The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c30.s1.9

c30.s1.9

Over the entrance to the shrine is a beautiful architrave which is most elaborately sculptured (Plate CXXVI). The central figures have been knocked out, but similar architraves, elsewhere, leave us in no doubt as to what figures occupied this space. They were Brahmā, Śiva and Viṣṇu, the one or the other of the last two being placed in the centre according to the dedication of the temple to Śiva or Viṣṇu. The conventional tails of the *makaras* are masterpieces of florid arabesque. The whorls and lines have an ease of flow which is quite free of all restraint or hardness of outline. The little figures above are the regents of the eight points of the compass, each being seated upon his own *vāhana* or vehicle. Beneath this, and before the shrine doorway, is a finely carved doorstep or *ardhachandra*. These two objects are altogether in the dark, and can only be properly seen by the aid of a lamp.