Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c34.14

c34.14

Another group of temples in the Kanara country, rather more to the north, is in the town of Bhatkal and although constructed of stone, their exteriors are most astonishingly wooden in appearance.³ They are all built on the double penthouse principle, with expansive stone roofs in imitation of laminated or overlapping planks. No sikhara or tower of any kind rises above these roofs to distinguish them as religious buildings, but in front there is usually an elegant stambha or free-standing pillar forming part of the temple design. Even more expressive of a timber derivation than the roofs, is the system of stone screens which close in the sides of the structure, and are in horizontal slats, like Venetian blinds, or Indian *jil-mils*. That the construction of these temples is a frank copy of the domestic architecture of the locality, imitated in the laterite for permanence, is shown by the thatched houses of the people being of the same character with battens of palm stems for the screens. In this instance too, the style has been forced on the people by the conditions of the climate the driving rain on the one hand, and the hot humid atmosphere on the other, necessitating protection from the former and ventilation for the latter. (Plate CXIX).