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

I04

THE

SIVA SHRINE

clearlythe

usualmethodof

constructing

aribbed

sikharawhen

stone is the

material. The

core is

made of rough

coursed

rubble,without

mortar orcement,

bound

togetherat

intervals

bylarger horizontal

slabsof stone.

The

weightof the heavy

amalakawhichcrowns

the sikhara

acts as akey-stone.

Wewillnowproceed

to analyse

the structure and

sym-

bolism of a Sivashrine,

of which

Arjfina's Rath atMamalla-

puram is a typical

example. To clear the

ground of the

misconceptionswhich

Fergusson'sanalysis

hascreated, itwill

bebest to begin with two

definite propositions.

First, that

theSiva shrineisa

developmentofthesttlpa. Secondly,

that

the sttipa, a symbol not

only of the Jains, but

oforthodox

Brahmanism, before it

was adopted by

Buddhism, was the

true prototypeofthemodern

Siva lingam.

Forthe firstproposition

letus compare the two illustra-

tions in PI. XXVIII,

which give thefront viewof Arjtlna's

Rath, andthat of thechaitya

in the chapter-houseof Ajanti

numbered twenty-six.

The side view of Arjtina's Rath in

PI. XXVI will be

useful for reference. It is necessary to

observe that though

both are monolithic models and not

structural

shrines, there is a considerable difference in the

treatment. The porch

and

the

interioroftheshrine,whichare

exactlyreproduced in Arjtina's Rath, areonlycarved in relief

uponthefrontoftheAjantachaitya, sothattheimage

seems

as

if itwereplacedwithin theporch, whereas in

realityitwould

bewithintheshrineunderthedome. Now,

theporches inthe

two models are almost exactlysimilar. The columns

are of

thesame design,onlyin onetheyare more

elaboratelycarved

thanintheother. Theentablatureabovethechhaja

supported

bythem both arealike in reproducing two

rows of monastic

cells,oneabove theother,and areevidently

ofcommonorigin.

TheBuddhistimageisseateduponathrone

guardedbylions:

Dtirga'slionsguardtheentrance of

Siva's temple.