History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c31.14

v1.c31.14

A special feature of the developed medieval style is its tall śikhara clustered by numerous aṅga-śikharas which emphasize its vertical accent. The problem of erecting a tall and massive śikhara without adding much to the load was cleverly solved by the Khajuraho architect by building a series of hollow chambers of diminishing width above the sanctum. For this, recourse was taken to putting up in the interior walls of gradually narrowing width over offsets and strengthening the walls of the resultant hollow chambers by erecting tie-beams at intervals, as seen in the published sections of the temples. While the pyramidal (phāṃsanā) roof of each maṇḍapa has normally one such hollow chamber, the tall Nāgara śikhara over the sanctum indeed had to have a series of them. A similar device is followed in other regions.