English
" No engraving * * can convey the impres- sion produced by such a display of labour when ex- tended to an uninterrupted length of 700 ft. None of our cathedrals are more than 500 ft., and even the nave of St. Peter's is only 600 ft. from the door to the apse. Here the side corridors are 700 ft. long and open into transverse galleries as rich in detail as them- selves. These with the varied devices and modes of lighting produce an effect that is not equalled certainly anywhere in India. 9 * Here we have corridors extending to 4,000 ft, carved on both sides, and in the hardest granite. It is the immensity of the labour here displayed that impresses us much more than its quality, and that combined with a certain picturesque- ness and mystery produce an effect which is not sur- passed by any other temple in India, and by very few elsewhere." Fergusson, p. 358. The classic town of Conjeveram or K&nchi possesses temples as picturesque and nearly as vast as any that is found elsewhere. In Great Conjeveram there is the Great Temple with some large Gopuras and a hall of 1,000 columns, fine Mantapas and large tanks with flights of stairs. Our readers will remember that the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara was :he last great Hindu kingdom in Southern India and maintained its independence for over two centuries, from 1344 to 1565 A. D. Archi- tecture flourished together with learning and the study Digitized by Google CHAP. VIII.] HINDU & JAINA ARCHITECTURE, &C. 361 of the Vedas ; and there is hardly a town in all India in which ruins exist in such profusion as in this last seat of Hindu learning and glory. The temple of Vitopa has an elegant and tasteful porch, wholly in granite, and carved with a boldness and power nowhere surpassed in buildings of this class. Numerous other edifices and temples of great beauty and extent attest to the power and activity of the Vijayanagara kings. The master works of these kings however are not in the town, but in a place called Tarputry, about 100 miles to the south-east of Vijayanagara. Two Gopuras belonging to a now deserted temple stand there one of them quite finished, and the other not carried beyond the perpendicular part. " The whole of the per pendicular part is covered with the most elaborate sculpture, cut with exquisite sharpness and precision in a fine close-grained hornblende stone, and produces an effect richer, and on the whole, perhaps, in better taste than anywhere else in this style." Fergusson, p. 375. Turning now to the architecture of the Southern Jainas, we find, as we have stated before, that they generally adopted the Dravidian style, as the Northern Jainas adopted the Orissa style. On the Chandragiri hill, there is a group of 15 temples. Inside each temple as a court surrounded by cloisters, at the back of which rises the Vimdna over the cell containing the principal image of the Tirthankara. Digitized by Google 362 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. Descending from the ghats into Canara, we find a different class of Jaina temples constructed on an entirely new style resembling the Nepalese style. Many of the temples are constructed entirely in wood, and the stone temples here are also close imitations of the wooden style. Besides the temples the Southern Jainas have in some places erected colossal statues such as are wholly un- known to the Northern Jaina architecture. They are said to be statues of a Gomata Raja, and it is supposed that some vague recollections of Gautama Buddha as a prince or raja have given rise to the construction of these images. One of them at Sravana Belgula attracted the attention of the Duke of Wellington, then Sir A. Wellesley when he commanded a division at the seige of Seringapatam. It is a statue 70 ft. 3 in. in height, hewn it is supposed of a solid hill which formerly stood there. "Nothing grander or more im- posing exists anywhere out of Egypt, and even there no known statue surpasses it in height." Fergusson, p. 268. There are two other statues of this nature known, one at Karkala 41 ft. 5 in. in height, and the other at Yannur, 35 ft. high. Deccan Style. We have spoken of two distinct styles of Hindu architecture, one the Orissa or Northern Indian style prevailing in the country north of the Vindhya mouo- Digitized by Google CHAP. VIII.] HINDU & JAIN A ARCHITECTURE, &C. 363 tains, and the other the Dravidian or Southern Indian style prevailing in the country south of the Krishna river. There is a third style, however, which Dr. Fergusson calls the Chalukyan style, and which prevails between the Vindhya range and the Krishna river, i. e. t in the country now known as the Deccan. The style has not been thoroughly studied yet, as the Nizam's dominions are comparatively speaking yet unexplored ; and it is