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(a) Garbhagriha: The cell or Sanctuary is the shrine proper. The garbhagriha or 'womb-house' is a small and generally dark chamber entered by a doorway. It is almost universally square in plan. Over the square ground plan of the cella the wall rises vertically to a certain height. This is followed either by pyramidal or curvilinear Sikhara and Amalaka. The garbhagrha with its upper pyramidal or tapering portion including the Amalaka and finial (Kalasa) is known as Vimana also. In the inner side the garbhagriha is but a plain square plan. But it is given an artistic complex shape on the outer side. This feature is produced by adding several projections on the outside of the four walls. Generally the middle portion of each wall is projected in the form of a narrow parallel face known as bhadra. One of the faces has an entrance door. The doorway mostly faces the eastern direction. Between these four faces however, one or more recessed angles technically known as pratiratha, uparatha, nandi etc. may be systematically introduced and upon this principle that the complicated star-shaped plans of temples and modified forms of spires (Sikharas) are arrived at. 16. Aparajitapriccha Int. P. XXXVIII

The Component Parts of the Full-Fledged Temple 39 (b) Mandapa: This is the place from where the glimpse of the consecrated deity of the garbhagriha can be had. It is a pillared hall in front of the doorway of the garbhagrha. Some of the earlier temples have no mandapa; or they show that the mandapa, was a detached building isolated from the sanctuary and in some cases it is found added subsequently. Later on it became the custom to unite the two isolated buildings i. e the garbhagriha, an abode of the deity and the mandapa, the prayer hall, thus forming an intermediate chamber or vestibule called antarala also known as Korimandapa. Elegantly carved pillars form an essential part of the mandapa. They are so arranged geometrically that they leave the octagonal area or nave at the centre and outside this central area they are so spaced that they form a pillared aisles. The pillars of the mandapa are exquisitely decorated in a high and low relief. Percy Brown has vividly described the architectural style of the Mandapa, "The shafts of the pillars rarely taper, but are divided horizonatly into decorative zones or drums, the upper being less in diameter than the lower, so that they diminish by stages, to finish in a bracket-capital or Sira. Surrounding the nave the pillars are provided with an extension or attic of dwarf-pillars also bearing bracket-capitals, the interval between the upper and lower Siras being fild by inclined struts or braces each carrying an image, usually a female figure, carved in high relief. These attic pillars, with the architrave above, while raising the height of the nave, also support the central dome, which consists of a shallow bowl-shaped ceiling formed by a succession of overlapping courses, the joints being so concealed in intricate carving that the whole appears as if moulded in one piece."17 (c) Antarala:- It is a vestibule in form of an intermediate chamber which usually connects the two isolated parts of the 17. IABH p. p. Ch. XXIV p. 144

40 The Structural Temples of Gujarat temple i. e. garbhagriha and mandapa. It is also known as Korimandapa, 18 Its shape must not be like a square court but it should be rectangular. (d) Ardhamandapa: Leading up to the main hall or mandapa is a porch. It is an open four-pillared pavilion in front of the entrance door of mandapa. If the Mandapa has three entrance doors, there shall be three such pavilions, one on each side. In design and carving it resembles the manndapa. (e) Circumambulatory: This is known as Bhramani or Pradaksinapatha and is a passage between the two-one outer and the other inner-walls of the garbhagriha. A Temple, having a garbhagrha ensconced by two walls and a circumambulatory is known as Sandhara Prasada, (f) Accessory mandapas: As the art of temple architecture progressed and temple ritual developed the central mandapa was widened and sometimes also surrounded by other subsidiary mandapas. The shrine having circumambulatory around it gave scope for the enlargement of the mandapa. When a transcept on each side of the central mandapa is added, the whole structure is known as Mahamandapa. With the further development of temple ritual more than one accessory mandapas were added to the front of the central mandapa in one axial alingment. This sort of temple complex is best illustrated in the temples of Orissa which include a Natamandapa (dancing hall) and a Rangamandapa (musical hall) added in front of the Jagamohana i. e. the central mandapa. These halls were invariably of one storey only with a pyramidal roof above. 19