances mortar was unnecessary because it would have been of no use for distributing the pressure between the courses of the structure: it was therefore very rarely employed, with the result that all Hindu masonry is described as of the "dry" order. The Indian builder knew architecture as a fine or liberal art, but not as a mechanical art. He seems to have resembled the master mason of the Middle Ages in Europe, rather than the architect of the Greeks.

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As a rule the Indian masons prepared their building material not on the site of the structure, but in the quarry itself, often some considerable distance away. Here the rough mass of stone, after being won from the living rock, was made into suitable sizes and shapes by cleavage. A groove was sunk along the line of the required division, and holes jumped along this a few inches part. Into the holes thus formed wooden wedges were driven, which, on being wet, swelled, and the blocks split off in this manner. The facing of these blocks was obtained by hammer-dressing, surfaces also being levelled by chiselling parallel lines with a large iron tool, afterwards with a finer one. The presence of numerous fragments of carving in some of the quarries, as for example on the Silasankar hill in Dharwar, from which outcrop the stones used in the Gadag, Lakkundi, and Dambal temples were extracted, points to the sculpture also being executed in the stone-yard. From here the blocks, ready dressed to level beds and carved to pattern, were assembled on the temple site, a staff of workmen being on the spot to lay the stones in their proper courses, and put the finishing touches to the joints in the sculpture. Such a process would necessitate detailed and accurate measurements being made available, while an early record shows that models to scale were also sometimes prepared. In the Upanishads it is related that an architect of the name of Suradevi exhibited to his patron a model of a temple which he had built at Pataliputra.¹ While the foregoing was the general practice of the builders, the alternative process was not unusual, as there are temples which indicate that the masonry was left boasted on the building, so that the carver could chisel it into pattern on the structure itself. An instance of this, among others, is the eleventh century temple of Rajarani at Bhubaneswar, where some of the carving is marked out and left unfinished, thus showing that the Orissan artisan preferred the other method, which is the one almost invariably followed in the West.

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¹ *Katha-kosa*, translated by C. H. Tawny, p. 150

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Whether it was through much of his life being passed in the quarry workshop under the shadow of the hill side, his long apprenticeship to the rock-cut mode, or his own innate aesthetic sensibility, the Indian mason shows in his architectural compositions an appreciation of the grandeur of mass and the rich value of shadows to a marked degree. A notable quality in much of the building art of India is that its linear aspect is subservient to its volume, the aim being mass rather than line. It seems as if the imagination of the workman had received special stimulation from his experience in the field of rock architecture when, confronted by the fact that his conception lay imprisoned in the womb of the mountain, he summoned up all his genius to bring about its release. Such an experience added considerably to his powers. Few things could be finer than the great roll cornice used with such effect in many of his earlier works, as for instance in the eighth century Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal, a feature obviously inspired by a rock-cut prototype. Then the distribution of the shadows, and the chiaroscuro generally in his temple architecture, indicate also that for a considerable period he was "thinking in shadows," when pre-occupied with the rock-cut method. This condition communicated itself to the treatment of his interiors, where, not satisfied with an atmosphere of religious gloom, some of his halls were filled with an intense darkness. Only on the occasion of a procession through the aisles were these chambers illuminated, when the delicate tracery of the fretted ceiling, hitherto unseen, was revealed, and the images of the gods were brought to life as their shadows moved to and fro, lit by the fitful torchlight. Outside were the projecting eaves (*chajjas*), their wide surfaces protecting the facade from the fierce sunlight, and also sheltering it from the heavy monsoon rain. Every portion, every effect, was the product of long years of application. Wherever it was to his advantage the Indian builder made the climate his handmaid, when this was impossible he used his artistic ingenuity in providing against it.

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REFERENCES

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Acharya, P. K., *Architecture of Manasara*, Oxford, N. D. " " *Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Silpasastra*, Oxford, 1921. " " *Dictionary of Hindu Architecture*, Oxford, N. D. Bose, P. N., *Principles of Indian Silpasastra*, Lahore, 1926. Gravely, F. H., *Outline of Indian Temple Architecture*, Madras, 1936. Gravely, F. H., and Ramchandran, T. N., *Three Main styles of Temple Architecture*, Madras, 1934. Ram Raz, *Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus*, London, 1854.

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