Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c28.30

c28.30

The other notable example of the middle period is the famous temple of Jagannath at Puri, an appreciably larger building than the Lingaraja, and the principal parts of it erected about a century later. There are records that it was originally built as a pillar of victory by Chora Ganga, the conqueror of Kalinga in 1030 A.D., but that it was not consecrated until A D. 1118. The probability is that on this site the ruler raised a commemorative column on the occasion of his conquest, but about A.D. 1100 its place was taken by the present structure. Built on the same principle as the Great Temple, at Bhubaneswar, and consisting of four edifices in one alignment, it first comprised the deul or sanctuary, and its assembly hall or jagamohan, in which condition it appears to have remained until the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries, when the nat and bhog mandirs were added. As now completed the extreme length of these four buildings in a line is 310 feet, with a width of 80 feet, while the tower is nearly 200 feet in height. Moreover as it stands on an eminence, it presents a singularly commanding appearance, its soaring deul providing an imposing landmark across the low-lying country for many miles around. This elevated position suggests that the Jagannath temple occupies the site of some still more ancient monument, not improbably the shrine of the Buddha's tooth at Dantapura, before that precious relic was transported to Ceylon.