DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0438
414 NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAX STYLE. Book VI.
CHAPTEP II.
O i! i S s a.
contents.
History—Temples at Bhnvaneswar, Kanaruc, Pui'i, Jajepnr, ami Cuttack.
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 marked 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 remi-
niscence of one. Even more remarkable than this, is the fact that the
Orissan style is almost absolutely astylar. In some of the most
modern examples, as for instance in the porches added to the temples
at Bhnvaneswar and Puri in the 12th and 14th centuries, we do lind
pillars, but it is probably correct to state that, among the .000 or 6001
original shrines at Bhnvaneswar, not one pillar is to be found. This
is the more remarkable, because, within sight of that capital, the
caves in the Udayagiri {ante, p. 140) are adorned with pillars to such
an extent as to show that their forms must have been usual and well
known in the province before any of the temples were constructed.
When we recollect that no great temple in the south was considered
'Banter's Orissa,' vol. i. p. 288.
CHAPTEP II.
O i! i S s a.
contents.
History—Temples at Bhnvaneswar, Kanaruc, Pui'i, Jajepnr, ami Cuttack.
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 marked 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 remi-
niscence of one. Even more remarkable than this, is the fact that the
Orissan style is almost absolutely astylar. In some of the most
modern examples, as for instance in the porches added to the temples
at Bhnvaneswar and Puri in the 12th and 14th centuries, we do lind
pillars, but it is probably correct to state that, among the .000 or 6001
original shrines at Bhnvaneswar, not one pillar is to be found. This
is the more remarkable, because, within sight of that capital, the
caves in the Udayagiri {ante, p. 140) are adorned with pillars to such
an extent as to show that their forms must have been usual and well
known in the province before any of the temples were constructed.
When we recollect that no great temple in the south was considered
'Banter's Orissa,' vol. i. p. 288.