The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.53

v2.c18.53

The interior of the chamber is plain. The walls were plastered and white-washed, but not set off with any carving. A plain moulding formed of a cyma and a tile runs all round the room at height of 5 feet from the floor and that is the only decoration which has been attempted for the interior. The floor is entirely covered by a large mass of rubbish, which has resulted from the fall of a false flat ceiling which originally covered the under-surface of the pyramidal roof. This ceiling was supported on four square pillars which had divided the area of the room into a nave and two aisles. The remains of these pillars are still to be found in the midst of the rubbish, as also the iron beams which were laid over them, and which extended from them to the side walls to support the ceiling. The beams are of thick scantling and from 12 to 20 feet long. A few of the beams are still sticking to the walls by one end, the other hanging in the air. The ceiling formed no part of the roof and there was considerable space left vacant between it and the roof. According to Abul Fazl's description the ceiling was painted ( p. [148] ) but no trace of such painting can now be found. It is obvious that the pillars did not fall from the weight of the roof, nor could lightning or earthquake knock them down, leaving the side walls and the roof untouched. Hostile human agency could not be brought to bear upon them without injuring the walls, but the walls are uninjured, and even the plastering on them is tolerably intact. The solution of the problem, therefore, can be effected only by the supposition that the foundation of the pillars sank and thereby brought down the superstructure.