Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/370

 322 DRAVIDIAN STYLE. BOOK III. remained ever afterwards. The nave of the chaitya has become a well defined mandapa or porch in front of, but distinct from, the cell, and these two features in an infinite variety of forms, and with various subordinate adjuncts, are the essential elements of the plans of the Jaina and Hindu temples of all the subsequent ages. The procession-path round the cell called pradakshina as that round the apse, remained for some centuries as a common but not a uni- versal feature. The verandah disappeared. Round a windowless cell it was useless, and the pillared porches contained in themselves all the elements of shelter or of shadow that were required. SlKHARAS. 182. Plan of Papa- natha Temple at Pattadakal. Scale Soft, to i in. There is one other peculiarity common to both Hindu and Jaina architecture in the north of India that requires notice, before proceeding to describe particular ex- amples. It is the form of the towers or spires called ^Sikharas or Vimanas, which invariably surmount the cells in which the images are placed. It is probably correct to assert that the images of the Tirthankaras are invariably placed in oblong or square cells, and those of Hindu deities in square gener- ally cubical cells, of no great dimension, and that these cells receive their light from the doorway only. It seems also an invariable rule that the presence and position of the cell should be indicated externally by a tower or spire, and that these towers, though square or nearly so in plan, should have a curvilinear outline in elevation. If the tower at Bodh- Gaya (ante, p. 78) retains unaltered the original form given to it when erected about the 5th or 6th century, this dictum would not apply to Buddhist architecture. As it is, however, the only Buddhist .yikhara yet discovered it is hardly fair to draw any decided inference from one single example, while with Jaina or Hindu towers I know of no exception. Take, for instance, the tower represented in the following woodcut (No. 183), which purports to be an elevation of the celebrated Black Pagoda at Kanarak in Orissa, and may be looked upon as a typical example of the style, and of which it may be considered of a fair medium example. The upper part of the tower, to some extent, overhangs its base. It bends inward towards the summit, and is surmounted by what is called an Amalaka a massive circular coping stone which supports a vase called amritakalasa or amritakaraka, i.e. " dew