probable too that few ancient Hindu monuments have there survived the uninterrupted reign of Musalmans during several centuries. The best examples of that style yet known are preserved in the province of Mysore, which, though south of the Krishna, developed the Chalukyan style. The peculiar feature of this style is that the temples have a polygonical or star-shaped base ; the walls rise perpendicular to some height, and then the roof is pyramidical, tapering to a point. Our readers will remember that the Bellalas ruled su- preme in Mysore and the Carnatic from about 1000 A. D. to 1 3 10 A. D., and three remarkable groups of temples were erected by this great dynasty. The first one at Somnathpur was built by Vin&ditya Bellala who ascended the throne in 1043 A. D. The height of this temple is only 30 ft., but it is characterized by a remarkable elegance of outline and elaboration of detail. The second at Baillur was erected by Vishnu Vardhana about 11 14 A.D., and consists of a principal Digitized by Google PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. temple surrounded by four or five others and numerous subordinate buildings, enclosed by a high wall with two fine Gopuras. The richness and variety of pattern displayed in the 28 windows are remarkable ; and the richly carved base on which they rest is still more so. The third and last group of temples of the Bellala kings is at Hullabid .A temple here called Kaet Isvara was probably erected by Vijaya, the fifth king of the dynasty. " From the basement to the summit it is covered with sculptures of the very best class of Indian art, and these so arranged as not materially to interfere with the outlines of the building, while they impart to it an amount of richness only to be found among specimens of Hindu art If it were possible to illustrate this temple in anything like com- pleteness, there is probably nothing in India which would convey a better idea of what its architects were capable of accomplishing." Fergusson, p. 397. The temple of Kaet Isvara is, however, surpassed in magnificence by its neighbour, the great double temple at Hullabid. Had this double temple been completed, it is one of the buildings on which, as Dr. Fergusson puts it, the advocate of Hindu architecture would desire to take his stand. Unfortunately the work was never completed, having been stopped by the Mahomedan conquest in 13 10 A. D., after it had been in progress for 86 years. " It is of course impossible to illustrate completely so Digitized by Google Digitized by Google CHAP. Vni.] HINDU & JAIN A ARCHITECTURE, &C. 365 complicated and so varied a design. * * The building stands on a terrace ranging from 5 ft. to 6 ft. in height and paved with large slabs. On this stands a frieze of elephants, following all the sinuosities of the plan, and extending to some 710 ft. in length, and containing not less than 2,000 elephants, most of them with the riders and trappings sculptured as only an oriental can re- present the wisest of brutes. Above these there is a frieze of " Shardulas," or conventional lions, the em- blems of the Hoisala Bellalas who built the temple. Then comes a scroll of infinite beauty and variety of design, over these a frieze of horsemen and another scroll, over which is a bas-relief of scenes from the Ramayana, representing the conquest of Ceylon and all the varied incidents of the epic. This, like the other, is the 700 ft. long. * * Then come celestial beasts and celestial birds, and all along the east front a frieze of groups from human life, and then a cornice with a rail divided into panels, each containing two figures. Over these are windows of pierced slabs, like those of Bail- lur, though not so rich or varied. * * In the centre, in place of the windows, is first a scroll, and then a frieze of gods and heavenly Apsaras, dancing girls, and other objects of Hindu mythology. This frieze, which is about 5 ft. 6 inches in height is continued all round the western front of the building, and extends to some 400 ft in length. Siva with his consort Parvati seated on his knee, is repeated at least fourteen times. Vishnu in Digitized by Google 366 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. * his nine Avatars, even oftener. Brahma occurs three or four times, and every god of the Hindu pantheon finds his place. Some of these are carved with a minute elabora- tion of detail which can only be reproduced by photo- graphy, and may probably be considered as one of the most marvellous exhibitions of human labour to be found even in the patient East. " Fergusson, p. 401. We have made this long extract from Dr. Fergussons work to give our readers an idea of the sculptures and elaborate carving of which we have spoken so often in describing almost every temple and vim&na, porch and gopura.