known as Bundēlkhand in the Native States and the Central Provinces of British India. The Jain, Vaishnava and Saiva sects had each an equal share in building the temples, but they are nearly all of the sikhara type, symbolising the universal sovereignty of the deity worshipped—whether it be a Jain hero,[1] Vishnu, who rules in Vaikuntha, or Siva, the Lord of Kailāsa.
The back view of the Chāturbhuja[2] temple, Pl. XVI, gives a good idea of the effect of these stately structures, in which, by adding a covered procession path and massive porches to the cell in which the image of the deity is enshrined, and by piling pinnacle upon pinnacle, carved with wondrous patience and skill, around the central sikhara, the builders realised a noble architectonic conception of Vishnu's holy mountain, Mandara, with which he stirred the cosmic waters to bring up the golden jar with the nectar of immortality, or of his mystic lotus rooted in the depths of the universal ākāsha[3] which flowers in the highest heavens.
The side-view of the same temple, Pl. XVII, shows the three pillared halls built in front of the vestibule of the shrine, the principal one the assembly-hall of the people, through which they had access to the covered procession path, the next the dancing-hall, or Nātāmandapam, and the third the entrance porch of the temple, which was called the Bhoga-mandapam,[4] and was dedicated to the offerings of grain, sweetmeats, and flowers brought by the worshippers.[5] These halls are
- ↑ Jina = Conqueror.
- ↑ Chāturbhuja is a name of Vishnu signifying his universal sovereignty.
- ↑ Ether.
- ↑ Bhoga = food.
- ↑ The dimensions of the temple are approximately the same as those of the Kandarya Mahādeva temple, which are given by Fergusson as follows: Length 109 ft., breadth 60 ft., height 88 ft. above the terrace, or 116 ft. above the ground.
