The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c8.s3.1

c8.s3.1

Our next temple is that known as Kont-Guḍi, which is of the same type as the last, and, like it, situated in the village (No. 4). " Kont-Guḍi," again, is not the original name of the temple, but has been applied to it because the last occupant of the building, as a residence, was the man whose privilege it was to carry the konta or triśūla of Śiva to the village boundary at the time of the annual Dasara festival. It was found in the same state in which he left it, the walls and pillars, within, being thickly coated with cowdung plaster which has covered up all the surface carving; and it is thick with soot, grime and cobwebs. It is a smaller building than Lāḍ Khān's, but, except for the pillars, it is hardly less massive in construction. Like the last it is square in plan, but has only four central pillars. The shrine is, if anything, more awkwardly contrived than Lāḍ Khān's, for it is formed against the east wall by screen walls from it to the nearest two pillars, and across between the pillars to form the front, in which is set the door frame. The shrine faces the west, although the entrance doorway to the hall is on the north side. The roof in the middle, above the four pillars, is flat, and it slopes away from this square space, all around, to the four walls. The shrine is, therefore, as at Lāḍ Khān's, under the sloping roof.