The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.99

v2.c17.99

The eastern facade abuts on the Porch. There is no ornament or decoration on that side except in the walls which face the recesses between the two buildings and there the carvings are counterparts of what are seen on the other sides. The doorway between the two buildings is plain, having no framing nor moulding around it. The sanctum, like the body of the temple, is a cube, having a canopy on top, and over it a roof dividing the interior of the Tower into two storeys. I was not permitted to remove the canopy, and could not ascertain how the roof was formed, whether by a horizontal, or a radiating, arch, or by a [76] flat structure supported on beams. It is certain, however, that the roof, however formed, constituted a part of the original design, for there is on one of the side walls a small door leading to a vise or spiral staircase by which the upper storey can be reached. The windows on the four sides near the top of the spire would have been uncalled for had there not been a chamber to give light to, and at the height of 150 feet it would have been impossible to pierce a rectangular opening through several feet of solid stone after the Tower had been completed. The priests were well aware of the existence of the upper chamber, and said that in former times it was the repository of treasure and of gold and silver utensils and ornaments belonging to the divinity; but, about a hundred years ago, a person had died of suffocation in the room, and ever since it has never been visited. I wished to fumigate and ventilate the place first, and then go up; but the priests declined to accede to my request. In all the larger temples, such as that of Rāmeśvara, of Puri, and of Koṇārak, the two-storeyed arrangement prevails, and it was evidently adopted when the several temples were designed. But at Buddha Gayā, where the structure is three-storeyed, the partitions dividing the interior into different storeys were put in long after the erection of the temple. In the smaller temples of Orissa, where the double-storeyed arrangement does not obtain, the interior is divided by a canopy, as otherwise the upper part of the shaft generally becomes the abode of numberless bats, which cause a serious nuisance in the sanctum, the canopy very effectually prevents this.