1848.] Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture. 297 



XVIII. — Interior Arrangement. 



1 . — According to the practice of the Hindus, the oblong temples were 

 divided into three distinct chambers, of which the outermost was called 

 arddha-mandapa or " half temple ■" the central one was named ^prKTW> 

 antardla or " w^-temple," and the innermost was denominated J\MU"Z, 

 garbha-griha or " womb of the edifice." The size of these chambers 

 increased by an arithmetical progression from the outside. This arrange- 

 ment is quite different from that of the Greeks, who in a temple of three 

 apartments, placed the naos, which was always much the largest room c 

 in the middle between the pronaos and the posticwn. The Kashmirian 

 architects, on the contrary, judging from the plan of Marttand, which 

 is the only example, adhered to the Hindu arrangement of the cham- 

 bers but rejected their relative sizes. Thus the outer chamber of Mart- 

 tand is a perfect square ; the mid chamber is one fourth of this square ; 

 and the inner chamber is three fourths of it. In this arrangement it 

 is remarkable that the outer chamber is exactly equal to the areas of 

 the other two chambers — a size, which agrees with its name of arddha- 

 mandapa or half temple. In this respect the Kashmirian architects 

 would appear to have adhered strictly to the original rules, from which 

 the Hindus themselves had departed. Something like this is, however, 

 mentioned by Ram Raz who,* quoting the Kasyapa treatise says, the 

 arddha-mandapa or portico is "sometimes made broader than the 

 garbha-griha, in which case the width of the former is either once and 

 a half or twice that of the latter." 



2. — The two kinds of square temples would seem to have had their 

 respective arrangements of interior which were almost invariably ob- 

 served. Thus the Mandapas of Payach and Pandrethan have a square 

 chamber, with an open doorway, on each side ; while the Vimanas of 

 Pathan have only one doorway, leading to a central square chamber, 

 and an open porch leading to a small chamber on each of the other 

 three sides. The length and breadth of these chambers are made one 

 half and one third respectively of the breadth of the principal chamber. 

 Both of these arrangements are somewhat similar to those followed in 

 India Proper in temples of the same shape. 



3. — In the positions of the entrances there are also some slight varia- 

 tions. Thus the doorways of the temples of Marttand and of Avan- 



2 T 



