Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c38.22

c38.22

Among the many carved fragments within these buildings, there is one example more complete than any of the others, and from which a fair conception of the style may be obtained. This is a small subsidiary doorway on the west and back wall of the Adina mosque at Gaur, evidently torn from a Vishnu temple of the eleventh-twelfth centuries and inserted into its present position Originally forming the entrance to the cella, it shows clearly the architectural character of this feature, and from it the quality of the whole may be estimated. It represents a square-headed opening, with pilasters on either side and a cornice above, showing that its designers favoured a structural framework for their doorway design A moulding formed of the rope-like convolutions of Sesha, the "endless serpent," surrounds the jambs, with a close and realistic cluster of the same coils comprising the "keystone." Outside this is a series of trefoil niches, and, wherever required, are scrolls of foliage, enclosing various symbolic forms, among which an interpretation of the "vase-and-foliage" of the Guptas may be identified.