The Hindu Temple v1.c8.s4.18

v1.c8.s4.18

wall-stones of a dolmen.⁵⁸ These South Indian examples and the Central Indian Gond temples lead back to the origin of the cubical walls covered by a flat roof in which is enshrined the Garbhagṛha.⁵⁹ The flat roofed, ‘historical’ temple, aggrandised and yet comparatively small, and the ageless, megalithic varieties of village and wayside shrines are of one type. It is this cubical cell which appears transferred at some time, staged and raised on the well packed socle, itself on a terrace in larger temples, and which is finally embodied in the high pile of the Hindu temple with its towering superstructure.⁶⁰ The protracted and widely dis-