| Unfortunately
by this time probably the excellent stone-carving style had deterio- rated and Raja Jagat
Singh's temples are not as richly decorated. The shrine of Gaurishankar at Nagar, which
was the capital for some time, near the palace is another example of the shikhara style.
Penelope Chetwode mentioned another example in the temple of Murlidhar (the flute-playing
Krishna) at Thawa village. Raja Jagat Singh
(16371672) was a Vishnu-worshipper and he brought the idol of Raghunathji from Oudh and
raised a large shikhara temple in the East of Nagar castle. But it was a poor specimen in
comparison to the shikhara temples of Vishveshvara Mahadeva of Ba aura or Gaurishankar at
Nagar or Murlidhar at Thawa.
The second type of temple is the typical indigenous
"timber-bonded style of the Western Himalaya" consisting of alternate courses of
dry stone and deodar beams. This type is said to be more earthquake proof, - there is no
mortar in-between the dressed stones and probably there win be a greater chance to quiver
at the time of an earthquake and avoid a crash. There is usually a wooden verandah with
pillars well carved and the pillars run right around the upper storey of the building. |
