The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s1.22

v2.c11.s1.22

A deeply enmeshed net of light and darkness provides the frames to the buttresses with their rows of sculptures. In this reduction to a context of light and darkness the innumerable and changing gradations of the shadows cast by and playing over the carvings receive monumental firmness (Pl. III). The indefinitely flexed and modulated bodies of the images, their rounded volumes, appear levelled to a considerable extent by the strong light; thus they do not dissolve the compact monument into almost innumerable carvings but keep its surfaces enlivened by rhythmical accents of line and shade, even in the strongest glare which would render a plain surface dead with too much light. Having come forth—ontologically from the centre of the dark sanctuary, the images in the light of the day are an exposition of its meaning, beneficent to eye and mind alike.