Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c27: Chapter XX: The Dravidian Style: Madura: The Final Phase (from cir. A.D. 1600)
Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c27
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Chapter XX: The Dravidian Style: Madura: The Final Phase (from cir. A.D. 1600)
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AFTER the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire in 1565 brought about by the confederacy of Muhammadan principalities in the Dekkan, the Hindu element in the Tamil country, owing to the pressure of Islamic aggression, was forced further south eventually to establish itself with the city of Madura as its capital seat. Here, and in certain other towns in the extremity of the peninsula, under a dynasty known as the Nayaks, the Dravidian style assumed its final form, which has lasted almost until modern times. Hindu architecture, as produced during this period, flourished principally under the rule of the greatest member of this line, Tirumalai Nayak, who reigned from 1623 to 1659, and through whose patronage many of the finest works were created. In the field of religious architecture, the Madura style, as it has been found convenient to call it, appears to have been a revival and continuation of the building procedure of the Pandyas (1100-1350), which, it may be recalled, consisted in improving and extending the existing shrines, so that these attained much greater magnificence. This method of temple development had been a common practice from early mediaeval times, as the historical records of many southern Indian temples testify, but under the Nayak regime, beginning in the seventeenth century it received notable encouragement, with the result that a number of ancient foundations became expanded into structural complexes of vast size and impressive appearance. In some instances such conditions were arrived at by gradual stages, additions to the temple-scheme being made at different periods, the final effect being obtained after a long course of years; on the other hand, in certain examples the greater part of their existing formation was produced by a single effort made at one particular time. In either case the result was much the same as both methods present what at first sight appears to be a rather confused grouping of buildings devoid of any pre-conceived plan. From some of the less complicated of these compositions, however, in spite of recent aggregations, it is possible to establish some kind of system underlying their layout.
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It is fairly clear that the expansion of the southern Indian temples was occasioned by a corresponding expansion of the temple ritual, the forms and ceremonies of the creed having become considerably elaborated, a condition which naturally reacted on the arrangements of the building in which they were celebrated. Some of this increase in the structural formation was due to the wider powers accredited to the deity of the temple, who it is possible to envisage in two capacities, a spiritual and a temporal. In his spiritual capacity the deity remained enshrined within the darkened mystery of his cella, where passively he received the homage of the devout. To provide for such a condition there is therefore an inner portion of the temple, strictly reserved and secluded as the sacred habitation of the god. On the other hand on certain prescribed occasions this divinity personifies a less abstract embodiment and emerges from his retreat in his temporal capacity, assuming a physical form not unlike that of an earthly sovereign of the olden time. When in this state therefore he is led forth in procession to take part in festivals and ceremonials of a semi-mundane but imperial character, and accordingly for this specific purpose the outlying precincts of the temple are largely utilized. It will be seen that, in such circumstances, and to conform to these two contrasting appearances, the temple resolves itself into two main formations, an inner, covered, and most sacred part, and an outer, open, more public and less sanctified part. The former, comprising the central portion, may consist of two flat-roofed courts, one enclosed within the other, which in most of the temples cover a fairly large rectangular space. Within the inner of these two courts is the sanctum, the cupolas of which, often richly gilt, may be seen thrusting itself through the flat roofs, thus denoting the focal centre of the entire scheme. In contrast to the guarded seclusion of this inner portion, the outer part of the temple area is formed of a concentric series of open court-yards called *prakarams*, enclosed within high walls, but open to the sky as they are too large to be roofed; these *prakarams* provide ample space for buildings connected with the more secular aspect of the ceremonial.
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The process of enlargement of the temple plan proceeded on the following lines. Beginning from the centre, the cella and its portico, both together comprising the sanctum of the temple, were the first and foundational structures, and these sometimes took the form of a temple in miniature, that is to say they consisted of a small chamber and its forecourt, the usual origins of a shrine. The preliminary step in expansion was to enclose this shrine within a spacious flat-roofed structure the innermost court referred to above. No doubt the object of such an addition was to protect the original sanctuary, and at the same time to emphasize its sacred character. Within this court there grew up pillared aisles and other interior arrangements of a like nature, the entrance to the whole being through a small gopuram or gateway in front and on the east. In the course of time the covered court itself became contained within another structure of the same type, and the same process of dividing up its encircling corridors by means of pillars and pavilions was adopted. To this court there were ordinarily two entrances, east and west, or front and back, each being marked by a gopuram larger than the last. This generally completed that portion of the temple which was wholly covered and sacrosanct.
