Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c39.54

c39.54

important Siva temples, Sankaragaurisvara built by the ruler himself, and the other Sugandhesa, named after his queen, but both are woefully ruined. Neither of these differs in shape from the other temples in Kashmir. They are each designed on much the same plan, and their elevations are similar in general appearance to those already described But a close investigation of these structures reveals a refinement of workmanship, both in the handling of the materials and in the treatment of the ornamentation. The individual stones are large, in size recalling those of Lalitaditya's masons, particularly in the length of the blocks forming the lintels, one of these being eighteen feet long Then their shaping is so precise and their angles so exact that they might have been produced by some mechanical process, instead of by hand. In one instance, in the formation of a complicated combination of roof and cornice in several planes meeting at different angles, where, ordinarily, a number of stones would have been fitted together, the whole is monolithic, being skilfully but laboriously cut out of one entire block. Some of the large beams were fixed into position by means of neatly shaped joggle-joints, and the courses of masonry generally are exceptionally well fitted The details of these two buildings are of the same highly finished order, no mouldings could be cut with greater mechanical accuracy, and the carving, specially of the repeating patterns and borders, has an incisive quality rarely equalled. Few buildings can show such facile directness and dexterity of manipulation as the remains of these two temples at Patan.