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{{short description|Motif centred on an arch in Indian rock-cut architecture}}
[[File:Entrance Gate.JPG|thumb|right|The earliest surviving chaitya arch, at the entrance to the [[Lomas Rishi Cave]], 3rd century BC]]
In [[Indian architecture]], '''gavaksha''' or '''chandrashala''' ('''''kudu''''' in Tamil, also nāsī)<ref>properly: ''candraśālās'', ''gavākṣa'', ''kūḍu''. Harle, 49, 166, 276. Harle restricts use of ''candraśālā'' to examples from the Gupta period, when contemporary texts use that term.</ref> are the terms most often used to describe the [[motif (visual arts)|motif]] centred on an [[ogee]], circular or horseshoe [[arch]] that decorates many examples of [[Indian rock-cut architecture]] and later Indian structural temples and other buildings. In its original form, the arch is shaped like the cross-section of a [[barrel vault]]. It is called a chaitya arch when used on the facade of a [[chaitya]] hall, around the single large window.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/asianartglossary.html#chandrashala|title=Glossary of Indian Art|access-date=2015-05-18}}</ref> In later forms it develops well beyond this type, and becomes a very flexible unit, "the most common motif of Hindu temple architecture".<ref>Harle, 48</ref> ''Gavākṣha'' (or '''gavaksa''') is a Sanskrit word which means "bull's or cow's eye". In Hindu temples, their role is envisioned as symbolically radiating the light and splendour of the central icon in its sanctum. Alternatively, they are described as providing a window for the deity to gaze out into the world.<ref>Elgood (2000), 103</ref>

Like the whole of the classic chaitya, the form originated in the shape of the wooden thatched roofs of buildings, none of which have survived; the earliest version replicating such roofs in stone is at the entrance to the non-Buddhist [[Lomas Rishi Cave]], one of the man-made [[Barabar Caves]] in [[Bihar]].<ref>Harle, 48; Michell, 217–218</ref>

The "chaitya arch" around the large window above the entrance frequently appears repeated as a small [[motif (visual arts)|motif]] in decoration, and evolved versions continue into Hindu decoration, long after actual chaityas had ceased to be built.<ref>Harle, 48</ref> In these cases it can become an elaborate [[cartouche (design)|cartouche]]-like frame, spreading rather wide, around a circular or semi-circular medallion, which may contain a sculpture of a figure or head. An early stage is shown in the entrance to Cave 9 at the [[Ajanta Caves]], where the chaitya arch window frame is repeated several times as a decorative motif. Here, and in many similar early examples, the interior of the arch in the motif contains low relief [[Latticework|lattice]] imitating receding roof timbers ([[purlin]]s).

==First stage==
[[File:City of Kusinagara in the War over the Buddha's Relics, South Gate, Stupa no. 1, Sanchi.jpg|thumb|left|The city of [[Kusinagara]] in the ''War over the Buddha's Relics'', South Gate, Stupa no. 1, [[Sanchi]].]]
The arched [[gable]]-end form seen at the [[Lomas Rishi Cave]] and other sites appears as a feature of both sacred and secular buildings represented in [[relief]]s from early Buddhist sites in India, and was evidently widely used for roofs made from plant materials in ancient Indian architecture.<ref>Hardy, 38; Harle, 43–48</ref>
Simple versions of similar structures remain in use today by the [[Toda people]] of the [[Nilgiri Hills]].<ref>Gowans, Alan. ''[[The Art Bulletin]]'', vol. 38, no. 2, 1956, pp. 127–129, [www.jstor.org/stable/3047649 JSTOR] (Review of Zimmer)</ref>

The rock-cut Lomas Rishi Cave was excavated during the reign of [[Ashoka]] in the [[Maurya Empire]] in the 3rd century BC, for the [[Ajivikas]], a non-Buddhist religious and philosophical group of the period. A band below the arch contains a [[Latticework|lattice]] in relief, presumably representing the ceiling of a thatched roof. Below that is a curved relief of a line of elephants. The entrance leads into the side of the hall, so unlike most later window frame examples, the arch bears no great relationship to the space it leads into. The immediately neighbouring cave in the same rock face has a plain undecorated recess at the entrance, which originally may have held a porch of similar design in plant materials.<ref>Harle, 48; Michell, 217–218</ref>
[[File:Osiya-temple & architecture 14.jpg|thumb|Piled-up gavakshas at [[Osian, Jodhpur]]]]

