| Phase
I. -The temple stood on solid Kanjur stone foundations about 90 feet wide narrowing down
to a depth of upwards of 13 feet below the then ground level. It was built of thin-graine
reddish sandstone of which only two courses of a total height of 2 1/2 feet are available.
Contemporaneous with this are: a water outlet 'A' (4
½’' wide and 6" high) pierced in the northern wall of the garbhagriha and a
brahmashila which rested on a square piece of dry-built Kanjur stone masonry' essentially
hollow resembling a deep cistern, but filled in with rubble and alternate courses of
well-laid stones and going as deep as the foundations themselves. The top of the
brahmashila is marginally chamfered to a width of 6'’ on all the four sides leaving
an area of 3 1/2 feet square in the centre. The functional utility of this is difficult to
deter mine in the absence of the linga which was placed over it and to which presumably it
relates.2
2 According to the shilpa shastras linga is divided
into three equal parts, viz., brahma bhag, Vishnu bhag and shiva bhag. Of these, the
first, which also is the lower-most, is square in section. The second, comprising the
portion encompassed by the jaladhari or the yonipata is octagonal while the third, being
the portion visible to the eye, is round. The centrally squared space of the brahmashila
may thus provide aclue to the intended length of the linga. |
