History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s4.6

v1.c19.s4.6

The great and at first sight puzzling question is, from what original is this curious combination of forms derived? It is like nothing found anywhere out of India, and like no utilitarian form in India, that we now know of. It cannot be derived from the dome-like forms of the topes. They are circular both in plan and elevation. The Sikharas are straight-lined in plan, and their section is never a segment of a circle; it is not derived from any many-storeyed buildings, as the sikharas or vimânas of the Dravidian architecture of the south of India, which seem certainly to have been copied from the many storeyed vihâras of the Buddhists, and we cannot fancy any class of domestic building which could have formed a model out of which they could have been elaborated. One curious thing we do know, which is that all the ancient roofs in India, whether represented in the bas-reliefs or copied in the caves, were invariably curvilinear—generally circular or rather ogee—having a ridge added externally to throw off the rain from that weakest part; but nothing on any bas-relief or painting gives us a hint of any building like these sikharas.