Early rock-cut [[chaitya]] halls use the same ogee shape for the main window needed to illuminate the interior, and often also have small [[relief]] window motifs as decoration. In these the inside of the arch has a series of square-ended projections representing the [[joist]]s, and inside that a curving lattice in low relief that represents the receding roof timbers of the inside of a notional building. At the bottom, a small area, more or less semi-circular, represents the far wall of the structure, and may be plain (e.g. [[Bhaja Caves]] over side galleries), show a different lattice pattern (e.g. [[Bhaja Caves]] main front), [[Pandavleni Caves]] cave 18, above), or a decorative motif (e.g. Cave 9, [[Ajanta Caves|Ajanta]], [[Pandavleni Caves]] cave 18, over doorway). Often the areas around these window or gable motifs have bands of [[latticework]], apparently representing lattice railings, similar to those shown edging the balconies and [[loggia]]s of the fort-palace in the relief of [[Kusinagara]] in the ''War over the Buddha's Relics'', South Gate, Stupa no. 1, [[Sanchi]]. This is especially the case at the [[Bedse Caves]],<ref>Harle, 48, 54</ref> in an early example of what [[James Fergusson (architect)|James Fergusson]] noted in the nineteenth century: "Everywhere ... in India architectural decoration is made up of small models of large buildings".<ref>Quoted in Hardy, 18</ref>

At the entrance to Cave 19 at Ajanta, four horizontal zones of the decoration use repeated "chaitya arch" motifs on an otherwise plain band (two on the projecting porch, and two above). There is a head inside each arch. Early examples include [[Ellora Caves]] 10, [[Ajanta Caves]] 9 and 19 and [[Varaha Cave Temple]] at [[Mamallapuram]].<ref>Harle, 276</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Conjectural reconstruction of the main gate of Kusinagara circa 500 BCE adapted from a relief at Sanchi.jpg|Conjectural reconstruction of the main gate of [[Kusinagara]] circa 500 BCE adapted from [[:File:City of Kusinagara in the War over the Buddha's Relics, South Gate, Stupa no. 1, Sanchi.jpg|this]] relief at [[Sanchi]].
File:The Bhaje Caves 05.jpg|Interior of a rock-cut chaitya hall, [[Bhaja Caves]], the ribs in wood
File:029 Doorways in the Vihara (32849645854).jpg|Chaitya arch motif in a [[vihara]] at [[Bedse Caves]]
File:Bedsa Caves3.JPG|Side wall inside the [[chaitya]] at [[Bedse Caves]]
File:IA Development of the Chaitya arch.jpg|Development of the Chaitya Arch from Lomas Rishi Cave, from a book by [[Percy Brown (art historian)|Percy Brown]].
File:Bodh Gaya railing adoration of the wheel of the Law.jpg|Scene on the [[Bodh Gaya]] railings (replica), representing a building
File:Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad s-7.jpg|Exterior of chaitya hall, Cave 9, [[Ajanta Caves]], 1st century BCE. The chaitya arch window frame is repeated several times as a decorative motif.
File:Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad s-9.jpg|Chaitya arch motif in a [[vihara]] at Ajanta
File:Aurangabad - Ajanta Caves (36).JPG|Entrance to Cave 19, [[Ajanta Caves]], late 5th century, also with four zones using the "chaitya arch" [[motif (visual arts)|motif]]
File:Toda Hut.JPG|Modern hut of the [[Toda people]]
</gallery>

==Later development==
[[File:1 façade du Chaitya Griha Vishvakarma Cave 10 Ellora India.jpg|thumb|The last chaitya hall window, Cave 10, [[Ellora]], c. 650]]
By around 650, the time of the last rock-cut chaitya hall, Cave 10 at [[Ellora]], the window on the facade has developed considerably. The main window is smaller, and now bears no relation to the roof inside (which still has the traditional ribs). It has only two of the traditional projections imitating [[purlin]] beam-ends, and a wide decorative frame that spreads over several times the width of the actual window opening. Two doors to the sides have [[Pediment|pediments]] with "split and superimposed" blind gavakshas, also with wide frames. This was to be the style of gavaksha that had already been widely adopted for the decoration of Hindu and Jain temples, and is seen in simplified form in the Buddhist [[Mahabodhi Temple]] at [[Bodh Gaya]], and the Hindu [[Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh]].<ref>Harle, 112, 132, 201; Hardy, 40</ref>

Also in the 7th century, the [[sukanasa]] developed. This is a very large developed gavaksha motif fixed on the outside of the temple tower over its entrance, normally standing vertical, although the tower slopes inwards.<ref>Kramrisch, 240–241; Harle, 140</ref>

By the end of the 7th century, and perhaps earlier, the entire faces of large [[shikhara]] towers or other surfaces could be taken up by grids of interlocking gavaksha motifs, often called "gavaksha mesh" or honeycomb.<ref>Harle, 134, 140</ref> Early examples include the Buddhist [[shikhara]] tower at the [[Mahabodhi Temple]], [[Bodh Gaya]], where the motifs cover most of the surface but do not actually interlock. This is of the 6th century at the latest, but perhaps restoring a design of as early as the 2nd or 3rd century.<ref>Harle, 201</ref> Cave 15 at [[Ellora]], complete by 730 if not before, and perhaps begun as a Buddhist excavation, may be one of the earliest examples of the full style.<ref>Harle, 134</ref> The motif spread to South India, for example the 7th and 8th century temples at [[Pattadakal]] in [[Karnataka]].

