Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c24.27

c24.27

The date that this grand temple was erected was about 1025, less than a generation after that at Tanjore, and although it is in much the same style, the increased elaboration of its architectural appearance is not without meaning For the Chola dynasty at this time had attained its most affluent state, and it is therefore fully expressive of its triumphant domination Larger even in plan than its predecessor it is however less in height as the vimana measures only 150 feet from the ground. The temple building itself occupies the middle of an immense walled enclosure designed partly for defensive purposes as there is a substantial bastion at the south-east angle and another smaller one on the west. With its long axis from east to west the entire plan of the temple building forms a rectangle some 340 feet long and 110 feet wide, having its main entrance on the east. This main doorway gives access to the assembly hall, a relatively low building 175 feet by 95 feet and containing over 150 pillars, all rather slender and of comparatively ordinary design In this many columned hall there is the beginning of those famous "thousand pillared mandapas" which were to constitute an important feature in all the large temples complexes of a later date. The arrangement of the pillars in the Gangaikoṇḍachōlapuram interior is peculiar as they are in colonnades and stand on a solid platform four feet high which however is divided down the centre by a passage or aisle on the ground level, while a similar passage on the same level is carried all round the hall. Between this pillared hall and the sanctuary is a vestibule or transept, running at right angles to the axis of the building, and leading to the north and south doorways, both deeply recessed side-entrances approached from outside by flights of steps. Two rows of massive square piers, eight in all, cross this vestibule, beyond which, hidden in darkness, lies the "holy of holies" in the womb of the vimana itself. (Plate LXVII).