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

THE

SIVA SHRINE

105

The'

shrinesbehind

the

porchdiffer

in shape of

plan

:

in

theAjantimodel itiscircular,orofthe vesaratype,

according

to the

definition ofthe Silpa-sistras,"while Siva's shrine

is

square,

or of the nagara type. The base of the chaitya is

sculptured

in twostories,eachdividedbypilastersintoshrines

filled

with figures.

The two lower stories of Arjtlna's Rath

are

treated in exactly the

same way. A minor difference is

that

the

monasticcellsdonot continue all

round the chaitya

as

they do in ^e

shrine of

Siva,

and no

yogi cells are

shown

in the former.

Ar-

jtlna's Rath

isa nava-ratna

(nine-jewelled)

temple,orone

that

haseightyogi

cellswith

domes,

besides the

dome

which

covers the principal

cell containing

the sacred

image. But the

so-called

"

Dravidian

"

dome,

differs

onlyfromthe

northerndome

in showing

externally the

eieht

ribs used in

the con-

FlG.43-Plan

oftheIntemal

structureof

Ancient

O

.

, , ,

„

, ,

TainStflpa,showing

the"

Eight-petalledLotus.

struction of

both,' and

'by

havingoutward

curving

eavesadded

to

throwtherain

offthe

walls

of'the cell

(see fig.

37)-

The

dome

of the

chaitya is

crownedbythe

Vedic

altarand

tee

;

the

other,

when

completed,

would havehad

thewater-pot

finial

{kalashd).

Ther^

is then

not the

least

difference

between

the

two

shrines as

regards

"style."

Such

differences

as

there are

onlyarisefrom

structural

conditions—

that one

wasa

cubical

'

Seeabove,p.89.

.

• .
  t
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  
  

*a.,™

2

Fig.

43

showsthe

sftuctural

arrangement

ofthe

interior

ofanancientJain

stflpa

nearMathur^.