Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c6.37

c6.37

In ornamental detail there is very considerable variety; but, in the earlier temples, as exemplified in the temple of Ambarnātha, there was, perhaps, too much of it crowded over the surfaces of the walls. There were not enough plain surfaces left to act as a foil to the ornament, as there was in the temples of the seventh and eighth centuries. Compare, for instance, the walls of the great temple of Virūpāksha at Pattadakal¹ with those of Ambarnātha, or with that at Halebid, one of the most profusely decorated temples in India.