History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c31.11

v1.c31.11

Each compartment of the interior of a medieval temple had its own ceiling supported on beams and architraves resting on walls, pillars or pilasters. While the minor compartments had usually flat (samatala) ceiling, usually relieved by lotus design, the ornate ones are normally of two types - 1) the lantern type made of diminishing intersecting squares, and 2) the cusped and coffered type with a number of sub-types.