Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c7.s1.6

c7.s1.6

The temple faces the west, and is made up of the sanctum and *maṇḍapa* or hall, the latter being provided with three entrances, each with its own porch. Four free-standing pillars support the ceiling of the hall; and these, with six others in the three porches, are all that are found in the temple. The plan, as will be seen, is peculiar, being apparently made up of two squares set diagonally to one another, touching corner to corner—the smaller being the shrine, the larger the hall. But in reality it is formed of two squares touching side to side, whose sides have been whittled down to narrow panels by the deep recessing of the corners into a line of angles running straight between the diminished sides. This produces very unequal thickness in the masonry, but, at the same time, as will be seen in the photograph, these heavy masses come immediately under the heavier portions of the *śikhara* above. In the hall, the recesses of the doorways tend to equalise the thickness of the walls, the weight of the roof being more equally spread over them. Yet there are places where the masonry seems to be dangerously thin. The projections around the walls form so many buttresses to strengthen them. As with all this class of old work, the masonry is put together without cementing material, the stability of the mass depending upon the weight and level bedding of the blocks composing it. The varied treatment of the square, in designing the plans of these temples, the sides being more or less broken up by projections and recesses, tends to produce somewhat fanciful, yet, nevertheless, pleasing-looking figures.