Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c10.s1: Kokamthān
Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c10.s1
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Kokamthān
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THE village of Kokamthān, about fifty-six miles north of Ahmadnagar, is situated upon the right bank of the Godāverī, some three miles to the south-east of Kopargāon, a station on the railway. Built upon what appears to be an artificial embankment, projecting into the stream bed upon the north-east outskirts of the village, is a very interesting old temple. It consists of the usual shrine and *maṇḍapa* with two porches, one on the west side of the hall and one on the north, directly opposite the shrine. A small additional shrine takes the place of a porch upon the east side of the *maṇḍapa*. The building has been designed upon a star-shaped plan, which, however, is rather obscured by the three heavy square buttresses around the shrine, and by the porches and the square side shrine of the hall which break the star-planned corners. It is possible that the side shrine of the hall is a later addition, the outer walls, in their treatment, being so very unlike the rest. Had this been part of the original plan, it would, like temple No. 1 at Balsāne, have been carried out in precisely the same style, the same mouldings and panelling being carried around its walls. Like the temples at Jodghā and Devalānā, this shrine has taken the place of a porch which stood opposite the one on the west of the hall. Above the doorways of the two porches, as well as above that of the main shrine, is Garuḍa: which, coupled with the fact that the temple faces the north, shows clearly that it was originally a Vaishṇava temple. But above the doorway of this small shrine is Gaṇapati, which is in favour of it being built as a Śaiva shrine, probably when the temple fell into the hands of that sect. (Plates LXVII—LXIX.)
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Applied to the three sides of the shrine, outside, are three heavy buttresses, which, since they are not necessitated by any wall shrines within, must have been added in order to strengthen the walls under the great pressure of the lofty tower which rose above them. These are designed in keeping with the walls and tower of the temple itself. The mouldings are the same though on a miniature scale; and from these it can be seen what the top of the tower, which is now absent, must have been like. These are, without doubt, original work, and were provided for in the original plan. Perhaps the inferior quality of the stone used caused the builders to be doubtful of the ability of the walls to carry the weight of the superstructure.
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The lower part of the building, that is, the walls between the ground line and the cornice, is built of stone, but the tower above this, and the roof of the *maṇḍapa*, are built of brick, the whole of which, both stone and brick, having been plastered. The ornament and figures, which had been first carved in stone, have been overlaid with plaster, in which their outlines and forms have been reproduced. On the brickwork the whole of the decorative detail has been formed solely in the plaster, and, in this respect, differs from the older brick temples, such as that at Sirpur in the Central Provinces, where the ornament was first executed in the brick before being overlaid. It was a common thing in the Dakhan, in temples of this age and later, to build them partly in stone and partly in brick, and the plaster upon the stonework was probably intended to bring the whole to one uniform appearance. In the photograph the one is indistinguishable from the other.
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The front, or north, porch has a plain spiral ceiling similar to that in the porch in the north end of the *Jāmi‘ masjid* at Aḥmadābād, but with less decoration.¹ It is now a good deal the worse for weathering. In the west porch is a cusped ceiling somewhat similar to those in the *Jāmi‘ Masjid* at Broach,² but not so elaborate as the best of those.
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¹ *Aḥmadābād Architecture*, by Dr. Jas. Burgess, Part I, plate XXXVII.
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² *Gujarāt Architecture*, by Dr. Jas. Burgess, plates X—XVI.
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The principal object of worship in the shrine, at present, is the *liṅga*; but, behind it, resting against the wall, is a slab bearing an image of Vishnu reclining upon Śesha, which is set up on end. The beams which stand forward from the four walls of the shrine are supported upon intervening brackets or consoles, in addition to the walls and corner pilasters. The shrine floor is on the same level as the floor of the hall. The doorway is fairly well carved, and is of the usual style, with a little florid centre piece under the cornice, as at Pedgāon. Five *devīs* occupy as many small niches in a line above the door cornice.
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In the wall, on either side of the antechamber, is a niche for an image. The antechamber ceiling is domical, rising in plain concave and concentric mouldings to a central rosette, which falls again as a pendant in two tiers of cusped mouldings.
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The side shrine, off the hall, which is, smaller than the principal one, has a low altar at the back, upon which there is now a rather shapeless stone which may have been the slab which once bore an image. It is daubed with red paint and is called by the villagers Jagadambā Devī.
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The central hall has no free-standing pillars, the ceiling being worked up from the pilasters, which are generally square in plan. Heavy architraves form an octagon of unequal sides, from which the domical ceiling rises in rings of concave mouldings to a central pendent rosette, which again falls as a finial. Each group of cup-shaped cusped mouldings, in the three tiers of the pendant, has a separate drop or finial of its own. These drops, with the central one, were fitted in as separate stones, some of which are missing. There are eight figure brackets around the inside of the dome, six of which hold dancing figures, the little squat figures below being musicians.