The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

BHIMA'S

RATH

89

given
tothis kindofbuilding.
The
M^nas^ra,says
RimRiz,

gives the technical
name of a square
shrine
as Ndgara
;

an

octagonal
oneasDrdvidka,anda
circularone
as Vesara}
But

as

theentireplanningand every

other

structuraland

symbolic

detail of thesepyramidal

monasteries

were Indo-Aryan

ideas,

imported from the north,

it would

be entirely

misleading to

takea minordifferenceofthiskind

as areasonfor

classifying

all Sivashrinesas

"

Dravidian."

The fact

that Sivashrines

arenowmostlyfoundinSouthern

India had nothing whatever

to

dowith

theirarchitectural

origin.

Anothersplendid specimen

of seventh-century craftsman-

shipisagreatmonolithicmodel

at Mamallapuram, called now

Bhima'sRath,whichreproduces

on

a

smaller scale a

two-storied

Saivaitemonastery. Thedimen-

sions of it in the granite rock

are

48

feet in length,

25

feet in

breadth, and about 26 feet in

height. Like mostof the raths

at Mimallapuram, it remained

unfinished, andowing tothesculptors having gonetoofar in

imitatingthe detailsofastructuralbuilding,the upperpartof

therocksplitrightthroughthe

roof,probablywhiletheywere

workingatit.

PlateXXIVwillgiveagoodideaofthenobledesign

ofthe

originalbuildingandofthe

extraordinaryskillofthe sculptors.

Theplanningofitandgeneraldesignwere

evidentlytheworking

outofatradition

whichwentback totheBuddhist

two-storied

hallsofAsoka'stime,as

shownin

the

Bharhutreliefs(PI.IV,

a).

^

RimRiz,

p.49.

Fig.38.—ConjecturalPlan

of

FirstFloorof

DharmarajaRSth.