The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c22.s1.7

c22.s1.7

The pillars have been cut from selected blocks of the dark grey stone which was so universally used in these mediæval temples. Nearly the whole of the shaft has been turned in the lathe, and has been very highly finished, some having been so fully polished as to give, on the larger surfaces, a series of bright sparkling reflected lights. The shafts are divided up into numbers of minute and delicate horizontal rings of mouldings, with sharp clean edges, and some of these are sparingly decorated. The little *pippala*-leaf decorations, on the swell of the shaft, are incised, not left raised, which is due to the impossibility of leaving raised portions when in the lathe in the process of turning (Plate XCI). Other pillars rise from square bases into octagonal and sixteen-sided shafts, but have round capitals. The two columns which stand midway between the two halls, and those in the south porch, are of a different type altogether and are far more ornate (Plate XCV).