Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/185

CHAP. IV. UDAYAPUR Another example, fortunately in a more perfect state, is at a place called Udayapur, about 40 miles north-north-east from Bhils& in the Gwaliar territory. As will be seen from the woodcut (No. 345) the porch is covered, as at Sinnar, with a low pyramidal roof, placed diagonally on the substructure, and rising in steps, each of which is ornamented with vases or urns of varying shapes. The tower is ornamented by four flat bands, of great beauty and elegance of design, between each of which are thirty-five little repetitions of itself, placed one above the other in five tiers, the whole surmounted by an amala^ila, and a vase of very elegant design. As every part of this is carved with great precision and delicacy, and as the whole is quite perfect at the present day, there are few temples of its class which give a better idea of the style than this one. From an inscription copied in 1840, and translated by a pandit, it was believed that this temple was erected in A.D. 1059 ; but though the inscription is of doubtful value, other inscriptions prove that Udayaditya Pramara was ruling in loSo, 1 and the style points to the latter part of the nth century. At Kalyan, near Bombay, there is a temple called Ambarnath very similar to this, drawings and casts from which were made by orders of the Bombay government, in i869. 2 It is, however, in a very ruinous state, and even when perfect could never have been equal to this one at Udayapur, and to many others in the Presidency. In it there is an inscription, dated in the Saka year 982, or A.D. io6o. 3 It thus accords in age with all else we know of the style. It measures about 84 ft. in length over all by 61 through the side porches, and consists of a cella and a mandap, 23 ft. square, the roof of the hall supported by four richly sculptured pillars, with a small dome in the middle, as at Sinnar, and all the ceiling elaborately carved. There are entrance porches on three sides each with a lobby in the depth of the walls which are n ft. 8 in. thick at these points. A stair descends into the shrine, which is 1 3 ft. square, its floor being 7 ft. 9 in. below that of the mandap which is an exceptional arrangement in Saiva temples, though several instances occur. The temples also mostly face the east, this one the west. The richness of its exterior may be judged of from the photo- graphic illustration (Plate XXVI.). Unfortunately it is now in a very ruinous condition. 1 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. ix. p. 548 ; 'Journal of the American Oriental Society," vol. vii. p. 53 ; Duffs 'Chronology of India,' p. 131 and refs. 2 A portion of the casts are in the South Kensington Museum. Transcripts from fifteen of the drawings were published in the * Indian Antiquary,' vol. iii. (1874), pp. 3i6ff. 3 'Journal of Bombay Br. Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. xii. p. 329.