One more illustration must conclude what we have at present to say of Hindu rock-cut temples. It is found near Poonah, and is very little known, though much more appropriate to cave architecture than most examples of its class. The temple itself is a simple pillared hall, with apparently ten pillars in front, and probably had originally a structural sikra built on the upper plateau to mark the position of the sanctuary. The most original part of it, however, is the Nundi pavilion, which stands in the courtyard in front of the temple ([Woodcut No. 247]). It is circular in plan, and its roof—which is a great slab of rock—is supported by, apparently, sixteen square pillars of very simple form. Altogether it is as appropriate a bit of design as is to be found in Hindu cave architecture. It has, however, the defect only too common in those Hindu excavations—that, being in a pit, it can be looked down upon; which is a test very few buildings can stand, and to which none ought to be exposed.
CHAPTER IV.
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN INDIA.
CONTENTS.
Temples at Gualior, Khajurâho, Udaipur, Benares, Bindrabun, Kantonuggur, Amritsur.
There are certainly more than one hundred temples in Central and Northern India which are well worthy of being described in detail, and, if described and illustrated, would convey a wonderful impression of the fertility in invention of the Hindu mind and of the elegance with which it was capable of expressing itself. None of these temples can make the smallest pretension to rival the great southern examples in scale; they are all, indeed, smaller even than the greater of Orissan examples; and while some of them surpass the Orissan temples in elegance of form, many rival them in the profuse elaboration of minute ornamental details.
None of these temples—none, at least, that are now complete—seem to be of any great antiquity. At Erun, in the Saugor territory, are some fragments of columns, and several sculptures that seem to belong to the flourishing age of the Guptas, say about A.D. 450; and in the Mokundra Pass there are the remains of a choultrie that may be as old, or older, but it is a mere fragment,[458] and has no inscription upon it.
Among the more complete examples, the oldest I know of, and consequently the most beautiful, is the porch or temple at Chandravati, near Jahra Puttun, in Rajputana. In its neighbourhood Colonel Tod found an inscription, dated A.D. 691,[459] which at one time I thought might have been taken from this temple, and consequently might give its date, which would fairly agree with the style,[460] judged from that of some of the caves at Ellora, which it very much resembles. As recent discoveries, however, have forced us to carry their dates further back by at least a century, it is probable that this too must go back to about the year 600, or thereabouts. Indeed, with the Chaöri in the Mokundra Pass, and the pillars at Erun, this Chandravati fragment completes the list of all we at present can feel sure of having been erected before the dark ages. There may be others, and, if so, it would be well they were examined, for this is certainly one of the most elegant specimens of architecture in India ([Woodcut No. 248]). It has not the poetry of arrangement of the Jaina octagonal domes, but it approaches very nearly to them by the large square space in the centre, which was covered by the most elegantly designed and most exquisitely carved roof known to exist anywhere. Its arrangement is evidently borrowed from that of Buddhist viharas, and it differs from them in style because their interiors were always plastered and painted; here, on the contrary, everything is honestly carved in stone.[461]
248. Temple at Chandravati.