Orissa and Her Remains: Ancient and Medieval (Puri District)

Orissa, one of the ancientmost seats of Indian civilization, abounds in temples and sculptures of very high artistic value. A careful examination of the monuments found in that region will convince anybody that the Aryan style in its purest form was prevalent there only in the whole of India. No apology is therefore needed to study the architectural remains of Orissa, which the learned author has done in the present volume. The author has, besides describing quite a few architectural remains in the Puri District in Orissa, tried to give a scientific exposition of the principles of architecture and sculpture obtaining there. Though he has raised many points of controversial nature, he spared no pains to illustrate his opinions by concrete examples. In the second chapter of the book, a brief outline of the political history of the province has been furnished, with which its architecture and sculpture have been illustrated in the fifth and the sixth chapters while they have been illustrated in the last three chapters. Chapter V deals with the main features and the subsidiary parts of Orissan temples and the relative portions of different sections in the general ground plan. In subsequent chapters, the author has put forward formulas for the ratio of the height of the Vimana to the length of the base and of the thickness of the walls relative to the height and proportion of the edifice to be raised, the plinth, pedestal, wall construction and bonds; the author has also made useful observations on the deities represented in the temples of the Saivas, Vaisnavas and Sauras. Briefly, the work is a valuable contributions to the subject.