The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c8.41

v1.c8.41

In the North-Western Provinces two additional columns were soon added, which, with a pyramidal roof, produced a detached pavilion, or kiosk, in front; and this has since been greatly improved, particularly in Jain temples, by multiplying the columns and extending the area of the building. But in Orissa the change did not sort with the massive character of the larger temples, nor suit the requirements of the priests, who, probably, thought the light admitted into the sanctuary through its single door too much for the mystic character of their rituals, and the generally unattractive appearance of the idols. A walled building was, therefore, preferred to an open, columnar, or arcaded one; and for the sake of variety, and to mark the distinction between the temple and its porch, its top was closed with a pyramidal roof instead of a steeple. The Orissan name for this structure is *jagamohan*, “the fascinator of the world”, for it is from this place that the public are allowed to behold the divinity within. It may be compared to the *prodromus* or *pronaos*, of ancient, and the vestibule of mediaeval European temples. According to Kāśyapa, it is the *antarāla* or ante-temple.¹¹ Its ground plan is generally, though not invariably, square, and its walls are diversified with the same kind of projections as those of the temple itself. At first sight it would appear to differ from the temple in having four doors instead of one; but as frequently, two of them, those on the flanks, are closed either by mullion bars, or lattice work, and the third is brought in contact with the entrance to the temple, there is virtually only one entrance to it.¹² But it differs from the temple in height, in the form of its roof, and in having, in structures of large dimensions, four pillars arranged in two rows, which divide its floor into a nave and two aisles, or make it a distyle hall. Its height is fully one-third less than that of the temple. The plinth is invariably of the same height, the walls to the cornice generally correspond, but the pyramidal roof is entirely different, and so are the decorations on the walls. The roof is a repetition of the cube of the body with the sides and top cut off to produce its peculiar shape. This is, however, not invariably the case : in two or three instances the sloping roof after being carried to some height is broken by a regular clear story with windows opening all round at short intervals to admit light. The truncated top of the pyramid, where the pyramidal form is adopted, is surmounted by a domical structure of which the most prominent members are the same as on the temple viz., the *amla* fruit, and the reversed lotus; but they are repeated, the lower globe very much compressed and the lotus elongated into an umbrella crown. The upper members remain untouched. The *kalaśa* is a repetition of what occurs on the temple.