Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c21.27

c21.27

One other point relating to these "orders" emerges in the early temples, which, although small in itself has considerable significance. A close examination of the pilasters on the exterior reveals an unusual convention in their design. This is a narrowing or constricting of the upper end of the shaft where it joins on to the capital. It is possible that such an inward curvature, seen below the neck moulding and forming a kind of shoulder, originated from the campaniform contours of Asoka's bell capital, and is first observable to a very slight degree in the pillars on the verandah of the rock-cut vihara No. 2 at Karli. (Plate XI, Fig. 7) Afterwards this "neck and shoulder" shape became more pronounced on the pillars of the southern style and wherever seen may be accepted as the sign manual of the Dravidian order. One exception at least may be noted, singularly enough in one of the buildings now being described. The pilasters on the exterior of the Papanath temple are of this particular type, thus recording a symbol of the Dravidian order on an Indo-Aryan structure. But such an apparent solecism only serves to prove that at this early stage a few of the architectural proprieties of each style were still undetermined. There is one other architectural feature on the Virupaksha temple worthy of note. This is a structure rising above the parapet at the back of each of its porches, and which has been indentified as an embryo *gopuram*, that monumental gatehead which dominates all the approaches to the Dravidian temple, and one of the most striking productions in the architecture of the south. Here its final formation is observable, afterwards to develop into the horns and scroll motif on the topmost roof of these towering entrance pylons. (Chapter XX)