Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c28.27

c28.27

The jagamohan which was built at the same time as the tower, the two forming the original temple scheme, is in plan not the customary square, but an oblong measuring 72 feet long and 56 feet side. Its lower story or *bada* is 34 feet high and like the tower is composed of a series of recessed chases. Above this square portion rises the substantial roof in the shape of a pyramid, the lower part square and stepped, the upper part round and fluted, the whole attaining the height of 100 feet from the ground. The additional halls of the nat and bhoga mandirs, although belonging to a somewhat later date, are in much the same style as the jagamohan, and compose not inharmoniously with the architectural scheme as a whole except that they unduly prolong its line As already mentioned the interiors of these halls are plain single cells, the walls being entirely devoid of ornament, and the ceilings, composed of oversailing courses of masonry, are treated in an equally simple manner. Each hall however has a group of four massive piers in the centre to support the solid mass of the roof, and these have sculptured patterns on their shafts. (Plates XCII and XCIII) It is difficult to believe that the workmen who showed such restraint in the production of these austere interiors could be the same as those who were so profligate with their decoration on the outer walls of the same buildings. Not only did the artists produce on the exterior wall surfaces figure compositions of an intricate nature and absorbing in subject, but in every part the multiplicity of detail, the fertility of invention, the fantasy and caprice of the patterns, are astonishing And this plastic decoration is not unsystematic, the orderly manner in which it is applied, and the discipline employed in its distribution recall the foliated panelling, canopied niches, and spiralled nook-shafts of some of the Gothic cathedrals of Europe.