Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.343

v3.c43.t1.343

Like all temples dedicated to Bal-Siva,² the vivifier, or ‘sun-god,’ it faces the east. The portico projects several feet beyond the mandap, and has four superb columns in front, of which the outline by Ghasi conveys but a very imperfect idea. Flat fluted pilasters are placed on either side of the entrance of the mandap, serving as a support to the internal toran, or triumphal arch, and a single column intervenes on each side between the pilasters and the columns in front. The columns are about eighteen feet in height. The proportions are perfect; and though the difference of diameter between the superior and inferior portions of the shaft is less than the Grecian standard, there is no want of elegance of effect, whilst it gives an idea of more grandeur. The frieze is one mass of sculptured figures, generally of human beings, male and female, in pairs; the horned monster termed Grasda separating the different pairs. The internal toran or triumphal arch, which is invariably attached to all ancient temples of the sun-god, is [708] of that peculiar curvature formed by the junction of two arcs of a circle from different centres, a form of arch well known in Gothic and Saracenic architecture, but which is an essential characteristic of the more ancient Hindu temples. The head of a Grasda crowns its apex, and on the outline is a concatenation of figures armed with daggers, apparently ascending the arch to strike the monster. The roof of the Mandap (pronaos) cannot be described: its various parts must be examined with microscopic nicety in order to enter into detail. In the whole of the ornaments there is an exact harmony which I have seen nowhere else; even the miniature elephants are in the finest proportions, and exquisitely carved.