[342] ‘Voyage dans le Thibet,’ vol. ii. p. 289. The monastery referred to is that of Séra, in the neighbourhood of Lassa, the capital.

[343] It is found currently employed in the decorative sculpture of the Gandhara monasteries, but never as a constructive feature.

[344] Cunningham, ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. v. p. 178, et seqq., from which the following particulars are abstracted.

[345] I hope no one will mistake the elevation, pl. 44, vol. v. of Cunningham’s ‘Archæological Reports’ for a representation of this temple. It does not in the least resemble it.

[346] Cunningham, ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. v. p. 183.

[347] ‘Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages,’ London, second edition, 1875, p. 42.

[348] ‘Grammar,’ p. 44.

[349] The best account of the Pandyan kingdom—the Regio Pandionis of the classical authors—is Wilson’s historical sketch in the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. p. 199, et seqq. 1736.

[350] Besides the account of this state given by Professor Wilson, in vol. iii. of the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ there are many scattered notices found in Taylor’s ‘Analysis of the Mackenzie MSS.,’ and elsewhere.

[351] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. p. 40.

[352] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. viii. p. 5.

[353] Ibid.

[354] Ibid., vol. iv. p. 10.

[355] The particulars are abstracted from Sir Walter Elliot’s paper in the fourth, and Mr. Dowson’s paper on the Cheras in the eighth, volume of the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.’

[356] The documents collected by Colonel Mackenzie are full of the disputes which ended in the persecution, and these extended apparently from the 5th to the 7th century.

[357] See Dr. Babington, Plate 4, vol. ii. of ‘Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ for the sculpture at Maha Balipuram.

[358] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. ix. p. 270, and vol. xvii. p. 285.

[359] Burgess, ‘Report on Belgam and Kaladgi,’ 1875, plates 39, 40.

[360] Most of these were copied by Dr. Babington, and published with the papers above referred to, but others are given in the volume on the Mackenzie collection in the India Office.

[361] ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vii. plate 13.

[362] Sir Walter Elliot in Lieut. Carr’s compilation, p. 127.

[363] Ibid.

[364] Among the recently discovered ruins at Bharhut is a bas-relief representing a building so exactly like the long rath here, that there can be no doubt that such buildings were used in the north of India two centuries at least before Christ, but to what purpose they were applied is not so clear. The one at Bharhut seems to have contained the thrones or altars of the four last Buddhas.

[365] Among the sculptures of the Gandhara monasteries are several representing façades of buildings. They may be cells or chaitya halls, but, at all events, they are almost exact reproductions of the façade of this rath. Being used as frameworks for sculpture, the northern examples are, of course, conventionalised; but it is impossible to mistake the identity of intention. They may probably be of about the same age.

[366] Burgess, ‘Report on Belgam,’ &c., p. 24.

[367] ‘Tree and Serpent Worship,’ p. 73.

[368] If it were possible to rouse the Madras Government to take any interest in such matters, it might be hoped they would replace the head of the great Naga on his body before it is destroyed by being made a cockshy for idle Britishers.

[369] In Daniell’s plates, No. 16, the upper part of this is shown. Being cut in the rock no addition or alteration could afterwards have been intended.

[370] ‘Journal Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. ix. p. 314, et seqq.

[371] ‘Report on Belgam and Kaladji,’ 1874, p. 31, et seqq.

[372] There are four photographs of this temple in the ‘Architectural Antiquities of Dharwar and Mysore,’ plates 54-57. One of these is repeated in Mr. Burgess’s book, plate 38.

[373] Several photographs of it will be found in Capt. Lyon’s collection.

[374] Capt. Lyon was employed by Government for this purpose, and made 276 photographs of these temples. Fourteen sets were furnished to Government, but, owing to difficulties which occurred in bringing them out, they can hardly be said to be published—in this country at least.

[375] As the plan is only an eye-sketch, and the dimensions obtained by pacing, it must not be too much relied on. It is sufficient to explain the text, and that is all that is at present required.

