DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0419
Chap. I.
TEMPLE AT BAILLUR.
395
220. Plan of Great Temple at Baillur. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
subordination and variety of spacing which is found in those of the
Jains, but we miss here the octagonal dome, which gives sucli poetry
and meaning to the arrangements they adopted. Instead of that,
we have only an exaggerated compartment in the centre, which fits
nothing, and, though it does give dignity to the centre, it does it so
clumsily as to be almost offensive in an architectural sense.
It is not, however, either to its dimensions, or the disposition of
its plan, that this temple owes its pre-eminence among others of its
class, but to the marvellous elaboration and beauty of its details. The
effect of these, it is true, has been, in modern times, considerably
marred by the repeated coats of whitewash which the present low
order of priests consider the most appropriate way of adding to the
beauty of the most delicate sculptures. Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, their outline can always be traced, and where the whitewash
has not been applied, or has been worn off, their beauty comes out
with wonderful sharpness.
The following woodcut (No. 221) will convey some idea of the
richness and variety of pattern displayed in the windows of the
porch. These are twenty-eight in number, and all are different.
Some are pierced with merely conventional patterns, generally star-
shaped, and with foliaged bands between ; others are interspersed
with figures and mythological subjects—the nearest one, for instance,
on the left, in the woodcut, represents the Varaha Avatar, and others
TEMPLE AT BAILLUR.
395
220. Plan of Great Temple at Baillur. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
subordination and variety of spacing which is found in those of the
Jains, but we miss here the octagonal dome, which gives sucli poetry
and meaning to the arrangements they adopted. Instead of that,
we have only an exaggerated compartment in the centre, which fits
nothing, and, though it does give dignity to the centre, it does it so
clumsily as to be almost offensive in an architectural sense.
It is not, however, either to its dimensions, or the disposition of
its plan, that this temple owes its pre-eminence among others of its
class, but to the marvellous elaboration and beauty of its details. The
effect of these, it is true, has been, in modern times, considerably
marred by the repeated coats of whitewash which the present low
order of priests consider the most appropriate way of adding to the
beauty of the most delicate sculptures. Notwithstanding this, how-
ever, their outline can always be traced, and where the whitewash
has not been applied, or has been worn off, their beauty comes out
with wonderful sharpness.
The following woodcut (No. 221) will convey some idea of the
richness and variety of pattern displayed in the windows of the
porch. These are twenty-eight in number, and all are different.
Some are pierced with merely conventional patterns, generally star-
shaped, and with foliaged bands between ; others are interspersed
with figures and mythological subjects—the nearest one, for instance,
on the left, in the woodcut, represents the Varaha Avatar, and others