Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/676

 6l8 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTltRE. the liall is a pointed dome supported on eight columns with bracket capitals and raking struts, the octagon thus formed being brought to a square by the four angle columns which complete the characteristic Jaina plan (No. 266 c). In the larger monu- ments the temple is placed in an inclosure, against the wall of which the image cells open on to the internal courtyard. In Northern India the principal monuments are at Mount Abu (No. 270), Palitana (No. 271), Girnar (in tlie Gujerat district), Parisnath, Gwalior (No. 272), Sadri and Khajuraho. At Mount Abu — a granite plateau 5,000 feet above the sea, interspersed with luxuriant vegetation — are two important examples in while marble. That erected a.d. 1032, by Vimala Sah (No. 270), has a splendid portico hall, the columns having bracket capitals (No. 266 b), from which raking struts in marble appear to support the architrave. The interior of the dome is sculptured with concentric rings of ornament, having at the base sixteen statues and in the centre a richly carved pendant or ornament, recalling those at Caudebec, in Normandy, or in Henry VI I. 's Chapel, Westminster. The most fully developed building is perhaps the Temple at Sadri, on the eastern side of the Aravulli Mountains. Resting on a lofty substructure, approximately 200 feet square, it is surrounded by a range of eighty-six cells, each crowned with a pyramidal roof. There are five shrines, one being central and one at each angle, and four open courts for the admission of light. Twenty domes, 24 feet in diameter, supported on 400 columns, are placed symmetrically in sets of five, forming a Greek cross on plan. The centre one is three stories in height and 36 feet in diameter, and is formed as usual in horizontal stone courses. The external appearance, with the domes of different heights and the pointed sikras, presents a rich and varied character, with the mountains as a background. Modern Jaina temples are mostly tinged with Mahometan influence, having bulbous domes and foliated pointed arches. In these the sikra is often absent. In India the normal type varies, open courtyards containing immense statues sometimes cut out of the solid rock, as the statue, 70 feet in height, at Sravana Belgula. (3.) HINDU (OR BRAHMAN) ARCHITECTURE. {a.) NORTHERN HINDU (a.d. 600 to the present time). The normal type of plan consists of the vimana or cell crowned with curved pyramidal roof, and the porch without columns crowned with stepped roof in stories. Each facade has rectangular projections in the centre, which increased in depth as the style