[376] Inscription on gateway.

[377] The dimensions of this image are 16 ft. from muzzle to rump, by above 7 ft. across, 12 ft. 2 in. to top of head, 10 ft. 4 in. to top of hump, and 7 ft. 5 in. to top of back. It is composed of a single block of stone, I believe granite, but it has been so frequently and so thoroughly coated with oil, which is daily applied to it, that it looks like bronze. I tried to remove a portion of this epidermis in order to ascertain what was beneath, but was not successful. No other kind of stone, however, is used in any other part of the temple.

[378] Though so very important in Dravidian history, we have not even now a correct list of the Chola kings from the year 1000 downwards. There certainly is not one among the Mackenzie MSS. The late Mr. Ellis, it is said, had one, but he determined not to publish anything before he was forty years of age, and before that time he swallowed a bottleful of laudanum by mistake, and was found dead in his bed one morning. His papers served his successor’s cook to light fires for some years afterwards.

[379] Except this dimension, which is from a survey, and those of the gopuras, the dimensions above quoted must be taken cum grano. They were obtained only by pacing and eye-sketching.

[380] A drawing of it was published in my ‘Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture.’ It has since been frequently photographed.

[381] ‘Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindustan,’ p. 60.

[382] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. viii. p. 7.

[383] ‘Madras Journal,’ No. 20, p. 15.

[384] Its dimensions, as nearly as can be ascertained from my paces, and Admiral Paris’ plans, are 340 ft. by 180 ft.

[385] The plan of this temple (Woodcut No. 200) is taken from one in the ‘Journal of the Geographical Society of Bombay,’ vol. vii., and may be depended upon in so far as dimensions and general arrangements are concerned. The officers who made it were surveyors, but, unfortunately, not architects, and photographs since made reveal certain discrepancies of detail which prove it to require revision by some one on the spot.

[386] There is a view of it in the Atlas of plates that accompanies Lord Valentia’s travels; not very correct, but conveying a fair idea of its proportions.

[387] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. p. 202.

[388] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. p. 230, et seqq.

[389] Fortunately this choultrie is also one of the best known of Indian buildings. It was drawn by Daniell in the end of the last century, and his drawings have been repeated by Langles and others. It was described by Mr. Blackadder in the ‘Archæologia,’ vol. x. p. 457; and by Wilson, ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. p. 232. Volumes of native drawings exist in some collections containing representations of every pillar. A model in bronze of a porch exists at South Kensington Museum, and it has been abundantly photographed.

[390] In the description of Tripe’s photograph this dimension is given as 117 ft.

[391] Most of these particulars, with those that follow regarding the temples, are taken from Capt. Lyon’s description of his photographs of the places. He devotes twenty-six photos. to this temple alone.

[392] The view in this temple in my ‘Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,’ No. 21, is taken from the corner of this tank.

[393] There is a native plan of this temple in the India Museum, which makes it very much more extensive than my inspection of the part I was allowed access to would have led me to suppose. I do not know, however, how far the plan can be depended upon.

[394] It is supposed, erroneously, I believe (‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ (N.S.) vol. vi. p. 265), to be the Kanchipuram visited by Hiouen Thsang in 640. Nagapatam was more probably the place he indicated.

[395] I was too unwell when I visited Conjeveram to make so careful a survey of its temples as I would have wished to have done.

[396] I have never been able to ascertain even approximately its dimensions. Hundreds visit it, many have photographed, some written descriptions, but to measure dimensions and make even a sketch plan seems beyond the educational capacity of our countrymen.

