The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.189

v1.c9.189

The second principle is that of “Truth”, or the avoidance of architectural deceits, that is, “the suggestion of a mode of structure or support other than the true one, or the making of surfaces to represent some other material than that of which [73] they actually consist”, or the employment of ornaments which are calculated to produce a false impression on the beholder. No deception of any such kind has been practised by the architects of Orissan temples: all their structures openly avow what they are intended for; every member has it use; every ashlar or moulding its meaning; no *terra cotta* moulded figures supply the place of honest hard-wrought sculpture; no painting deceives the eye into the belief that wooden panelings are variegated marble; no mark of mockery anywhere mars the beauty of truth.