Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c7.s1.15

c7.s1.15

The walls proper, or *maṇḍora*, from the basement to the cornice, have the ordinary mouldings and figure panels. In the Somanātha temple, in order to get extra height for the larger structure, the *jangha*, or band of figure panels, is duplicated. It is in this band that the principal images, which adorn a temple, are found. They are made up of gods and goddesses, *yogis* and dancing girls, with, now and again, some quaint sculpture thrown in. There are three principal niches on the outside of the walls of the shrine—one in the centre of each—and it is from the images in these that it is possible to determine the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. This especially applies to the niche on the back wall of the shrine. In this case it contains a threefold image, or, at least, an image with three faces, which appears to represent the *trimūrti*, or trinity of the three gods Siva, Brahmā and Viṣṇu. It is a standing male figure with three faces and eight arms, but all of the latter are broken off, save the upper left, which holds the serpent of Siva. The more usual way of representing the *trimūrti* is by a bust only, with three faces, such as we find it in the Elephanta and Elurā caves and in the temples on Chitorgaḍh. On the north side the principal niche is occupied by Mahākālī, one of the forms of Pārvatī, the wife of Siva, while below her, in the basement niche, is Brahmā with his wife upon his knee. This image had been mistaken for another *trimūrti*, but the fact of the wife being present should dissipate this idea; for, in that case, she would be the common wife of the three divinities! Moreover, the faces are bearded, which is usually the case with Brahmā but not with the *trimūrti*. Then, again, the symbols held in the hands are all those of Brahmā—the *śaluṅkā* staff, the book, bound round with cord, the rosary and the waterpot. Brahmā's goose, or what remains of it, is seen below his right knee. The central niche on the south side has Siva dancing the *tāṇḍava* as Naṭeśvara. The basement niche, below this, is empty, as is also that on the east side beneath the *trimūrti*. Above Mahākālī, on the north side, is a mutilated image which appears to be another *trimūrti*, and above this, again, in a circular niche, is Naṭeśvara. A small image of Brahmā is seen up above the *trimūrti* on the east face. The roof, from the cornice upwards, is in what Fergusson designates the Northern or Aryan style, which has been described in the Architectural Note. Quite half the tower has fallen, but it is not difficult to reconstruct it from more complete examples, elsewhere, of the same class. The tower has had rather a fine frontispiece, judging from the fragment that remains of this above the roof of the hall.