History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s8.37

v2.c24.s8.37

The great feature of the interior is a dome 21 ft. in diameter, supported on twelve richly carved pillars, with eight smaller ones interspersed. Like all Indian domes, it is horizontal in construction, and consequently also in ornamentation, but as that is done here, it is as elegant or more so than the ribbed domes of western art. This one is plain in the centre, having no pendant—which, however, is one of the most marked and pleasing features of such domes, as may be gathered from the example in the temple of Vimala at Mount Âbû (Woodcut No. 284 and Plate XIX.). A larger and perhaps better example might be cited in the case of the great sun-temple at Modherâ in Gujarât, when entire, but only the lower courses of its domes now remain.¹