Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/162

 I 3 2 NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE. BOOK VI. CHAPTER IV. CENTRAL AND NORTHERN INDIA. CONTENTS. Chandravati and Baroli Kirtti-stambhas Temples at Gwaliar, Khajuraho, Sinnar, Udayapur, Benares, Bindraban, Kantanagar, Amritsar. THERE are certainly more than one hundred temples in Central and Northern India which are well worthy of being described in detail, and, if described and illustrated, would convey a wonderful impression of the fertility in invention of the Hindu mind and of the elegance with which it was capable of expressing itself. None of these temples can make the smallest pretension to rival the great southern examples in scale ; they are all, indeed, smaller even than the greater of Orissan examples ; and while some of them surpass the Orissan temples in elegance of form, many rival them in the profuse elaboration of minute orna- mental details. None of these temples none, at least, that are now complete seem to be of any great antiquity. At Eran, in the Sagar district, are some fragments of columns, and several sculptures that seem to belong to the flourishing age of the Guptas, say about A.D. 450 ; and in the Mukandwara Pass in Kota, there are the remains of a chaultri that may be as old, but it is a mere fragment, 1 and has no inscription upon it. Among the more complete examples, the oldest I know of, and consequently the most beautiful, is the porch or temple of Sitale^vara at Chandravati, near Jhalrapathan, in Rajputana. 2 Assuming that it belongs to the early years of the Qth century, with the chawadi in the Mukandwara Pass, and the pillars at 1 A view of this was published in my 'Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,' plate 5. 2 In its neighbourhood Colonel Tod found an inscription, dated 746 of an era, not named, which at one time I thought might have been taken from this temple, and consequently might give its date about A.D. 689, which would fairly agree with the style, judged from that of some of the caves at Elura, which it very much resembles. ' Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindostan,' plate 6, with description. Tod's ' Annals of Rajasthan,' vol. ii. p. 734. His trans- lation, however, was worthless ; the date is more probably of A.D. 824. 'Indian Antiquary,' vol. v. pp. i8of.