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

I20

THE PHILOSOPHY OF TEMPLE BUILDING

The builders

of the Saiva schools

aimed

at expressing

the power
of knowledge, of abstractthought—the static force

of
the universe. Andtheydidso first by the image of the

GreatYogisittingwith

mindand

reason setupon the Eternal,

like alampinawindless
place

"

which flickereth not."

The

plain cubical cell,
with a flat roof or dome, which contained

Q

n

Fig. 44a.

—

Diagram

showingtheConstructive

PrincipleofSiva

Shrines

—with Flat

Roofand

Dome.

n

IE

r

Fig.446.-—Diagram showing the

ConstructivePrincipleofSivaShrines

;

withSlopingRoofsasused

inHima-

layan

DistrictsandontheWestCoast

ofIndia.

thissacred
symbol expressed
the same
idea—the dome
being

onlyasymbol
ofthe sky,
orofthe chhatra
ofroyalty.

When they

sought to

give importance

to the shrine

by

additionalheight,
theysimply
raised the
roofbyputting
cube

upon
cubelikea
pyramid, and
crowning
the topmostone with

adome
(fig. 44a).

But

in the

Himalayan

districts,where

the rainfall

isvery

heavy, flat
terraced
roofs
have obvious
practical
inconveni-

ences

;

so here it

was found

expedient

to adapt the

sym-