The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.199

v1.c9.199

**Uniform Symmetry :** Another principle of art in which repetition of the same forms and ornaments, instead of marring, or cloying, the sense of beauty, enhances it, is *uniform symmetry*, or that disposition of parts in which the same ordinance reigns throughout the whole. Whatever the number of columns required in a building, it must be made up of structures of the same size and shape, and they must be arranged in the same style, and at uniform distances with almost mathematical precision; no deviation being anywhere permitted, and the smallest change being reckoned prejudicial to beauty and taste. This is the fundamental law on which orders in architecture are founded, and it was most rigorously enforced by the Greeks. Indeed, the relative proportions of the several members of each Greek order are such, that it is impossible to mix any important member of one order with another without causing a frightful amount of deformity. In the absence of information regarding the different orders of architecture which prevailed in India in ancient times, and it being even questionable whether there were more than one order current, it is impossible to say how far there were restrictions in the way of employing ornaments promiscuously ; but as regards particular classes of buildings the rule of uniform symmetry was strictly observed. The roof appropriate to a porch was never put on a dancing hall, nor the mural decorations of the latter ever transferred to the former. The system of projections so peculiar to the square chamber of the temple and its porch could not be assimilated to light, open, oblong dancing hall without altering its character ; nor could the refectory be placed in immediate proximity to the temple to serve the purposes of a porch without destroying the symmetry of both. In short, each class of building has its peculiar character, peculiar disposition, and peculiar ornaments, and these have been assigned to their respective uses with scrupulous care. Further, when out of a number of various decorations, a particular one has been selected, such as the typical pilaster with ophidian mermaids, it has been repeated as often as necessary, but never coupled with another of a different style. There are instances in which a whole facade is not made up of the same kind of pilaster throughout, but of two or more kinds ; but in such cases the grouping is peculiarly ingenious and artistic, and by the repetition of the same arrangement on the opposite sides, respective symmetry and harmony have been very happily preserved. All this is doubtless entirely arbitrary and fictitious ; but, as justly observed by De Quincey, "in every art there must be, with respect to truth, some fiction, and with respect to resemblance, something incomplete",⁸⁵ and in regard to such a technical art as architecture, the mere fact of such rules having been laid down and imperatively enforced, implies a highly advanced intellectual condition of the architects.