Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c28.22

c28.22

The Vaital Deul is a comparatively small building, its plan measures only 18 feet by 25 feet, and its height to the ridge of its keel roof is barely 35 feet, but within this limited compass there is much that is informative, and much that is strangely beautiful. Its chief effect is contained in the tower, the proportions of which are most satisfying, but in addition to the well-balanced arrangement of its parts, the handling of its surfaces, and the manner in which the architectural decoration is disposed, all denote a highly trained aesthetic sensibility. This specially applies to the flat projections, like shallow buttresses, placed around the *bada* or base of the structure. There are four of these on the narrower side of the tower and five on the wider, each of which contains in its centre a recess enshrining an image sculptured in bold relief and each about two feet in height. These projections, richly patterned, alternate with flat uncarved recesses, the contrast thus afforded producing an admirable appearance. Then in the front of the tower, thrown out above the roof of the *jagamohan* is an elegant foliated gable, a development of the Buddhist chaitya-arch, with the Hindu *Tandava* motif or Dancing Siva within a circular panel in place of the sun-window, that characteristic feature of the Buddhist temple facades.