Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c29.8

c29.8

Each on the main compartments of the temples was distinguished by a separate roof, the smallest and lowest being the portico, next in height came the central hall, the two sweeping up in line of mass to the tall shape of the tower or *sikhara*, surmounting the whole. Unlike the Orissan type which is pyramidal, the Khajuraho roofs are domical in contour, but their surface texture in horizontal strata is much the same The external appearance of these temples owes not a little of its grace to the grouping of these roofs and their centripetal movement towards the spire, suggestive of the rising peaks of a mountain range converging on to the highest pinnacle. This effect, however, has not been obtained without an occasional overcrowding of its parts, as for instance where the roof of the mandapa impinges on the sikhara, but this defect is of minor consequence where all is so well-ordered and coherent.