The Hindu Temple v1.c7.s2.2

v1.c7.s2.2

⁷⁴ The practice of building with cyclopean stones (cf. Jarasandha-ka-baithak, Rajgir) (Kramrisch, in Vol. VI, p. 235 of Springer’s ‘Kunstgeschichte’) persisted in the Hindu temple: in the courses of dry masonry of carefully dressed and relatively very large stones (Gupta temples in Central India; early Cālukya temples in the Deccan, early Cola temples in South India). In the Cālukyan temples, dry masonry, with no cementing materials between the stones, was employed in the earlier sandstone buildings (H. Cousens, ‘The Cālukyan Architecture’, ASI. NIS. Vol. XLII). This is also true of the mediaeval temples of the Deccan built of amygdaloidal trap (H. Cousens, ‘Mediaeval Temples of the Dakhan’, ASI. IS. Vol. XLVIII), of those in Gujerat (J. Burgess-H. Cousens, ‘Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujerat’, ASI. Vol. IX), and of Orissa (M. M Ganguli, ‘Orissa and Her Remains’, p. 257). Metal has been used for bonding from the Mauryan pillars onwards (bronze dowels or copper cramps). Wrought iron beams form a grid as framework for the stone masonry of the ceiling of the Maṇḍapam at Konarak, Orissa, in the 13th century.