The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c13.35

c13.35

Though the interior of the Dharmarâja Rath is not shown in the model, it is easy by analogy to realise the plan of it. Making allowance for the difference of climate and material—the Bengali temples being built of brick—the ground plan of the Mâmallapuram model follows closely the northern prototype from which it was derived.² There was a square shrine (or, hall of the Sangha, if the building was occupied by Buddhists), surrounded on all sides by a verandah roofed with the curved Bengali chhaja. On the side of the entrance of the shrine the verandah breaks forward slightly, so as to form a porch. At each corner of the verandah there was a square cell, either for a living yogi or for a sculptured symbol of a deity. But one of the corners might have been used, as in a storied Bengali temple, for the staircase leading to the first floor; or this might have been placed in the thickness of the walls of the shrine, or hall of the Sangha.