Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c28.50

c28.50

As previously mentioned the Orissan style had a northerly development which penetrated into a region comprising the western portion of the State of Mayurbhanj, the Burdwan district of Bengal, and the Manbhum district of Bihar, where a few scattered examples have been located. These are all relatively small structures, few of which have porticos, as they usually consist of a simple deul or tower containing the cella, so that they appertain more to shrines than temples. In Mayurbhanj these are found only at one place, in the small village of Khiching near the western frontier of the State, at one time the capital of a principality which flourished during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when they appear to have been erected. Most of the shrines are in a very ruined condition, but they seem to have formed a group, with one in the centre larger than the others, the base of this being as much as thirty-five feet side. The architectural style of the Khiching examples is very similar to that of the Orissan group, but the wealth of carving and figure sculpture with which they are decorated is slightly different in its handling, suggesting the existence of a separate and local school of plastic art. Still more to the north the shrines in the Burdwan and Manbhum districts show more individuality in their design, the increased distance from the centre of the movement causing them to be less under the influence of the parent style. There are several examples of the phase at Barakar in Burdwan, and another at Telpuki in Manbhum presumed to date from the end of the Pal dynasty of Bengal in the 11th century. These buildings however are more closely allied with the regional style as it developed in Bengal, and will be described in connection with the architecture of that part (Chapter XXXI).