CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

The Christians of Hisar had their own church called St. Thomas’s Church located on Delhi-Hisar Highway. It has been declared as a historical monument by Indian National Trust of Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH) recently. The foundation was dug on 3rd December 1860, and it was ready by May 1864. However, it was consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta, G.E.L. Cotton on the auspicious day of 31st December 1865. The church is built in Victorian style of architecture. The bell of the church which chimes on Sunday and on special occasions was made at Roorkee in 1874.

The sacred precincts of Tirumiyachchur contain two stone temples, one main shrine and other adjoining smaller temple or b?l?laya; both replace earlier structures. The main shrine is called Mayarcindesvara and the adjoining b?l?laya shrine is called Sakalabhuvanesvara. No inscriptions have so far been published. The date of the temple must therefore be determined on the basis of style. The main temple was probably erected in the last quarter of the tenth century during Sembiyan Mahadevi’s time. This suggestion is based on the general style of sculptures and the iconographic scheme. Reference: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, p. 192.

The fabric of the Saksisvara temple at Tiruppurambiyam and the style of the sculptures suggest a date in Uttama Chola's (971 – 988 CE) reign or at least during the life of Sembiyan Mahadevi. The temple was probably rebuilt in stone before 995 CE. The superstructure (vimana) of this temple is more ornate than other temples at this time and the pillars in the half-hall (ardhamandapa) have a rather unusual composite structure – they are square at the base, octagonal and then 16-sided at the top. Reference: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky, 1963, pp. 187-188.

Sakti Kund, Akhaj, Gujarat

Salvador do Mundo, Baroque Architecture, Goa

The Vijayalaya Cholisvara at Narttamalai is of the earliest and grandest of the structural stone temples built during the time of Vijayalaya. On the hillock of Melamalai at Narttamalai, there are two rock-cut cave temples and group of structural stone shrines opposite to them. Cave Temple 1 is a rock-cut cave popularly known as ‘Samana Kudagu’ (Cave of the Jains). It was probably a Jaina cave of about the seventh century CE. Now it has features of a Vaishnavite shrine with a cella and a hall (mandapa), both scooped out of rock. There are twelve images of Vishnu – two on the sides and five each on the two sides of the doorway leading to the sanctum. The twelve figures perhaps represent those of the twelve names of Vishnu. A stone entrance hall (mukhmandapa) was also built about the same time and a later inscription dating to the Kulottunga I (1115 CE) has been traced which states that the name of the Vaishnavite deity was “Tirumer-Koyil Karumanikka Devar” at “Telunga Kula-Kala Nagaram” as Narttamali was called in that period. References: S.R. Balasubrahmanyam, 1966, p.47.