Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan c8.s1.5

c8.s1.5

Passing on to the outer walls of the temple, we find them more richly encrusted with ornamental detail and more overlaid with tracery than in the temple of Ambarnātha; in fact, we have here the style in its fullest development, crystallized into its richest details, and sparkling with light and shade from summit to basement. Being a smaller building than Ambarnātha—64 feet over all—the basement is reduced in height by the further omission of the elephant moulding, thus making the basement four mouldings short of the full complement. But there is a change here in the torus moulding of Ambarnātha which has become wedge-shaped with a sharp edge. The walls above the basement are much the same as in that temple except that there is rather more richness in details. The śikharas, again, are more lavishly worked. Introduced into the walls will be found a few narrow vertical panels of scrollwork, which, later on, with surface fretwork and lozenge-shaped oranament, were used more fully to take the place of the more expensive image carving, as may be seen on the Kokamthān temple, Gondeśvara at Sinnar, and the temple of Mahādeva at Pātna. It is, here, but sparingly used.