Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c32.12

c32.12

In the first place, the designer's principal aim was clearly variety of effect, and he therefore began by aligning the two essential parts of the temple diagonally astride the axial line, joining them at their inner angles This produced an attractive plan measuring 90 feet long by 75 feet in width Then he broke up the sides of this conception by a close series of vertical projections and recesses, in some respects corresponding to buttresses, but without their structural purpose. For the intention of these upright passages was mainly decorative, the object being by this system to elaborate the chiaroscuro, to multiply the shadows and lights and thus attain animation and movement. The remaining architectural treatment of the building, comprising the horizontal mouldings of the *kani* or knife-edged type, the quoins of the sikhara, and the multiplication to a smaller scale of the architectural features to make up the pattern of the structure, were all applied according to the system already described