The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c48.s2: Ganjigatti Ceiling

c48.s2.1

There is at the village of Ganjigatti, three miles north of Siggāon, in the Dhārwār District, a great ceiling slab, nearly eight feet square, which, like the central ceiling in the great hall of the temple at Kundgol, is carved with images of the *aṣṭadikpālas*. It is in a much better state of preservation than that one. It lies against a platform in the open air at the village shrine, but is said to have been brought from the ruins of a temple at Karajgi (Plate CLIX). The whole slab, which is a single stone, is divided into nine compartments by two cross ribs each way, which are ornamented with bosses at their intersections, and scrollwork down the centres of each. The central panel shows Śiva in his Bhairava or terrible form, dancing upon a prostrate figure, and holding up the elephant hide behind him. Below him, that is, occupying the eastern compartment when the ceiling was in position, is Indra, the guardian of the east, the west is presided over by Varuṇa, the god of the waters, seated upon his *makara*. On the north rides Kuvera, the god of riches, upon his horse, while, on the south, is Yama the god of death and Hades, seated upon his buffalo. The north-east, south-east, south-west, and north-west are held, respectively, by Iśa (Śiva) on the bull, Agni, the god of fire on the ram, Nirṛiti, who represents decay or destruction, seated on the shoulders of a man, and Vāyu, the god of the winds, upon a deer. The carving of this slab has been executed with the greatest care, and the figures stand out in high relief.