Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/120

 9 2 NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE. BOOK VI. CHAPTER II. ORISSA. CONTENTS. History Temples at Bhuvanej-war, Kanarak, Puri, Jajpur, and Katak. CHRONOLOGY. Anantavarman Chodaganga- deva. . . dr. 1078 Kamarnava. . . ,, 1144-1155 Aniyanga Bhimadeva II. . ,, 1190-1198 Narasimhadeva I. .. dr. 1238-1264 Narasimhadeva II. . . ,, 1277-1305 Sulaiman, King of Bengal conquered Orissa. ,, 1568 THE two provinces of India, where the Indo- Aryan style can be studied with the greatest advantage, are Dharwar on the west, and Orissa on the east coast. The former has the advantage of being mixed up with the Dravidian style, so as to admit of synonyms and contrasts that are singularly interesting, both from an ethnological and historical point of view. In Orissa, on the contrary, the style is perfectly pure, being unmixed with any other, and thus forms one of the most compact and homogeneous architectural groups in India, and as such of more than usual interest, and it is consequently in this province that the style can be studied to the greatest advantage. One of the most marked and striking peculiarities of Orissan architecture is the distinct and almost absolute contrast it presents to the style of the Dravidian at the southern end of the peninsula. The curved outline of the towers or vimanas has already been remarked upon, but, besides this, no Orissan towers present the smallest trace of any storeyed or even step- like arrangement, which is so universal further south, and the crowning member is never a dome, nor a reminiscence of one. Even more remarkable than this, is the fact that the Orissan style is almost entirely astylar. In some of the more modern examples, as for instance in the porches added to the temples at Bhuvane^war and Puri in the I2th and I4th centuries, we do find pillars, but it is probably correct to state that, among the 100 or 150 original shrines at Bhuvane^war, scarcely a pillar is to be found. 1 This is the more remarkable because, within sight 1 The Bhogamandapas of the Lingaraja, Jagannath and Yamejvara temples have each four pillars supporting their roofs; bat these mandapas are of later dates than the temples themselves.