Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c13.32

c13.32

There is almost invariably a verandah (in the tiniest vihāras merely a portico), the roof of which is pitched at a lower angle than that of the roof of the main part of the building. The verandah and main roof are structurally distinct, as in the diagram (Fig. 72). To this fact is due the pagoda-like appearance of many vihāras (as in the Buddhist architecture of Nepal and Burma, where Chinese influence may have carried the tendency further); for the roof seems occasionally almost to turn up at the edge, as contrasted in the slope of the inner and outer parts of it. The constructive distinction between verandah and main roof is probably due to the influence of the cave temple, which forms the actual image house (*pilima-gē*) and corresponds to the interior of the constructional vihāra and against which a lean-to verandah is built, as at Riḍi Vihāra.