History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c25.s3.1

v2.c25.s3.1

With, perhaps, the single exception of the temple of Jagannâth at Purî, there is no temple in India better known, and about which more has been written than the so-called Black Pagoda at Kanârak, 19 miles north-east from Purî; nor is there any one whose date and dedication is better known, since the literature on the subject can here be depended upon. Stirling's statement that the present edifice was built by the Râja Narasingh-deva I., who ruled from about 1238 to 1264, is supported by copperplate inscriptions.¹ Complete as this evidence appears, one is almost tempted to question it, for the simple reason that it seems improbable—after the erection of so inferior a specimen of the art as the temple of Purî (*cir.* A.D. 1100) appears to be—the style could have reverted to anything so beautiful as this. In general design and detail it is so similar to the Jagamohan of the great temple at Bhuvaneswar that at first sight I should be inclined to place it in the same century;