The Hindu Temple v1.c8.s4.48

v1.c8.s4.48

The earliest preserved temples which are not one storeyed and flat roofed, are variously given additional height. Two main types can be distinguished; the one has a second smaller flat roofed temple above the Garbhagṛha of the ground floor (Pārvatī temple at Nachna Kuthara, C.I. and the Lad Khan temple at Aihole), and the other, described at the beginning of this note, has a more or less pyramidal, etc. superstructure, articulate with horizontal bands, mouldings or storeys. Some were rectilinear such as the temples of Bodh-gayā, Bihar (at the time of Hiuen Tsiang), and the temple at Gop, Kathiawar, others like the Daśāvatāra temple at Deogarh and the brick temple at Bhitargaon with their recessed courses appear to have yielded a curvilinear rather than a straight outline. To these may be added the Mahādeva temple at Nachna Kuthara (Progress Report, ASI, Western Circle, 1919) and the temple at Pathari (ASI. vol. X. p. 75); see also S. K. Saraswati, ‘Temple Architecture in the Gupta Age’, JISOA, vol. VIII. p. 146). Re. Vaulted temples, see note 41. The temples are either ‘sandhāra’ or ‘nirandhāra’ with or without a covered circumambulatory.