Travels in India (Tavernier) 130.2

130.2

Returning to the pagoda, it is seated on a great platform of octagonal shape faced over with cut stone, around which there are two courses of animals, chiefly monkeys, carved in relief. One of the courses is only 2 feet from the ground floor, and the other 2 feet from the level of the platform. It is ascended by two staircases of fifteen or sixteen steps each, the steps being only 2 feet long, so that two persons are unable to ascend side by side. One of these staircases leads to the great gate of the pagoda, and the other behind the choir. But the pagoda occupies scarcely half the platform, the other half serving as a grand area in front. Its form is that of a cross, like those of the other pagodas, and in the middle there rises a lofty dome, with two others a little smaller which are at the sides. On the exterior of the building, from base to summit, numerous figures of animals are to be seen, such as rams, monkeys, and elephants, carved in stone, and all round are niches where there are different monsters. From the foot of each of the three domes up to the summits, at intervals, there are windows from 5 to 6 feet high, and at each a kind of balcony where four persons can sit. Each balcony is covered by a small canopy, and some are sustained by four columns, others by eight, but then they are in pairs and in contact with one another. Around these domes there are also niches full of figures which represent demons, one having four arms, another four legs;