The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.41

v2.c18.41

The roof begins on the cornice and recedes uniformly to perfect pyramid, the style of building being of the horizontal arch pattern so common in Hindu temples all over India. The perpendicular height of this pyramid is 63 or 64 feet and the slope about 72 feet. The body of the pyramid is not left bare; at intervals ledges of the depth of the cornice project, and these with the cornice form a series of seven steps, of the same character and style, differing only in the figures carved on their edges, the pattern being different—lions, elephants, geese, soldiers, &c. being the objects carved. Above the seventh ledge the pyramidal core is left bare to the height of several feet; in other words it forms a deep recess, the front of which is ornamented by a line of life-size human figures, with uplifted hands, showing as if they were supporting the superincumbent weight of a second series of six ledges. In 1838 when Mr. Fergusson visited the place, most of the figures were *in situ*; but in 1869 they had been removed or broken down. Over the sixth ledge of the second series the bare pyramid re-appears with a line of human figures as in the first instance, and thereupon a series of five ledges are produced. The edges of these are left uncarved, and herein, as in most other details, the architect displays his consummate knowledge of his art. The edges are under 16 inches in thickness, and bassi-rilievi thereon placed at a height of over 80 feet would have been totally lost to the beholder. Over the topmost ledge comes a compressed ribbed dome supported on crouching lions and having over it a bell-shaped figure carved over with lotus petals, and thereupon a second dome supported on lions as the first, the arrangement being the exact counterpart of what obtains in the Audience Hall of the Great Tower at Bhuvaneśvara (Plate XXX). Originally over this stood the vase-shaped Kalaśa common on Orissan porches ; but it has been somehow knocked down.