Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c6.29

c6.29

The prevailing type of pillar used in the Dakhan is that which is found in the Pāṭṇa temple (Plate XXX), but there are numerous varieties as will be seen in the plates which follow. They differ considerably from those of North Gujarāt, and still more from those of the Chālukyan temples to the south. On the brackets, under the beams above the capitals, are found the little fat kichaka figures, a kind of squat Atlantes (see Fig. 11), and sometimes rolled brackets with a cobra head upon the rolls. The former do not occur upon the cave or Chālukyan pillars, but they do on those in Gujarāt. A handsome type of pillar is that in the temple of Lakshmī-Nārāyaṇa at Pedgāon where the pot and foliage occupies a very definite position upon the shaft. In late temples this is replaced by a plain or slightly decorated square block. The style of pillar seen in the temple of Āeśvara at Sinnar, which is scored into a bundle of recessed angles all the way up the shaft, is rare. It may be seen again in the porch before a small shrine near the top of the defile at Lonār lake in Berār. Somewhat like them, though not nearly so much corrugated, are those in the porches of the Ambarnātha temple.