Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c39.30

c39.30

Certain other factors are also noticeable in the mediaeval temples of Kashmir, which affect their architectural style. Among these was the practice of placing some of them in the centre of a shallow tank of water as may be seen at Ludov, Pandrethan and elsewhere, thus denoting the prevalence of a form of Naga or serpent-worship, water being a symbol of the cult. Another striking feature, already referred to in connexion with the earlier phase of building in Kashmir, is the character of the masonry. Most of the temples are constructed of abnormally large blocks of stone almost megalithic in appearance. But these huge blocks are by no means crudely or incompetently worked, on the contrary although of immense size they are highly finished productions laboriously hammer-dressed into level faces and fitted together in horizontal courses of remarkable regularity Many examples may be studied of this fine stone-mason's work, notably in a retaining wall at Wangath, while the manipulative skill shown in the masonry as a whole recalls that in the Herodian buildings of the Roman Age The labour involved in such construction must have been considerable, and although now the preparation of stonework in this manner is almost a lost art, the tradition may still be traced in the large stone mortars for pounding grain, which are to the present day hammered out of natural boulders by the same arduous process.