[397] When I was in Madras, and indeed up to the present year, the temple on the hill of Tripetty or Tirupetty was reputed to be the richest, the most magnificent, as it was certainly the most sacred of all those in the Presidency. So sacred, indeed, was it, that no unbelieving foreigner had ever been allowed to climb the holy hill (2500 ft. high) or profane its sacred precincts. In 1870, a party of police forced their way in, in pursuit of a murderer who had taken refuge there, and a Mr. Gribble, who accompanied them, published this year (1875) an account of what they saw in the ‘Calcutta Review.’ As he exclaims, “Another of the illusions of my youth destroyed.” The temple is neither remarkable for its size nor its magnificence. In these respects it is inferior to Conjeveram, Seringham, and many others; and whatever may be done with its immense revenues, they certainly are not applied to its adornment. It is a fair specimen of a Dravidian temple of the second class, but in a sad state of dilapidation and disrepair.

[398] What I know on this subject I have already said in my work on ‘Rude Stone Monuments,’ p. 455, et seqq.

[399] Some money was, I believe, expended during Lord Napier’s administration on the repairs of this court and its appurtenances, but it was quite beyond the purview of an Anglo-Saxon to make a plan of the place. It is, consequently, very difficult to describe it.

[400] Description attached to Tripe’s Photographs.

[401] Vol. i. (N.S.) p. 247, et seqq.

[402] Professor Eggeling tells me he has great reason for suspecting the date 411 for Palakesi I. (‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iv. p. 8) to be a forgery. There is something certainly wrong about it, but how the error arose is not yet clear. It seems at least a century too early. See the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iv. p. 12; ibid., vol. iv. (N.S.) p. 93.

[403] ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iv. p. 10, et seqq.

[404] Prinsep’s ‘Useful Tables,’ re-edited by Thomas, pp. 267-268.

[405] If all the quadrants of this portico were equal the numbers ought to be 300, or 75 in each, but I fancy a considerable portion of two of them was cut off by the site of the temple. As I have nothing but photographs to go by, and they only show the exterior, even this is uncertain, and the dimensions I cannot even guess at. They are very large, however, for a Hindu temple.

[406] These dates are taken from a list of this dynasty among the Mackenzie MSS., quoted by Prinsep, ‘Useful Tables,’ xli., and are confirmed by the architectural evidence and other indications.

[407] I regret that I have been unable to get a plan of this temple or, indeed, of any triple temple. That at Girnar (Woodcut No. 127) belongs to another religion, and is too far distant in locality to assist us here. An imperfect one might be compiled from the photographs, but I have not even an approximate dimension.

[408] In a very few years this building will be entirely destroyed by the trees, which have fastened their roots in the joints of the stones. In a drawing in the Mackenzie collection in the India Office, made in the early part of this century, the building is shown entire. Twenty years ago it was as shown at p. 398. A subsequent photograph shows it almost hidden; a few years more, if some steps are not taken to save it, it will have perished entirely. A very small sum would save it; and, as the country is in our charge, it is hoped that the expenditure will not be grudged.

[409] Plates 1 and 32-40. Published by Murray, 1864.

[410] In 1848 Gen. Cunningham applied the term Aryan to the architecture of Kashmir, apparently on the strength of a pun (‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ September, 1848, p. 242). This, however, was limiting a term that belongs to two continents to an insignificant valley, in one of them. It was, besides, wholly uncalled for. The term Kashmiri was amply sufficient, and all that was wanted for so strictly local a style.

[411] ‘Historical Sketch of Tahsil Fyzabad,’ by P. Carnegy, Lucknow, 1870. Gen. Cunningham attempts to identify the various mounds at this place with those described as existing in Saketu by the Buddhist Pilgrims (‘Ancient Geography of India,’ p. 401, et seqq.; ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. i. p. 293, et seqq.) The truth of the matter, however, is, that neither Fa Hian nor Hiouen Thsang were ever near the place. The city they visited, and where the Toothbrush-tree grew, was the present city of Lucknow, which was the capital of the kingdom in Sakya Muni’s time.

[412] ‘Sacred City of the Hindus,’ London, 1868, p. 271, et seqq.; ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xxxiv. p. 1, et seqq.

[413] Curiously enough they make their appearance on the stage about the same time, and both then complete and perfect in all their details.

