Why the wood was never meant to shine

Three centuries of sal-wood oiling and woodsmoke render the strut near-black — the depth reads as age, never neglect.

Pierced jhya windows were cut for valley airflow first; the ornament is what the carver did with the obligation.

Deep undercutting lets brick-red daylight fall behind the figure, so the relief is legible from the courtyard below.

Tiered tundal brackets hold the pagoda roof while narrating its myth — structure and scripture worked from a single beam.