The Hindu Temple v1.c8.s7.21

v1.c8.s7.21

The square, dark, small Garbhagṛha is not transferred from the cave temple to the structural temple. The flat roofed 'Gupta' temple is not derived from Brāhmaṇical excavated sanctuaries contemporary with it (Udayagiri in Bhopal, etc.), nor from earlier excavated cells with a flat ceiling; the early rock cut sanctuaries have domed or vaulted interiors, whereas cells and halls in the rock cut monasteries have a straight ceiling. There is no scope for a flat roof in rock cut temples, the Caitya halls prior to the Gupta age; it belongs to the flat roofed porch only of the sanctuary proper. The flat roof of the rock cut Kailāsanātha Temple in Elura of the eighth century is in imitation of a structural temple of that age.