Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/396

 34 8 DRAVIDIAN STYLE. BOOK III. sides, with a capital of very elegant shape. Some, however, are circular, and, indeed, their variety is great. They range from 30 ft. to 40 ft. and even 50 ft. in height, and, whatever their dimensions, are among the most elegant specimens of art in southern India. Typical Jaina examples of these exist at Sravana-Belgola and Venur in Mysore and at Guruvayankeri in South Kanara (Woodcut, vol. ii., No. 308). One class of the Stambhas at Hindu temples was intended to carry lamps at festivals, of which Woodcut No. 203 represents a specimen ; but another class the dhwaja-stambhas like the above at Elura, are frequently in pairs, and bear the symbol of the sect the tri^ula or Garuda. Besides the well-known pillar at Eran, a fine example of a Vaishnava Stambha, consisting of a very lofty square tapering monolith, carved with a creeper pattern up each face and standing on an elaborately carved base, is found at Sompalle in South Arkat district. At Balagami is one 35 ft. high, erected by Some^vara I. Chalukya, about 1047, crowned by a human figure having two birds' heads, called a Gandabherunda, a form of Garuda. There is a well - known example also at Jajpur (Woodcut, vol. ii., No. 321), and another, removed from the Kanarak temple, stands in front of the great Purt temple. Fortunately we have now the means of determining the age of the Kailas with some precision. Kirtivarman II. of the Western Chalukyas was overthrown by Dantidurga the Rashtrakuta king of Malkhed before A.D. 754, and soon after the subjugation was completed by his successor Krishna I. who ruled from about 757 till 783. One of the achievements ascribed to this latter king is the construction of a wonderful Saiva temple in " the hill Elapura," which is to be identified with this Kailas temple. 1 After the temple itself was finished fresh additions appear to have been made from time to time in the rock walls of the surrounding court. The large cave temple, known as Lanke^vara, cut in the scarp on the north side of the court, differs so markedly from the style of the central temple, that it must be ascribed to fully one if not two centuries later. 2 Some excavations, too, are quite unfinished, and works may have gone on till the I2th century. Considerable misconception exists on the subject of cutting 1 ' Indian Antiquary,' vol. xii. p. 229. Thirty years ago, on the remains of paint- ing on the roof of the small porch, was a fragment of an inscription in which the name "Kannara," i.e. Krishna, was still legible in old characters. 2 For a view of the interior of Lank- ervara, see Fergusson's ' Illustrations of the Rock-cut Temples of India/ I7th plate.