Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c47.36

c47.36

As regards architecture, the Badami tradition seems to have been continued in the Pallava country. One of the most characteristic features of the Badami cave temples is the use of very effective pillars with "cushion" capitals, a motif which had probably developed from the bell shaped capital found at such places as Karle and Bedsa and in some of the earlier Buddhist monuments. Further developments of the "cushion" capital are to be found at Ajanta and Ellora, for example in the *chaitya* Caves XIX and XXVI at the former place and in the Maharwada at the latter. In Pallava territory we notice its introduction in the later cave temples of the Bhairavakonda groups, which were probably constructed during the reign of Narasimhavarman I and also in that king's temples at Mahabalipuram where good examples are to be found in the Mahishasura and Ramanuja Mandapas.