The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.54

v2.c18.54

Taking the structure as a whole it is the noblest specimen of medieval art extant in India. Faults it has, both mechanical and artistic, and serious ones too,—but its general excellence entirely covers its defects and very justly did [ 155 ] Abul Fazl remark 'that no one can behold this immense edifice without being struck with amazement'. Mr. Fergusson, by far the ablest European critic who has visited this temple, and whose opinion in a question of this kind would carry the greatest weight, is most emphatic in his praise of this monument. He says, 'The temple itself is of the same form as all the Orissan temples and nearly of the same dimensions as the great ones of Bobaneswar and Puri ; it surpasses, however, both these in lavish richness of detail; so much so, indeed, that perhaps I do not exaggerate when I say that it is, for its size, the most richly ornamented building—externally at least—in the whole world'¹⁷. Again: 'Taken altogether, this building may, as far as my experience goes, be considered as one of the very best specimens of Indian architecture as an exterior; though in Upper India there are interiors infinitely finer. There is altogether so much consonance in the parts and appropriateness in the details, that the effect of the whole is particularly charming. In speaking, however, thus in its praise, I must be understood to limit that to its effect as an artistic architectural composition; for the sculpture that covers the walls—not the roof—is generally bad in design and execution and of an obscenity of expression which it is impossible to describe and which it would be difficult for even a very depraved European imagination to conceive'¹⁸. It is, however, so completely subordinate to the architecture that this defect is not perceived in contemplating the building at such a distance as enables one to grasp it as a whole'¹⁹.