History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.22

v2.c25.22

The general appearance of the northern temples, and the points of difference between them and those of the south, will be appreciated from the above woodcut (No. 309), representing two very ancient temples, built in juxtaposition at Pattadakal, in Bijâpûr district. That on the left is a complete specimen of Dravidian architecture (*ante*, vol. i. p. 355). There is the same pyramidal form, the same distinction of storeys, the same cells on each, as we find at Mâmallapuram (Woodcut No. 185), at Tanjor (Woodcut No. 213), or at Madurâ (Woodcut No. 195). The right-hand temple—that of Galaganâth, to the north-west of Sangamesvar's—is Indo-Aryan of somewhat later date, and in which, on the contrary, the outline of the pyramid is curvilinear; no trace of division of storeys is observable, no reminiscence of habitations and no pillars or pilasters anywhere. Even in its modern form (Woodcut No. 310), it still retains the same characteristics, and all the lines of the pyramid or sikhara are curvilinear, the base polygonal. No trace of utilitarianism is visible anywhere. If Woodcut No. 310 is compared with that at vol. i. page 339 (Woodcut No. 195), the two styles will be exhibited in their most modern garbs, when, after more than 1000 years' practice, they have receded furthest from the forms in which we first meet them. Yet the Madras temple retains the memory of its storeys and its cells. The Bengal example recalls nothing known in civil or domestic architecture.