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The Structural Temples of Gujarat Delwada. The niche arches, despite their archaic details, come in their general conception very near to those of late Solanki art, especially those at the later sections of the sun temple at Modhera, and the same is true of part of the plinth decoration. Certain circular creeper ornaments are likewise common in late Solanki and especially Vāghela architecture. The figural sculpture reveals a perfect mastery of the human body and has the elongated proportions which prevailed 12th Century Gujarat. Nevertheless is the physique of a heavier and more substantial type than that found in Gujarat.
Most of these characterstics fit on the very little which we know so far of Chauhāņa art. Unfortunately Chauhāņa art, as a special local style, has not yet been studied, and thus it can be compared only with such monuments which like those at Visalpur temple near Deoli, the Morkhan temple near Bikaner, Sculptures in Ajmer and Bikaner museums and near the Kutubminar, at Mandor, Osia, Gwalior, Surwaya etc. The heavier phisique of the figures, the decorative archaism, the Ambikā and Națarāja images, can in fact be traced, in almost completely similarity, in these monuments. The wedding of Siva and Parvati is likewise archaic, and the sitting Brhamā appears hardly ever in Solanki art. Lakulisa on the other hand, may well have been a radiation of the cult of Karvan. But the Pawagadh temple is more ornate than the above mentioned monuments. Thus we may be entitled to regard it as a so far unique example of the last phase of Chauhan art, erected probably at the end of the 12th cent. by the founder of local Chauhan Kingdom. 196
The Rāma Temple at Baradia (Dist. Jamnagar)
The temple stands on a raised platform and is approched by a flight of stone steps. It has a small porch, a domed antarāla and a garbha-gļiha. Two balacony windows decorate the antarāla. Such windows formed a special feature of the
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JGR.. Vol Xl. No. 2 p. 54
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