The Hindu Temple v1.c7.s2.1

v1.c7.s2.1

Whether an Indian temple is built of wood, brick or stone, the work is done with precision. Bricks and stone are carefully laid and joined (suyuktyā; ‘Viṣṇudharmottara’, III, ch. XCI, 12). The stones are frequently kept in position without any cementing material.⁷⁴ Iron clamps are used for wooden joints, if need be and where the masonry is dry the stone blocks are held together with iron dowels (Deogarh). Sudhāśilā, plaster, and Vajralepa, a glue cement and coating, were applied; there is no lack of prescriptions how to prepare them. Vajralepa is a hardened glue mixed with other substances such as conch shell powder or white earth (caolin). Vajralepa is made either of purely vegetable substances, gums, resins, and viscous residues, or else it is produced from animal substances, hides and horns; to the latter could be added a mixture of metallic substances, or of lime. Vajralepa which means ‘diamond plaster’ is so called because it is specially durable and firm; it is recommended for these qualities, in the ‘Śilparatna’ (XIV. 58-75), in a passage which deals with the different kinds of lime plaster (sudhā). The careful process of mixing the several ingredients with the granulated and powdered lime from gravel and conch shell lasted from two to four months with the result that the plaster was not only durable but also that it had none of the stark deadness of effect which for instance whitewash imparts. It is a rich and creamy white, discreetly shining, like polished ivory or some ancient enamel.⁷⁵ Under this white, smooth, polished plaster, stone and brick are often combined in one and the same structure, stone in the lower parts and brick above, a practice found not only in south Indian temples, but also in