Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c39.35

c39.35

It will be seen therefore that the temple of Martand is a building of average size, but throughout a feeling of a large scale is consistently maintained, as there is nothing small or sparing in its composition. In its appearance of simple dignity, and in the solid nature of its masonry it has something of that power expressed in the amphitheatres and aqueducts of the Romans when these seem to form part of the landscape itself. In its prime in the eighth century, few spectacles can have been more enchanting than Lalitaditya's grey stone masterpiece, with its bold trefoil arches, stupendous walls, and elegant arcades, symmetrically elevated against its mountain background, and looking out on the solitary splendour of the everlasting snows.