The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c23.s1.2

c23.s1.2

In the centre of the hall is one of those aṣṭadikpāla ceilings, several examples of which we have already noticed (see Plates XCIV and XCVII). The whole ceiling, which, in these cases, is usually a single slab, six to nine feet square, is divided into nine equal compartments by two cross bars each way. The central compartment holds an image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated—in this case Śiva dancing upon the black dwarf—while the surrounding eight contain images of the aṣṭadikpālas or regents of the eight points of the compass, each riding upon his own particular vehicle or vāhana. The