The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.222

v2.c17.s1.222

The injury so done is irreparable. It has converted a monument scarcely inferior from an art point of view to the Great Tower of Bhuvaneśvara and quite as sumptuously carved as the Black Pagoda into an ugly mass of stones. It has led, however, to inferences about the decay of Indian art which are by no means justifiable. Mr. Fergusson, adverting to the absence of detail, says, 'The degradation of the faith, however, is hardly so remarkable as that of the style. Even Stirling, who was no captious critic, remarks that it seems unaccountable in an age when the architects obviously possessed some taste and skill, and were in most cases particularly lavish in the use of sculptural ornament, so little pains should have been taken with the decoration and finishing of this sacred and stupendous edifice. It is not, however, in the detail, but the outline, the proportions and every arrangement of the temple show that the art in this province at least had received a fatal downward impetus from which it never recovered'⁴⁹. Again: 'Except in its double enclosure and a certain irregularity of plan this temple does not differ materially in arrangement from the great ones at Bhuvaneśvara and elsewhere; but besides the absence of detail already remarked upon, the outline of its *vimāna* is totally devoid of either that solemn solidity of the earlier examples or the grace that characterised those subsequently erected; and when we add to this that white-wash and paint have done their worst to add vulgarity to forms already sufficiently ungraceful, it will easily be understood that this—the most famous—is also the most disappointing of northern Hindu temples. As may be seen from the preceding illustration, the parts are so nearly the same as those found in all the old temples at Bhuvaneśvara, that the difference could hardly be expressed in words; even the wood-cut, however, is sufficient to show how changed they are in effect, but the building itself should be seen fully to appreciate the degradation that has taken place'⁵⁰.