Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/119

 CHAP. I. STKHARAS AND PLANS (No. 311). Sometimes it has two such slices added, as at B ; but in the oldest examples these are only half the thickness shown here. From this they proceeded to three projections, as at C, the oldest examples being the thinnest. In more modern times the thickness of the projections became equal to their distance from each other, as at D ; so that the temple became in plan practically a square, the sides of which were parallel to the diagonal of the original square or to the line E F G. Even, however, when this was the case, the cell always retained its original form and direction, and the entrance and windows kept their position on what had thus practically become the angles of the building. This is the case with the temple at Benares, shown in Woodcut No. 310, and generally also with the Jaina temples, and especially the case with the temple on the Takht-i-Sulaiman in Kashmir. Although the depth and width of these offsets vary considerably even in the same design, the original square is never lost sight of ; the four central angles, as at F, being always larger and more strongly accentuated than the others, and their line is always carried through to the summit of the pyramid. It will be observed that by this process we have arrived at the same form or plan for a solid building that was attained by the arrangement of pillars described vol. i. page 317. In fact, the two forms were elaborated simultaneously, and were after- wards constantly used together. My impression is, that the pillared arrangement is the oldest, and led to the deepening of the additions to the solid square till the two became identical in plan. Whether this were so or not, it is one of the most distinguishing features of northern Hindu architecture. In the very centre of India, at Amarakantak, near a place marked Ajmirgadh on the map, is a sacred tank, from which it is said that the Son flows to the north, the Mahanadt to Katak in the Bay of Bengal, and the Narbada to the Indian Ocean. All these rivers have their sources in the hill. The spot has always been held sacred, and is surrounded by temples, two or three of them as far as can be gathered from the imperfect accounts available of considerable age. 1 On the south and east 1 of this hill extends the great and fertile table -land of Chhattisgarh. This is now, and has always been, so far as our knowledge extends, one of the principal seats of the native tribes. If that country and the surrounding districts were carefully surveyed, we might find temples, some of which would add very materially to our knowledge of the history of this style. 2 1 Mr. Beglar in ' Archseological Survey of India Reports,' vol. vii. pp. 2276. and plates 20, 21 ; but the account and draw- ings are very defective. 2 Conf. Cousens, ' Lists of Antiquarian Remains in the Central Provinces and Berar,' Calcutta, 1897, which indicate some promising remains.