[[Gop Temple]] in [[Gujarat]], probably from the 6th century, is the largest and finest of a group of early temples in a distinct local style. The bare castle-like appearance of the central square tower today probably does not reflect the original design, as the upper parts of the structure around it are missing. Above the plain walls the sloping top includes three large gavakshas on each face, two below and one above, which are unusual in actually being open, rather than in shallow [[relief]], like almost all later gavakshas. Originally statues stood behind them, of which very little now remains.<ref>Harle, 136–138</ref>

Gavakshas are prominent in some temples of the 8th century [[Dieng temples|group on the Dieng plateau]] in central [[Java]], among the earliest monumental Hindu temples in modern [[Indonesia]].<ref>Michell (1988), 160–161</ref>

==Nāsīs of the south==
[[Adam Hardy (architectural historian)|Adam Hardy]] distinguishes between the gavaksha, which he largely restricts to the [[Nagara architecture]] of the north, and its cousin in the [[Dravidian architecture]] of the south, the nāsī ("kudu" in Tamil). He allows an early period of "gradual differentiation" as the nāsī evolves from the gavaksha, the first to appear. In a detailed analysis of the parts of the motif, he points to several differences of form. Among other characteristics of the nāsī, the motif has no frame at the base, the interior of the window is often blank (perhaps originally painted), and there is often a [[kirtimukha]] head at the top of the motif. In general, the form is less linear, and more heavily ornamented.<ref>Hardy, 101–103</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Gop Sun temple Zinavari Gujarat roof north.jpg|North roof of [[Gop Temple|Gop Surya temple]], [[Gujarat]], c. late 6th / early 7th century
File:Osian 16-15.jpg|Two chaitya arch motifs on top of each other. Hindu temple, [[Osian, Jodhpur]], 8th century.
File:Nalanda - 020 Image on Tower (9253690076).jpg|Gavaksha at [[Nalanda]]
File:Pattadakal si1479.jpg|[[Sukanasa]] with [[Shiva Nataraja]] and small gavaksha motifs, Jambulingeshwara Temple, [[Pattadakal]], 7th-8th century.<ref>Michell, 105</ref>
File:Kasivisvanatha temple at Pattadakal.jpg|The decoration of the 9th-century Kasivisvanatha temple at [[Pattadakal]] includes gavakshas in several forms
File:La grotte Jain Indra Sabha Ellora Caves, India.jpg|Elaborated gavakshas at the early 9th-century Jain Cave 32 at [[Ellora]]
File:Vamana Temple,Khajuraho 02 (cropped).jpg|"Honeycomb" of gavakshas on the [[shikhara]] of the [[Vamana Temple, Khajuraho]], 1050-75
File:Candi Bima, Dieng 1178.jpg|Candi Bima temple, [[Dieng temples]], [[Java]], 8th century
File:Mahabalipuram, Pancha Rathas, India.jpg|[[Bhima Ratha]] (Five Rathas), [[Mahabalipuram]]
</gallery>

==Notes==
<references/>

==References==
{{commonscat|Chaitya arch motifs}}
*Elgood, Heather, ''Hinduism and the Religious Arts'', 2000, A&C Black, {{ISBN|0304707392}}, 9780304707393, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cj2tAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 google books]
*[[Adam Hardy (architectural historian)|Hardy, Adam]], ''Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation : the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries'', 1995, Abhinav Publications, {{ISBN|8170173124}}, 9788170173120, [https://books.google.com/books?id=aU0hCAS2-08C&pg=PA183 google books]
*Harle, J.C., ''The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent'', 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, {{ISBN|0300062176}}
*[[Stella Kramrisch|Kramrisch, Stella]], ''The Hindu Temple'', Volume 1, 1996 (originally 1946), {{ISBN|8120802225}}, 9788120802223, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8-aS52MgIkMC google books]
*Michell, George, ''The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India, Volume 1: Buddhist, Jain, Hindu'', 1989, Penguin Books, {{ISBN|0140081445}}

[[Category:Hindu temple architecture]]
[[Category:Buddhist architecture]]
[[Category:Ornaments (architecture)]]

Gavaksha - Revision history

ZFMOtis800669: Article