The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c19.54

c19.54

Many of the great South Indian temples repeat the plan of the Indian village in their enclosing walls, with gopurams on all four sides. This is not so frequent an occurrence in Northern India, which was so much more completely under Muhammadan domination, probably because the Muhammadan rulers razed the outer defences of Hindu temples for military reasons; but it may be seen in the plan of the Mârtând temple in Kashmir (fig. 46), where the lines of the two main streets of the village plan are also repeated.