Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/485

 CHAP. I. GADAG. 427 elegant proportions of the Chalukyan forms, and with gablets on the middle of each tier of the .dkhara, indicative of the beginning of the continuous band up each face that is so prominent a feature in the later examples. Among the five more notable temples at Gadag, that of Somejvar, now appropriated as a school, though small, is worth notice. Except the upper por- tion of the .rikhara and the outer open mandap that stood on the east, it is still fairly entire. From the plan (Woodcut No. 248) and the photograph (Plate XIII.), it appears to be a typical ex- ample of the style. The mandap is 21 ft. 10 in. square inside with four round pillars, 9 ft. 4 in. between centres, supporting the roof; the antarala or ante- chamber to the shrine is here cut off from the mandap by a screen with a door of its own, and is 9 ft. square with a narrow window on each side. The Shrine itself is O ft. 3 in. square, 2 4 8 - Plan of Someuvar Temple, Gadag. . J _. . n. Scale 25 ft. to i in. and, as IS common in Chalukyan (From a Plan by Mr. H. Cousens.) temples, it has no pradakshina. The doorways and all the outside walls are very richly decorated with carving. The whole temple, however, seems to be silted up to the level of the top of the raised basement on which these temples usually stand, and which gave the rich wall sculptures that elevation at which they could be seen to advantage. As in other instances, the materials of the basement had probably been, at least partly, removed before the ground level was raised to its present height. 1 Of quite as much interest is the temple of Trikuteyvar in the fort of Gadag. 2 As the name may imply, it is a triple-shrined temple with two mandapas in line with the east and west shrines, and the third cella built off at a later date from between the mandapas on the north side. The carving has been exceedingly good, but the figures have been much defaced by violence, and the whole overlaid by successive coats of whitewash. Round the 1 Close to this temple is another known as that of Rame^vara, of the same plan and style, but much plainer, having scarcely any sculpture on its walls, and is more dilapidated. 2 Trikutejvara ' lord of the three- crested mountain.' Trikuta is the mountain in Ceylon on which Ravana's capital stood, also a range on the south of the fabled Mount Meru.