The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.88

v2.c17.88

The area of the building above the plinth is a square of 56 feet a side. Originally it was colonnaded all round, each side having five openings. The central opening on the east was intended for the main entrance. Three mean-looking steps lead to this entrance, and it is flanked by two piers. The width of the opening originally was 8 feet 8 inches, and was spanned by a five-cusped Jain arch crowned by two human figures This arch, like several other parts of the building, was never finished, as the left half of it is decorated with a scroll work, while the right one is left perfectly plain. The piers are elbowshaped, the projecting end having a round, the bend between the two arms also a round, and the outer end a square, pillar. On either side of the entrance there were two openings formed by a line of three pillars spanned by a stone architrave. Thus the side comprised two piers and ten pillars, each 13 feet 5 inches high. This arrangement was repeated on the other three sides, and in the middle of the room were four compound pillars, each formed of four richly carved columns, for the support of the roof. The roof is pyramidal ; it rises in a slope from the cornice, which is 3 feet deep. At a height of about 6 feet, the roof is edged by four tiers of cornice. Then follows another slope edged with three tiers of cornice. Then another slope, and over it a perpendicular neck with lancet-headed cornice surrounding a flat roof. From the centre of the last rises a short neck supporting the pinnacle ( Plate XXXIII ). In this form the structure had a light, airy, elegant appearance ; and altogether the place was well suited for the purpose for which it was designed. But the architect was out in his reckoning of the strength of the architraves and of the weight of the roof placed over them ; and in a short time some of the architraves cracked, and the [73] pillars showed signs of being crushed down. It became necessary, therefore, to close the openings, except the central one on each side, with solid masonry walls, and to strengthen the central groups of columns by building them up so as to form solid square pillars. The width of the central openings had also to be reduced by side piers, and the arches to be supported on iron lintels. The new walls have bas-reliefs and carved stones stuck into them, but without any taste, order, or plan ; and they serve only to disfigure what was originally a handsome work of art. Thus the original open pavilion was converted into a closed dark room ; and it, being no longer fit for a lecture-room, was appropriated for a refectory. Offerings of cooked food are now placed in it thrice a day,—away from the sanctuary, in which the space available is too limited for the display of any large number of trays of rice and curry. This arrangement also obviates the necessity of profuse and frequent washings of the sanctuary, which the contact of dressed rice would otherwise have rendered imperative. This objection not applying to offerings of flowers, fruits and sweetmeats, they are carried to the sanctuary.