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AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
fanciful nature. It may be noted that this forin of bracket is the prototype of those which are a prominent feature of the Brahmanical rockcut temples at Badami in Dharwar produced at least six centuries later.
A distinctive element in all the early rock-cut Vihāras is the arcading which decorates the walls and which, in the Orissan examples, is of an exclusive kind. Instead of being of the horse-shoe variety, the arches of the arcades are almost invariably semi-circular and their lower ends, corresponding to the springer of a true arch, are expanded to enable them to be supported on pilasters. These pilasters have capitals formed of pairs of recumbent animals and a number of them have vase bases.
Another feature of the Orissan Vihāras is a ledge or podium carved like a continuous, bench around certain of the compartments. Here is seen a sloping back-rest, which, in a more developed and highly decorated form, became prominent in the temples of Central and Western India of the early Mediaeval period. The cells comprising the interiors are not square as in most of the other Vibāras but oblong in plan and some are long chambers entered by several doors, in shape more like dormitories than single rooms. In place of a stone bed, differentiating the early type of cell, the floor in each compartment is sloped so as to form a couch, and as in many instances the height of the room is only 4 ft. These can only have been intended for sleeping.
The columns which support the verandah are mainly primitive in style. They are usually square above and below, and octagonal in the middle. In every primitive types, they are frustums of pyramids having a square section and resting on a thin base or without base at all.
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