The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s8.17

v2.c11.s8.17

¹⁷¹ The Āmalaka and more precisely, the cupola (Śikhara) of the High Temple (Vimāna) above the Bhūmis of a South Indian temple, would correspond in their topmost part to the “roof plate of the domed house” and represent an architectural equivalent of the Sundoor through which one “escapes altogether” as pointed out by Coomaraswamy, ‘Some Sources of Buddhist Iconography’, ‘B. C. Law Volume’, p. 473, note 12; and also in ‘Pāli Kaṇṇikā’, JAOS, 50; 1930; ‘Symbolism of the Dome’, op. cit., I.H.Q. 1938, and ‘Eckstein’, ‘Speculum’ 1939; also ‘The two Reliefs from Bharhut’, JISOA 1938, l.c. ‘Svayamatṛṇṇā, Janua Coeli’, ‘Zalmoxis’, 1939, could however not be consulted.