The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c15.47

c15.47

Except for its quasi-classic pilasters the design of the Mârtând temple conforms strictly to the Hindu tradition of the time. The trefoil arches were not a foreign suggestion: they were designed as a frame for the aureoled head and shoulders of the image for which the shrine was built. Nor is the pediment over them anything more than a decorative motif taken from the wooden hipped roofs of the Himâlayan districts. The actual roof of the shrine was probably wooden. If the latter was built for a Vishnu image, it must have been a wooden adaptation of a brick or stone sikhara. If it was meant for a Siva image, it would have been the Himâlayan form of the pyramidal roof (fig. 44*b*), like that over the shrine of the Mudabidri temple (Pl. XXX).