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

280 THE HINDU RENAISSANCE
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convex and curvilinear in profile, with the
angles of alternate storeys marked by the heavily
rusticated amalaka form, is essentially the same
as the towers over the sanctuaries of the late
Gupta shrines at Aihole. Whereas in buildings
like the Durga temple at Aihole the sikhara was
installed as a kind of cupola on the roof of the
cella,
here, at Pattadakal, the tower has grown
to form a complete roof over the sanctuary, so
that its four sides rest directly on the four walls
of the garbha griha. The shape of the channelled
amalaka quoins was repeated in the bulbous
shape of a crowning amalaka - now lost - so that
here again the unified effect of the whole building
results from the repetition of the shapes of
215. Pattadakal, Jain temple
its structure. False doorways containing images,
as in the Gupta temple of Deogarh, decorate
three sides of the tower base ; at the fourth is the
entrance to the cella preceded by a shallow
porch. The employment of the high podium, as
well as the profiles of the encircling cornice, are
hardly different from the disposition of these
members in so-called Dravidian temples, which
may be taken as a clear indication that in origin,
at least, the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian types of
temples were constructed in part from the same
repertory of architectural motifs.
The most simple type of Dravidian shrine is
represented at Pattadakal by an old Jain temple
[215] that stands about a mile to the west of the
village. 9 The elevation of the surviving tower
sanctuary shows the regular method of stepped
diminishing storeys characteristic of the Dravidian
order. The whole is crowned by an elaborate
stupika. The general shape and flaring profile
of its silhouette are repeated in the profiles of
the cornices of the successive terraces.
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4. INDO-ARYAN ARCHITECTURE: ORISSA
As has already been stated in the introduction
to Late Hindu architecture, the term Indo-
Aryan or nagara style of architecture is used to
designate the temple-building characteristic of
northern India in the dynasties that succeeded
to the power of the Gupta Empire. This is a
type already anticipated in some of the Gupta
temples at Aihole and Pattadakal. One of the
chief sites where Indo-Aryan temples were
built as early as the eighth century a.d. is the
holy city of Bhuvanesvar in Orissa.
In our study of Orissan temples we are fortunate
in having preserved a considerable body
of sastras, furnishing the most precise directions
for the laying out and erection of the temples.
In these Orissan texts the temples are classified
under the designations rekha and bhadra. The
rekha is the conical, beehive-shaped spire; the
bhadra a terraced pyramid. The rekha is divid-