The Hindu Temple v1.c9.s8.1

v1.c9.s8.1

The Prāsāda at all times is the temple proper. The other structures which are combined with it are subservient to it. This is expressed in their proportions which are based on those of the Prāsāda. By proportionate measures and the theme of its walls and not only by propinquity, contiguousness or coalescence with the building of the Prāsāda is the Maṇḍapa part of the temple. At first, however, in some of the earlier temples, having a Maṇḍapa structure, it was added to the Prāsāda after the construction of the latter. The Maṇḍapa of the Paraśurāmeśvar temple in Bhuvaneśvar is the result of such an afterthought; its squat shape with its clerestory roof appears shunted on to the wall of the Prāsāda which prior to this combination had been carved in every detail. But it is not only as an afterthought, as in this particular case, that the Maṇḍapas of some of the earlier Prāsādas give no rhythmical response to the theme of the Prāsāda; they offer an unmitigated contrast. The Uttareśvar temple at Bhuvaneśvar, whose Maṇḍapa and Prāsāda were planned and set up at the same time and are contemporary with the Paraśurāmeśvar temple shows the problem which confronted the Sthapati.⁴⁹ A century or more had to pass before he arrived at the perfect solutions showing the Prāsāda as the main building and temple proper, with the Maṇḍapa as the lesser part of the sacred structure, following its rhythm in the particularities of its own form. In Orissan temples the integrity of the two buildings is more strongly retained than elsewhere, but even there one wall surrounds their continuity and only indicates their separateness by a deeper recess than any produced by the buttresses of the wall of the two structures. Within this juncture (saṃsṛti; S.S. LXVI. 17) lies the porch (antarāla) of the Prāsāda or Garbhagṛha, fulfilling the function of the Mukhamandapa of the more ancient temples. This small porch is marked on the outside of the Prāsāda (Pls. XLVIII, XLIX; cf. also Figs. on pp. 255-56) by a buttress carried on to the Śukanāsā, at the prescribed height which regulates the height of the Maṇḍapa.