The Age of the Imperial Guptas c8.51

c8.51

The masonry of both of the early Gupta temples is finely coursed small ashlar. The architect did not provide for the extremes of expansion and consequently all stones of the surface are either badly cracked or chipped at the corners, a characteristic to be found in the *Daśāvatāra* temple at Deogadh in the Jhansi District, the unfinished temple on the mound at Nemawar, on the Narmadā, in the Indore State² and in the *Śaiva* monastery at Chandrehe in the Rewa State.³ No mortar has been used in the construction of any of these two temples, nor was clamping resorted to. There was no great weight upon the walls and pillars of these two temples as the height was not much and the roofs all flat. The collapse of these two temples is due entirely to the cracking of the lintels and displacement of the foundations by tropical vegetation.