The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.50

v2.c18.50

[154] The door frame is of chlorite and of a rectangular shape. It appears, however, in the annexed photograph (Plate LVII) narrow above and broad at the base, like an ancient Egyptian doorway; this is owing to error produced by the camera having been placed in a slanting position on very low ground right in front. Its front is one mass of carving of the richest and most sumptuous description to be seen anywhere in India. The pattern is conventional, being met with not only in different parts of Orissa, notably in the porch of the Great Tower of Bhuvanesvara, but also in the Ajanta Cave No. I¹⁶ and elsewhere; but its finish is most exquisite, The design includes seven distinct bands enclosed in a frame having its edge moulded in the form of cymarecta and set off with a series of lotus-petals edged with beaded ornaments. In the photograph the petals may be mistaken for echinæ. The bands are all set on the same level; they rise from the top of alto-rilievo human figures standing in different attitudes and terminate at the corner of the lintel, the transverse portions on the lintel being in some of the bands differently ornamented. The inmost band has a floral design similar to Fig. 24, Plate XI of Vol 1. The next is formed of two twining serpents which terminate at the top in a female bust. The chaste design and exquisite finish of this scroll cannot be surpassed by any carving of medieval times. The third is formed of panels filled in, alternately, with the coat-of-arms design shown in Fig. 46*b*, Plate XXXIII, Vol. 1, and human couples in disgustingly obscene attitudes. In the transverse portion of this band the coat-of-arms design is omitted and the human couples are replaced by single squatting figures, either singing or playing on musical instruments. The fourth is a trailing vine in the loops of which cherubs are at play. In the transverse portion of this band the vine is dropped and the cherubs are replaced by human figures in a flying attitude, each carrying a female seated on his out-stretched thigh (Fig. 143, Plate XXXVI, Vol. 1). The fifth is formed of a series of miniature pilasters set one over the other, the transverse portion being filled in with musicians playing mostly on the large drum called *khola* (Fig. 169, Plate XXX, Vol. 1). The sixth is a repetition of the third in every detail and the seventh is formed of a string of cucurbitaceous flowers (Fig. 143, Plate XXXVI, Vol. 1). In the middle of the transverse portion of each band there is a panel flanked with pilasters and filled in with bassi-rilievi. The subject of the lowest panel is the sun as shown in the Navagraha frieze, holding a full-blown lotus in each hand and attended by two servants waving *chauris*. In the next panel the central figure is a rājā explaining something to a minister standing with folded hands on one side while a servant on the other side waves a *chauri*. This is repeated in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth panels. In the topmost panel the rājā appears in a niche surmounted by a trifoiled arch and having the head of an elephant on each side.