Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c6.24

c6.24

The plans of these buildings are either rectangular in their general outline or star-shaped, and revel in a great multiplicity of angles which are carried up through the walls and the towers; and these, with the numerous horizontal mouldings crossing them, break up the wall surfaces into a bewildering mass of projections and recesses with their sparking lights and deep shadows. A reference to the plans illustrated in the following plates will shew, at a glance, how these are designed. The star-shaped plan is arrived at by revolving a square about its centre—in this case the centre of the shrine or hall—the angles being thus all right angles. There is, therefore, nothing very different between the plans of the Dakhan temples and those of Gujarāt and the north generally. Chālukyan temples have, as a rule, larger pillared halls, and often two—an inner closed one and an outer open hall. There are other variations of plans, such as those with three shrines arranged around the common hall, and others where a number of shrines line each side of the hall, both of which are found at Balsāne.