The Hindu Temple v1.c8.s6.8

v1.c8.s6.8

In its interior it has four plain walls. They are massive annd their continuity is broken only by the entrance in the front wall.⁸² There is no other source of light. If the door is closed, the interior is dark. In the larger temples, where one or several halls precede the sanctuary, the image is but faintly lit by the light of day as it reaches it across the hall, a dim light just sufficient to set off the image against the darkness of its chamber; the darkness deepens towards the corners even though oil lamps may illumine the image during ritual worship (pūjā). Darkness too, descends on the image from the top of the cell, in the belly of the tower. The limits of the Garbhagṛha, the sanctuary, are more felt than seen, though even in the largest temples it remains in actual dimensions a chamber of small size, here surrounded as it is by two sets of walls and with spacious halls leading towards it⁸³ it appears proportionately smaller than in temples of lesser dimensions.