The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c8.s5.4

c8.s5.4

The plan of the hall of Huchchimalli-Guḍi, as in other temples of this class, does not give a clear idea of the arrangement of the interior of the temple. It is practically the same plan as that of hundreds of small mediæval temples which are met with of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries, omitting their outer halls, where the four central pillars support a central square compartment of the ceiling, boxed in on all four sides by deep beams above the pillars, the marginal ceiling, outside and around this, being lower. But, in these older ones, instead of taking the four pillars as a central group, the two on either side should be taken as linked up with the end pilasters to form two continuous lines of columns from the front door to the shrine. The whole length of the ceiling, between these, is of the same height, which is made much loftier than the side ceilings by a deep running architrave over the beams above the pillars. This long ceiling is divided into bays by shallow cross-beams above the architraves. The hall is thus divided into a central nave and two side aisles. It will be noticed that there are no pilasters on the side walls opposite the pillars as in later temples such as those shewn on plate LXII. The side ceilings are formed of plain sloping slabs.