The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

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THE ART OF KASHMIR 203
On each of the four facades is a pediment
supported on fluted pseudo-Doric pilasters
enclosing a trefoil arch that originally held the
statue of a deity. This triangular pediment is
undoubtedly another borrowing from the
3
Roman Orient transmitted by way ofGandhara
The trefoil is derived from a shape already seen
in the cella of the stupa courts of Gandhara and
in the trilobed niche at Bamiyan [1 14] probably
;
its ultimate origin is to be sought in the profile of
the chaitya-hall with a section of the nave and
side aisles representing the three lobes of the
ornament. The effectiveness of these temples
depends on their truly impressive scale and on
the rich pattern of chiaroscuro achieved by the
varying depths of the members of the facades.
The original appearance of the ruined
temples of the early period can partly be reconstructed
from the small shrine of the twelfth
century, located in a willow grove at Pandrenthan
nea<^rinagar "[141}
Presumably it
was dedicated to Siva in a.d. 1135. Since it is
open on all four sides, it has been described as a
mandapa or 'porch' type of shrine. The temple
is
square in plan, seventeen and a half feet on a
side, with projecting gable pediments on each
facade. The construction is again of ashlar
blocks on a scale commensurate with the size of
the temple. The bold projection of the pilasters
supporting the pediment makes for a more
effective and lively chiaroscuro than has been
observed in earlier buildings. The cella is
covered by a pyramidal roof in two tiers that
is an obvious, and not entirely successful,
imitation of wooden forms in stone. The interior
support of this superstructure is in the shape of
a lantern dome [142]: there are three overlapping
squares, and the triangles formed by
their intersection are filled with reliefs of flying
apsaras reminiscent of Gupta prototypes. This
architectural form, probably of Iranian origin,
has already been seen in the cave-temples at
Bamiyan [116] and in the Buddhist grottoes of
Kizil in Central Asia; it survives practically
unchanged in the wooden architecture of
modern Afghanistan. The temple at Pandrenthan
is distinguished by the massive
severity of its composition which, together with
the regular employment of an ultimate derivative
of Roman Doric, contrives to give the
building a distinctly European appearance. On
the exterior the pyramidal roof is undoubtedly
an imitation in stone of towered roofs consisting
of overlapping wooden planks, such as may still
be seen in the Mohammedan architecture of
Kashmir and in the relatively modern shrines
of western Tibet. 4
The sculpture of Kashmir presents a development
paralleling that of her architecture in the
derivation of styles from Western and Indian
sources. The earliest examples consist of fragments
of stucco and terra-cotta, originally parts
of large reliefs decorating the ruined stupa at
Ushkur. The technique of ornamentation in
stuccoed relief is entirely reminiscent of the
decoration of the monasteries at Taxila and
142. Pandrenthan, Kashmir, Siva temple, lantern roof
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