Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c23.43

c23.43

About a decade later, the temple of Vaikuntha Perumal, also at Conjeeveram, was built, and here the Pallava style of architecture is seen in its most mature form. This temple is slightly larger and more spacious in its proportions than the previous example, and instead of the principal parts such as the cloisters, portico, and sanctuary, being separate buildings, they are amalgamated into one architectural whole, as may be seen in Plate LXIV. Square in plan, having a side of nearly 90 feet, the eastern or front portion is carried forward 28 feet to provide for an entrance portico The exterior of this formation presents what might have been a high and somewhat uncompromising outer wall, but its surfaces have been so enriched with semi-structural and ornamental motifs that it blends admirably with the sikhara towering above the whole composition but actually rising from the shrine within. Inside the outer wall are the cloisters, consisting of a colonnade of lion pillars, with a passage for processions continued right round the building between this and the central structure The central edifice is in two parts, the sanctuary and its portico, but these are so combined as to form this portion into one building. The portico, or what corresponds to the mandapa, is interiorly a square compartment 21½ feet side, having a transverse aisle of eight pillars, and it leads by means of a vestibule to the cella, a rectangular chamber over which rises the pyramidal vimana tower This vimana is square in plan, externally having a side of 47 feet, and its tower rises to a height of 60 feet from the ground. It is in four stories, each with a passage round its exterior, a cella in the centre, and a corridor encircling two of these for circumambulation. Although there is not in the Vaikunta temple the living freshness and ingenuousness of the Kailasanatha, yet it has many commendable features, for it displays an economy in the disposal of its parts together with a skilful marshalling of the main elements so as to produce a unity of conception, which has resulted in a building having considerable architectural merit.