The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.33

v1.c9.33

Illustrations, Nos. 8,9,10 A and 10 B, are typical representations of detached pillars. The first forms the side post of an elegant archway in front of the Mukteśvara Jagmohan. On the side of it is represented a portion of the low parapet [ 45 ] wall which runs round three sides of the sacred fane. Its panels are very elegantly carved, and it is surmounted by battlements which are closely similar to Saracenic ornaments of the kind. The second is from the Dancing Hall of the Great Tower of Bhuvaneśvara. It has a plain square shaft with a peculiar capital formed of a succession of square blocks, the lower edge of the topmost one being cut aslant from below upards and outwards. The third occurs in the Dancing Hall of the Puri Temple. It differs from the last principally in the capital being formed of a single plain block. The last is *sui generis*. Its shaft is formed of a single block of chlorite, plain and rounded, with a capital peculiar to it. It occurs in a detached open *chaultry* in the south side of the Puri Temple, called Muktimaṇḍapa; but the *chaultry* is not synchronous with the temple itself. Looking, however, to the large number of costly pillars employed in its construction, it is to be supposed that the structure is of an early date. It is used as a lecture hall, where learned paṇḍits assemble to expound the Śāstras for the edification of the faithful.¹⁴