[414] ‘Hunter’s Orissa,’ vol. i. p. 233.

[415] I regret very much being obliged to send this chapter to press before the receipt of the second volume of Babu Rajendra Lala Mittra’s ‘Antiquities of Orissa.’ He accompanied a Government expedition to that province in 1868 as archæologist, and being a Brahman and an excellent Sanscrit scholar, he has had opportunities of ascertaining facts such as no one else ever had. Orissa was the first province I visited in India for the purposes of antiquarian research, and like every one else, I was then quite unfamiliar with the forms and affinities of Hindu architecture. Photographs have enabled me to supply to some extent the deficiency of my knowledge at that time; but unless photographs are taken by a scientific man for scientific purposes, they do not supply the place of local experience. I feel confident that, on the spot, I could now ascertain the sequence of the temples with perfect certainty; but whether the Babu has sufficient knowledge for that purpose remains to be seen. His first volume is very learned, and may be very interesting, but it adds little or nothing to what we already knew of the history of Orissan architecture.

I have seen two plates of plans of temples intended for the second volume. They are arranged without reference either to style or dates, so they convey very little information, and the photographs prove them to be so incorrect that no great dependence can be placed upon them. The text, which I have not seen, may remedy all this, and I hope will, but if he had made any great discoveries, such as the error in the date of the Black Pagoda, they most probably would have been hinted at in the first volume, or have leaked out in some of the Babu’s numerous publications during the last seven or eight years.

Mr. Hunter, who was in constant communication with the Babu, adds very little in his work on Orissa to what we learnt long ago from Stirling’s, which up to this hour remains the classical work on the province and its antiquities.

[416] These particulars are taken, of course, from Stirling, ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. pp. 263, 264. The whole evidence was embodied in a paper on the Amravati tope, ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iii. (N.S.), p. 149, et seqq.

[417] Hunter’s ‘Orissa,’ vol. i. p. 238.

[418] This dimension is from Babu Rajendra’s ‘Orissan Antiquities,’ vol. i. p. 41, but I don’t like it.

[419] This and the dimensions in plan generally are taken from a table in Babu Rajendra’s work, p. 41. I am afraid they are only round numbers, and certainly incorrect, but they suffice for comparison.

[420] ‘Tree and Serpent Worship,’ plates 48-98.

[421] Hunter’s ‘Orissa,’ vol. i. p. 237.

[422] It is to be hoped that Babu Rajendra’s book may to some extent remedy this deficiency. In the part, however, now published, he does not promise that this will be the case.

[423] Cunningham’s ‘Reports,’ vol. ii. p. 416.

[424] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. p. 327.

[425] Myself included in the number! but, as explained above, I had no knowledge of the style when I visited Orissa, and had no photographs to illustrate the architecture of temples to which I was not then allowed access.

[426] When I visited Orissa in 1837 and sketched this temple, a great part of the tower was still standing. See ‘Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,’ part iii. It has since fallen entirely, but whether from stress of weather or by aid from the Public Works Department is by no means clear.

[427] ‘Ayeen Akbery,’ Gladwin’s translation, vol. ii. p. 16.

[428] Hunter’s ‘Orissa,’ Appendix vii. p. 187, et seqq.

[429] ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vii. p. 557.

[430] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xvi. p. 25.

[431] In his ‘Antiquities of Orissa’ (p. 151), Babu Rajendra sums up exhaustively the argument for and against Vishnu being considered the same as the Sun in the Vedas, and, on the whole, makes out a strong case in favour of the identification. Even, however, if the case were much less strong than it appears to be, it by no means follows that what was only dimly shadowed forth in the Vedas may not have become an accepted fact in the Puranas, and an established dogma in Orissa in the 9th century, when this temple was erected.

[432] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. p. 330.

[433] These discrepancies arise from the fact that the beams lie on the floor buried under the ruins of the stone roof they once supported, and it is extremely difficult to get at them so as to obtain correct measurements.

