Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c26.18

c26.18

In view of the irregularity of the ground on which the capital seat of the Vijayanagar kings was built, there could be little attempt at symmetry in its town-planning, and the disposition of the different quarters of the city is therefore not readily determined. One portion however has been identified as the citadel, and within this walled area the imperial buildings were grouped. Among these is a comparatively small but highly ornamental temple known as the Hazara Rama, in which the royal family and members of the court worshipped, and may therefore be referred to as the Chapel Royal. Its private character is emphasized by the twenty-four feet high wall with which the courtyard is surrounded. According to inscriptions it was begun by Krishna Deva Raya in 1513, and in spite of being of very moderate dimensions, is perhaps the most completely finished example of its kind, as not only is the superstructure intact, but included within the enclosure is an Amman shrine, a Kalyana mandapa, and all the other subsidiary structures found in the larger type It is entered on the east through a finely proportioned but flat-roofed porch, which leads to an assembly hall having as its main feature a group of four massive black-stone pillars, one at each corner of a central square. These four columns are of unusual design as their shafts are built up of contrasting geometrical shapes, a cube alternating with a fluted cylinder all copiously carved, while each capital is a very substantial four-branched foliated volute, each volute terminating in the characteristic knop.