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

376 CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
the similar contrast of plain ashlar surface and
sharply shadowed frieze in the Ionic Treasury
of the Syphnians. The doorway is unornamented,
save by the mouldings of almost Attic
simplicity. At the top of the wall is a continuous
entablature with a delicately carved band of
hamsa, which provides another accent for the
undecorated wall surfaces. 25 The entrance is
flanked by two makara balustrades which are
preceded by reliefs of naga guardians. These
can hardly be distinguished from the dvarapalas
of Anuradhapura.
Immediately adjoining this sanctuary is one
of the loveliest examples of Singhalese architecture,
which may perhaps be identified as the
Wata-da-ge - 'round temple of the tooth relic'
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built by Parakrama Bahu I, mentioned in the
Culavamsa [305].
26
The entire structure was at
one time covered by a roof of wood and tiles,
supported in part by the row of pillars. The
resemblance of the plan [306] is so close to that
of the Thuparama at Anuradhapura that the
connexion between these two thupa-gharas is
probably more than coincidence. Indeed, in
thirteenth-century texts, the Thuparama is also
referred to as a 'Wata-da-ge'.
The circular sanctuary rests on an undecorated
base; on the inner circumference of
the wide platform rises the wall of a second
terrace, its podium carved with superimposed
friezes of lions and dwarfs separated by short
pilasters. Above this rises the railing of the
upper processional path, divided into panels
with a delicate lotiform ornament; this wall
originally supported a succession of stone
pillars, intended, like the columns surrounding
305. Polonnaruwa, Wata-da-ge
I
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