History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c46.27

v2.c46.27

In order to support this clere-story there are two rows of three pillars each in the interior of the Jagamohana which gives it the appearance of the nave of a church. Though the appearance of the Jagamohana in the twin temples at Gandharāḍi is exactly similar, there is no clere-story in the latter and therefore there are no pillars in the interior and light is admitted through the front door. The roofs of the Gandharāḍi Jagamohanas are built on the cantilever principle. The sloping slabs of the edge of the roof support heavy flat slabs in the centre of the roof. In the case of the latter light is admitted into the interior of the Vimānas by large windows in the front façade of the Śikhara and consequently the Gandharāḍi temples are much better lighted than the sanctum or Vimāna of any other temple in Orissa. While there is a regularity in the elevation of the Jagamohanas of the Gandharāḍi temples there is no regularity in that of the Paraśurāmeśvara. In the former there is a door in front and at the back. On each side of each Jagamohana there is a window covered with a stone Jāli or lattice of blue chlorite. In the Paraśurāmeśvara there is a door in front, a window and a door on one side and a door only on the other side, while a fourth door leads into the interior of the *Vimāna*. In this group of early mediaeval temples of Orissa the *Jāli* or the lattice window is a constant feature. The *Jagamohana* of the Mukteśvara, though quite different in style, shows the use of such latticed windows, though inconspicuous amidst the jumble of ornamentation on the beams and the lintels.¹ Another peculiar characteristic of this earlier group of mediaeval temples of Orissa is the use of Nāga pillars, which though present in the twin temples at Gandharāḍi and the Mukteśvara, are absent in the Paraśurāmeśvara. In the twin temples at Gandharāḍi each door and window is flanked by a pair of round columns, around which is entwined the scaly body of a Nāga or a Nāgi. The Nāgapillars remain a constant but inconspicuous feature of the third group of Orissan temples and rise once more into prominence in the 12th century in the *Jagamohana* of the Rājārāṇi.