The Age of the Imperial Guptas c8.42

c8.42

Four fragments of this gateway were recovered and on them we see the shaft of a pilaster, shaped like the rough bark of the date-palm. A parallel band bears on it that exquisitely fine arabesque which is characteristic of pure Gupta work. Miniature dwarfs are turning somersaults at the corners of the bases of the pilasters.¹ The roof of the interior of the porch was supported by graceful tapering pillars, embedded in foliated vases, the shafts of some of which are plain and some fluted.² Set against the plain ashlar masonry of the inner wall of the path of circum-ambulation and the sanctum were numerous pilasters with plain or octagonal shafts but ornamented with square bosses bearing some of the finest arabesque medallions, ever discovered in India, as well as *Kīrtimukhas*.³ The zenith of artistic excellence is reached in the case of the ornate slabs of the flat roof, many of which were recovered in a wonderful state of preservation. One of them bears on its surface a mass of arabesque foliage with a long stem, clinging to it are superb little *Amorini*; on the other we see a giant creeper with huge corrugated leaves reminiscent of Acanthus leaves of Corinthian architecture, and on a third the representations of huge waves with breaking crests.⁴ These roofing slabs are of different sizes and on others, which are narrower, we find arabesque which is relatively mediocre compared with the three described above. There are others in which leaves are arranged in squares as well as geometrical patterns.¹ Very probably the porch of Maṇḍapa was open on three sides and the lower part of its sides was composed of decorated slabs. The exterior of the porch was decorated with a line of indescribably fine Caitya-windows, containing round medallions with figures of Hindu gods and goddesses. These Caitya-windows can be crossly divided into four classes; (a) according to size and (b) according to ornamentation. Larger and smaller Caitya-windows were probably placed alternately along the cornice. The larger Caitya-windows are ornamented along the circumference of the medallions either with (i) arabesque or (ii) two small lotuses.² The medallions contain figures of Gaṇeśa, Brahmā, Yama, Kubera, Kārtikeya, Śiva dancing, Śiva seated on his bull, Sūrya, Devī as Mahisha-mardinī and Kāma. In one or two cases the smaller Caitya-windows contain either small figures of dancing Amorini or full lotus rosettes. From analogy it appears that such Caitya-windows were placed alternately according to size. Such is the position of these decorative figures on the cornice of the so-called Dharmarāja’s ratha at Mamallapuram in the Chingleput district of the Madras Presidency.³ Exactly similar but smaller *Caitya*-windows have been discovered in the early Gupta temple at Nachna Kuthara.¹