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The next step towards enlarging the temple formation was that of enclosing the entire composition within a rectangle by means of a high boundary wall, an intervening space being left all round to provide a wide open courtyard, or *prakaram*. This enclosure was entered by gopurams, one on the east and the other on the west, the former being usually the larger as it was the principal doorway. Within the space thus enclosed various structures were erected, chiefly pillared halls or subsidiary shrines, and also certain buildings of a semi-religious character such as granaries, and store-rooms for the safe-keeping of the ceremonial supplies After a time another larger rectangular area was added, concentric with the last, and also contained within a still higher enclosing wall, leaving another appreciable space between the inner and outer perimeters. As many as four entrances were often made in this wall, one in the middle of each of its four sides and each consisting of a gopuram greater in size than any of those previously erected. At this stage therefore some architectural effect becomes visible, being obtained by the series of gopurams aligned along the axis of the temple, with two others to balance at its sides. Within this outermost enclosure two large and important structures are generally found, one being a hypostyle hall of a thousand pillars, and the other a square tank of water for ablutions, lined with steps and surrounded by an arcade. (Plate LXXV)
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Some such plan was no doubt the intention and ideal, and something of the kind forms the basis of most of the great Dravidian temples of later date, but it was a procedure which, in a systematic manner, was rarely put into practice. In some cases the scheme has been disproportionately enlarged, as for instance in the temple of Srirangam where there are as many as seven concentric rectangular enclosures each with its entrance gopurams, the whole equal in area to that of a fair sized town. These *prakarams* were often contributed as acts of piety by the ruling family, and as the boundary walls were generally crenellated, the royal donors could not have been unaware of their defensive properties as a place of retreat in time of trouble.
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The likeness of some of the larger temples of this period to those of the ancient Egyptians will no doubt be noticed, but any such analogy is more apparent than real, although a comparison brings into relief certain interesting facts. A seeming similarity is produced by two causes, namely the presence of the entrance pylons, and the form of the layout. As already observed the principle of the batter, or inward slope, as for instance in the gateways, must always owe something through the association of ideas, to the monuments of the Nile valley. The Dravidian gopuram and the Egyptian propylon are however two very different structural conceptions, in the former the doorway is an opening through the centre of a single edifice, the latter is a double composition with the doorway produced by an opening between the two sloping towers. As regards the layout, both types of temple, the Pharoic and the Dravidian, begin with these high and imposing entrances and, what is equally significant, their arrangements within have in a measure an uncommon resemblance. From such massive entrances the courts comprising the interior progress by diminishing stages, each compartment leading to a lesser, until the whole scheme terminates in one relatively small and inconspicuous cell in the centre A system of structural composition of this nature is however generally regarded as contrary to the accepted rules of good building, in other words it is a negation of the fundamental principles of rational architectural procedure, as it starts with the large and impressive and finishes with the small and insignificant. Yet it is possible that in both the Egyptian and Indian instances the underlying concept was primarily not architectural but spiritual, they were planned with the object of engendering religious emotion in the mind of the devotee. He was first confronted by the majestic entrance towers which filled him with awe, and then led on by a process of progressive abasement from one hall to another, each smaller and dimmer than the last, until, he finds himself, reduced to infinitesimal nothingness as in a dream before the mystery of the darkened shrine, into the holy of holies and in the presence of the god himself.
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Undoubtedly this was the intention of the Egyptian design, because each of the great temples of the Pharaohs was a unity definitely established from the first, being begun and ended with the one object in view. Not so the Dravidian temple, which, although it eventually attained much the same form and aimed at the same ideal, achieved these by a different and even inverted process. There was no conscious plan in its arrangement, no decisive preliminary conception, it gradually evolved from a small nucleus in the form of a shrine, until in the course of time it spread out into the indeterminate and, in some respects, unsystematic complex it now presents. It was fashioned not by thought or imagination but by means of a gradual aggregation of parts, many of them added without any particular attempt at a co-ordinated whole. Developed according to need very much in the manner of a mediaeval town, the temple plan resolves itself into a moderately harmonious agglomeration but lacking that quality of inseparability between form and content, the observance of which is the basis of all great works of architecture. While one cannot fail to be impressed by the profoundly religious atmosphere, emotional and often intellectual in which many of the southern Indian temples are steeped, making them as in the temple of Madura, a vast composite symbol of essential Hinduism, as an architectural entity they do not hold a high place.
