Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c22.24

c22.24

The scheme of the Kailasa as a whole resolves itself into four parts, namely the body of the temple itself, the entrance gateway, an intermediate *nandi* shrine, and the cloisters surrounding the courtyard. On each side of the courtyard supplementary chambers have been excavated, the one cut into the north wall being a very large pillared hall called the Lankeswara, but these may have been added at a slightly later date, and in any case have little connection with the design as a whole. As regards orientation the axial alignment of the temple is from west to east, but contrary to the usual arrangement of the structural examples, due to its position on the hill-side, the entrance is not on the east, but to the west The main body of the temple occupies a parallelogram approximately 150 feet by 100 feet with sections of its sides projecting at intervals, like transepts, to support corresponding projecting features above. Much of the imposing character of this portion of the composition is obtained by the lofty and substantial plinth, which is twenty-five feet high, and at first sight has the appearance of a ground story. Above and below, the sub-structure is heavily moulded, while the central space of the sides is occupied by a grand frieze of boldly carved elephants and lions. Standing high on this plinth is the temple proper, approached by flights of steps leading to a pillared porch on its western side, and it is here that its designers rose to the greatest heights. There is no pronounced departure from the conventional combination of the mandapa and the vimana, but the manner in which various architectural elements, all definite and sharply outlined, such as cornices, pilasters, niches, and porticos, have been assembled in an orderly and artistic manner to form a unified whole, is masterly. Then over all rises the stately tower in three tiers, with its prominently projecting gable-front, and surmounted by a shapely cupola, reaching up to a total height of ninety-five feet. But this is not all. Around the wide space of the platform at the base of the vimana five subsidiary shrines have been fashioned out of the rock, each an elegant reproduction to a reduced scale of the main theme, to which they serve as a refrain. The interior consists of a pillared hall, from which a vestibule leads to the cella This hall is a well-proportioned compartment measuring seventy feet by sixty-two feet, having sixteen square piers in groups of four in each quarter, an arrangement which produces a cruciform central aisle with an effect of great dignity.