The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c8.25

v1.c8.25

**Shape of Orissan temples:** The Orissan temple in its simplest form is a cube, rising from the ground without a plinth, and its tower is the result of four battered walls gradually approaching each other to supply the place of a roof, the top a frustum—being closed in with a thick slab, which in the Benares, or the Jain style, is represented by the Rāmrekhā. Such a chamber dedicated to an image can require but one doorway, and the first idea of ornamentation would be suggested by the necessity of a dripstone, or hood-mould, or weather-moulding over it to throw off rain. To render this moulding effectual, its projection should be considerable, and to support it, two pilasters become absolutely necessary. These produce the most primitive porch, and a great number of such structures may be seen in every part of Orissa. From pilasters, to pillars the transition is easy enough, but it has not been frequent, the great majority of temples having pilasters, and not pillars. The foundation of these pilasters causes the first break in the square ground-plan of the earliest temples. Vide woodcut, No. 14. *A priori*, one may suppose that poverty of invention, or more probably a love for symmetry, would lead to a repetition of the projection on all the four sides of the temple chamber, and this is exactly what is met with in the fanes of Bhuvaneśvara and Puri—a square outline with four projections as shewn on the margin : woodcut No. 15. The projections in such cases are not deep, and the pillars, when employed, occur only on the side of the