Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/346

 298 ARCHITECTURE IN THE HIMALAYAS. BOOK II. a small antechamber. 1 Over all this temple measures 51 ft. by 31, and stands in a walled enclosure about 120 ft. long and 60 ft. wide at the east end, and 75 at the west. This contains some rooms for the priests with small temples along the north side. But in 1786 it underwent a thorough repair at the hands of Raja Sansarachandra II., which has obliterated many of its features ; and to this repair it probably owes the porch with its four pillars in front ; but with the exception of the balcony windows on each side, the walls were not, perhaps, materially meddled with. The roof and spire, however, were either rebuilt or so overlaid with plaster as to hide the original work. The woodcut (No. 165) shows only the pillars of the portico of the temple, with the Nandi kiosk in front and a small temple of Jamadagni beyond. This latter, though ruinous, is more interesting, because it has escaped the hand of the spoiler. As will be seen from the woodcut, it has all the features of a very old temple great simplicity of out- line, no repetitions of itself, and the whole surface of the upper part covered with that peculiar horse-shoe diaper which was so fashionable in those early days. It looks here as if it must be copied from some brick or terra-cotta construction ; otherwise its repetition over a whole surface seems unaccount- able. The amalaka stringcourses are subdued and in good taste, and the crowning ornament well proportioned. There is little doubt that the jikhara of the larger temple was similarly adorned, but all its details are so completely obliterated by the coating of plaster it has received that it has lost its interest. The pillars, however, of its porch retain their forms up to their capitals, at least. The architraves, as may be seen from the woodcut, belong to the repair in 1786. The shafts of the pillars are plain cylinders, of very classical proportions, and the bases also show that they are only slightly removed from classical design. The square plinth, the two toruses, the cavetto or hollow moulding between, are all classical, but partially hidden by Hindu ornamentation, of great elegance, but unlike anything found afterwards. The capitals are, how- ever, the most interesting parts, though their details are con- siderably obliterated by whitewash. They belong to what may be styled the Hindu-Corinthian order, though the principles on which they are designed is diametrically opposed to those of the classical order of the same name. The object of both as is well known is to convert a circular shaft into a square 1 The inscriptions are in the mandap, j lated in ' Epigraphia Indica,' vol. i. pp. high up in the side walls, right and left | 97-118; vol. ii. p. 482; vol. v. App. from the entrance, a most unusual posi- ! p. 78, and ' Indian Antiquary,' vol. xx. tion for such records. They are trans- ! p. 154.