Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c13.s6.1

c13.s6.1

At Sātgāon, four miles to the north by west of Chikhli in the Buldānā District, there is a rather fine old temple of Vishṇu. It faces the west. In the shrine, against the back wall, is a seat, or throne, in three tiers. In the centre of the face of the upper is Garuda, and in the centre of the middle one is a *devī* or goddess. Standing upright upon the seat is a slotted stone intended to hold a standing image, a small fragment of which, with the feet only, is in position, the rest being destroyed. The ceilings of the *maṇḍapa* are very well decorated, and, in style, seem to stand half way between the later temples of the 13th and 14th centuries and those of the 11th. The pillars, too, are of an intermediate type. The *maṇḍapa* is in a very shattered condition, many of the pillars being canted over at very dangerous angles and threatening to collapse. The exterior walls of the shrine are decorated with the usual basement mouldings, which are surmounted by bands and panels of arabesque in place of images, excepting for the three empty niches which held loose ones. A portion of the *śikhara* stands, and it rises in the style of that of Goṇḍeśvara at Sinnar, which it closely resembles. There are small niches and images around the base of the *śikhara* and on the *maṇḍapa* roof. The dwarf wall around the *maṇḍapa* is decorated, on the outside, with little pilasters and images alternately. There are brackets, half way up the shafts of the pillars of the porches, which, it is clear, were adorned, as at Goṇḍeśvara, with bracket images. (Plates CVI–CIX.)