Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c31.35

c31.35

That the twelfth century saw a continuation of this architectural activity, as the country remained comparatively peaceful, and its commercial prosperity was maintained, is shown by several important buildings. Among these, two great projects were consummated, consisting of the completion and consecration of the temple of Rudra Mala at Siddhapur, and the further restoration of the temple of Somanatha after its spoliation by Mahmud of Ghazni in A.D. 1025. On account of their ruinous condition, however, both these famous monuments are of little help in tracing the progress of the style, as of the former only a few pillars and an architrave remain in situ after being dismantled at the end of the thirteenth century, in order to provide materials for an adjacent mosque, while the temple of Somanatha, having been restored more than once, and then converted into a mosque, has not much of its original fabric preserved. Undoubtedly the Rudra Mala was, towards the middle of the twelfth century, after it was consecrated by Jayasimha Siddharaja the hero-king of Gujarat (1094-1142), one of the largest and most sumptuously decorated religious monuments in India. Of its wondrous beauty the Gujarati ballad-singer still fulsomely declaims, as the following extract shows: