Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c27.5

c27.5

The next step towards enlarging the temple formation was that of enclosing the entire composition within a rectangle by means of a high boundary wall, an intervening space being left all round to provide a wide open courtyard, or *prakaram*. This enclosure was entered by gopurams, one on the east and the other on the west, the former being usually the larger as it was the principal doorway. Within the space thus enclosed various structures were erected, chiefly pillared halls or subsidiary shrines, and also certain buildings of a semi-religious character such as granaries, and store-rooms for the safe-keeping of the ceremonial supplies After a time another larger rectangular area was added, concentric with the last, and also contained within a still higher enclosing wall, leaving another appreciable space between the inner and outer perimeters. As many as four entrances were often made in this wall, one in the middle of each of its four sides and each consisting of a gopuram greater in size than any of those previously erected. At this stage therefore some architectural effect becomes visible, being obtained by the series of gopurams aligned along the axis of the temple, with two others to balance at its sides. Within this outermost enclosure two large and important structures are generally found, one being a hypostyle hall of a thousand pillars, and the other a square tank of water for ablutions, lined with steps and surrounded by an arcade. (Plate LXXV)