[434] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. p. 316.

[435] Loc. cit., p. 265.

[436] Tournour’s abstract of the Dalawanso in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vi. p. 856, et seqq.

[437] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ v. 1. xv. p. 320.

[438] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. p. 315.

[439] The plan is reduced from one to a scale of 40 feet to 1 in., made by an intelligent native assistant to the Public Works Department, named Radhica Pursâd Mukerji, and is the only plan I ever found done by a native sufficiently correct to be used, except as a diagram, or after serious doctoring.

[440] Hunter, ‘Orissa,’ vol. i. p. 128.

[441] News has just reached this country of a curious accident having happened in this temple. Just after the gods had been removed from their Sinhasan to take their annual excursion to the Gundicha Nûr, some stones of the roof fell in, and would have killed any attendants and smashed the gods had they not fortunately all been absent. Assuming the interior of the Bara Dewul to be as represented (Woodcut No. 124), it is not easy to see how this could have happened. But in the same woodcut the porch or Jagamohan of the Kanaruc pagoda is represented with a flat false roof, which has fallen, and now encumbers the floor of the apartment. That roof, however, was formed of stone laid on iron beams, and looked as if it could only have been shaken down by an earthquake. I have little doubt that a similar false roof was formed someway up the tower over the altar at Puri, but formed probably of stone laid on wooden beams and either decay or the white ants having destroyed the timber, the stones have fallen as narrated.

A similar roof so supported on wooden beams still exists in the structural temple on the shore at Mahavellipore, and, I have no doubt, elsewhere, but it is almost impossible to get access to these cells when the gods are at home, and the places are so dark it is equally impossible to see, except when in ruins, how they were roofed.

[442] ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xv. p. 367.

[443] Ibid., p. 335; Hunter’s ‘Orissa,’ vol. i. p. 266.

[444] ‘Ayeen Akbery,’ Gladwin’s translation, vol. ii. p. 13.

[445] These dimensions, except those of Kanaruc, are taken from a table in Babu Rajendra’s ‘Antiquities of Orissa,’ vol. i. p. 41, and are sufficient to give an idea of the relative size of the building. So far as I can make out they are taken from angle to angle of the towers, but as they all have projections on their faces, when cubed, as is done in the table referred to, they are much too small. I may also observe that I know of no instance in which the two dimensions differ. The four faces are always, I believe, alike. The dates are my own; none are given, except for the great temple, in the Babu’s first volume.

[446] The two works on this subject are the ‘Architectural History of Dharwar and Mysore,’ fol., 100 plates, Murray, 1866, and Burgess’s ‘Report on the Belgam and Kuladgi Districts,’ 1874. Considering the time available and the means at his disposal, Mr. Burgess did wonders, but it is no dispraise to say that he has not, nor could any man in his place, exhaust so vast a subject.

[447] For architectural purposes the three places may be considered as one. Aiwulli is five or six miles north of Badami, and Purudkul or Pittadkul as far south. Ten miles covers the whole, which must have been in the 6th or 7th century a place of great importance—possibly Watipipura, the capital of the Chalukyas in the 5th or 6th century. See ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. iv. p. 9.

[448] ‘Histoire de Hiouen Thsang,’ p. 255; ‘Vie et Voyages,’ vol. i. p. 280.

[449] ‘Report on the District of Belgam and Kuladgi.’ 1874.

[450] When I originally wrote on the subject I thought I had the 9th and 10th centuries at my disposal. It now appears they must be blotted out as non-existent for any historical or artistic purpose.

[451] This is the date given by Mr. Burgess in his description in ‘The Caves at Elephanta,’ Bombay, 1871, p. 5.

[452] ‘Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ vol. ii. pl. 4.

[453] Loc. cit., pl. 6.

[454] Burgess, ‘Report on Belgam,’ &c. pl. 31.

[455] Loc. cit., pls. 20, 23, 40.

[456] ‘Tree and Serpent Worship,’ pl. 76.