The Hindu Temple v2.c12.11

v2.c12.11

Pillars and pilasters support corbelled domes; even within the Garbhagṛha the corbelled ceiling rests on pilasters; the pillars of the Mahāmaṇḍapa are extended beyond their capitals—the extension is called Ucchālaka—and are crowned by heavy bracket capitals, whereas half pillars are set on the seat (āsana), whose back projects slanting outward above the perpendicular part of the wall below it (which is also called Vedi; ‘Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’, LVII. 29; 126; Pls. I. LI. LXXVI). At the end of this hypostyle, the Garbhagṛha with its walls, the main sanctuary within the temple, is set right below the neck (grīvā) of the Śikhara and the Liṅga has its place below the Kalaśa, the vase of the finial (Fig. i, p. 212). Between them the Śikhara rises, inaccessible to the devotee and to be seen from the outside only.