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A History of Civilization in Ancient India, Vol.III Buddhist and Puranic Ages - Romesh Chunder Dutt - Complete Book

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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 quité 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 sharpnéss and precision in a fine close-grained hornblende stone, and produces aii: 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 isa group of 15 temples. Inside each temple is: a court surrounded by cloisters, at the back of which rises the. Vimana over the cell containing the principal image of the Tirthankara. 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 itis 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 moreim- | posing exists anywhere out of Egypt, and even there no known statue surpasses it in height.” Sergusson, p. 268. There are two other statues of this nature known, one at Karkala 4: ft. 5 in. in height, and the other at Yannur, 35 ft. high. 7 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. moun-’ CHAP. YII.}] HINDU & JAINA 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, 7, ¢., in the: country now known as the Deccan. The style has not, been thoroughly studied yet, asthe Nizam’s dominion 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. raled su- preme in Mysore and the Carnatic from. about 1000 A. D. to 1310.A. D., and, three, remarkable groups of temples were erected by this great dynasty, The first: one at Somnathpur was built by Vinaditya. 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 114 A.D, a and consists.of a principal 364 . PAURANIK: PERIOD. [BOOK ‘Vv. 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, x Hullabid .A temple here called Kaet Isvara_was probably er 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 convéy 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 afchitecture would desiré’ to take his stand, Unfortunately the work was never’ completed, having been stopped by the Mahomedan conquest in 1310 A. D,, after it had been in progress for 86 years. “It is of course impossible to illustrate completely so CHAP. vu.) HINDU. & JAINA ARCHITECTURE, &C. 365 complicated and. so varied a design. ** The building stands on a terrace ranging from § {t. 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 ef 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 hum;.n life, and then a cornice with a rail divided into parels, 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 heayenly Apsaras, dancing girls, and other objects of Hindy mythelogy: This frieze, which. is about 5 ft. 6 inches in height is. continued all round the westermfront 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 366 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK Vv. his nine Avatars, even oftener. Brahma occurs three or {nur 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, Fergusson’s 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 vimana, porch and gopura. A. Hindu temple is nothing if not profusely ornate and elaborately carved, and that wonderful and ' endless carving and sculpture work covers every reli- gious edifice in India, from Orissa and Rajputana to Mysore and Ramesseram. We will now conclude this chapter with some thoughtful observations which the elaborate carving .of the Hullabid ‘temple suggests to our author, whom we have so often quoted in this chap- ter. “If it were possible ‘to illustrate the Hullabid tem- pleto such an extent as to render its peculiarities fa- miliar, ‘there would be few.things more interesting or more instructive ‘than to institute a comparison be- tween it and the Parthenon at Athens. Not that the two buildings are at all like one another ; on ‘the con- trary, they form ‘the two opposite poles, the alpha and. omega of architectural -design ; but they are the best CHAP, VII] HINDU :& JAINA ARCHITECTURE, &C. 367 examples of their class, and between these two-extremes lies the whole range of the art. “The Parthenon is the best example we know of pure refined intellectual power -applied to the produc- tion of an.architectural design, Every part and every effect is calculated with mathematical exactness, and executed with a mechanical precision .that never was equalled. * * The sculpture is exquisitely designed to aid the perfection of the masonry, severe and god-like, but with-no condescension to the lower feelings of hu- manity. “ The Hullabid Senate is the opposite of allthis. It is regular, but with a studied variety of outline in plan and even greater variety in detail. All the pillars of the Parthenon are identical, while no two facets of the Indian temple are the same ; every convolution of every scroll is different, No two canopies in the whole build- ing are alike, and every ‘part-exhibits a joyous exu- berance of fancy scorning every mechanical restraint, All that is-wild in human faith or-warm in human feel- ing is found pourtrayed.on ‘these :walls:;-but.of pure in- tellect there is little, less than mere is:of : Suge: feeling in the Parthenon.