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But even if the late Dravidian temple as a whole fails to produce a unified architectural effect, there are certain of its elements, which, regarded either individually or collectively are of considerable artistic merit. Two of them are pre-eminent, consisting of exteriorly, the gopurams, and, interiorly, the pillars, either singly or in colonnades or groups. During the Madura period the gopuram reached its maturity, and some of these great pylons are not only thoroughly characteristic of the southern style, but are most imposing examples of the building art. As by far the most impressive features of the temple scheme, not only do they make a direct contribution to the whole, but they are of marked importance in shaping its parts A certain number are what may be termed of the first class, that is 150 feet high and over, and some of them, rising up to as many as sixteen stories, and, literally, "sky-scrapers", attain the height of nearly 200 feet In the centre of the long side is the doorway, a square-headed opening about 25 feet high, forming a kind of corridor through the structure, with rooms on either side for the accommodation of guardians and doorkeepers. Out of one of these rooms leads a staircase by means of which the summit may be reached, with a wide landing at each story. In its external treatment the height of the gopuram is emphasised by lines leading vertically, upward tendencies being obtained by the sides not being flat but having perpendicular sections projected. Then across this verticality are carried the lines of the diminishing storeys in horizontal tiers, so that the entire mass becomes a rich pattern of the vertical and the horizontal. In the later examples the surfaces were also embellished with groups of plastic imagery from which an idea of the inexhaustible resources of Hindu mythology may be gained, as some of them are computed to display as many as a thousand figures, the majority considerably over life-size (Plate LXXVII)
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Turning to the interior of the later Dravidian temple the pillars are the principal feature, and although these, as a rule, have not the florid elegance of the previous style, from which they were directly derived, they still retain some of their vigorous character. These pillars are never very high, averaging only about 12 feet, but in no other style [Figure: STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE SIKHARAS OF KHAJURAHO TEMPLES 950 TO 1050 A.D. ① ADINATHA ② BISWANATHA ③ PARSWANATHA ④ KANDARIYA-MAHADEO PART PLAN OF SIKHARA NO 2 PART PLAN OF SIKHARA NO 3. ⑤ PLAN OF KANDARIYA-MAHADEO ⑥ MAHA MANDAPA GARBHA-GRIHA MANDAPA ARDHA-MANDAPA]
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Fig 1 Khajuraho "Ghantai" Temple; c A D 1050
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Fig 2 Kiradu Mewar. Temple of Shiva, 11th century
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are they found in such profusion. As an example there are at least a thousand pillars in the temple of Madura, in addition to an equal number in the hypostyle hall, making a total in this one temple alone of two thousand pillars in all. They are mainly of four kinds, consisting of a square moulded and patterned example, the simplest of all, the rampant dragon; the figure, usually of a deity; and the portrait, often of the donor or one of his family. All of these support ponderous and complicated superstructures in which crouching dragons and foliated brackets predominate. Although the first kind is relatively a simple composition in some instances it is enlarged into an immense square pier, with the radiating brackets above spreading out like the branches of a tree, as may be seen in the central court of the Jambukeswara temple near Trichinopoly. (Plate LXXVII) Most common of all is the second kind, that of the rearing dragon type already noted in the Vijayanagar temples, a motif still retaining its spirited curves, but restrained and stylised in the hands of the artists under the Nayak regime. This hippogriff formed the favourite design in the hypostyle halls of a thousand pillars, and individually there is much in its lines and shapes which is commendable, but when reiterated so insistently it becomes wearisome. The best example may be seen in the thousand pillared hall at Madura, where not only are the dragons exceptionally well-rendered but their superstructures are cleverly composed. This specially applies to the gryphon bracket-system above the capital and its combination with the beam it supports, the whole being balanced and finished off in a masterly manner by the dropping knop.
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Of the two kinds of pillar in which the one represents a deity and the other the donor of the temple there is not very much difference, as both have figures often over life-size attached to their shafts, but they are more elaborate and complicated than any others. Unlike the classical atlantean type of support most of these Dravidian figures have little structural significance, as although they are often complete statues in the round, they are held only by attachments to the pillar shaft. There are instances however where they are so designed as to form some slight additional support to the pillar as may be seen in one of the corridors of the Minakshi shrine at Madura. The most remarkable group of deities combined with the structure are those ornamenting the court of the Swami Singothanam, or entrance to the main shrine of Sundareswara, (Siva) at Madura, a bewildering synthesis of contorted figures and multifarious architecture. (Plate LXX). Less common in the portrait-pillar, although images of donors and other personages are found sculptured on the monuments of southern India from the earliest times ¹ At Srirangam, at Srivilliputtur (Ramnad), in the Brihad-Isvara at Tanjore, and in the Pudu-Mandapa at Madura, are examples of this form of pillar, in most instances the portrait image being attached to the front of the pillar-shaft. (Plate LXXVIII, Fig. 2).
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¹ *Portrait Sculpture in South India*, by T. G. Aravamuttam, London, 1931.
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The number of temples of the Madura class is nearly thirty, but the following are the more important: Madura, Srirangam, and Jambukesvara, both near Trichinopoly; Tiruvarur, Rameswaram, Chidambaram, Tinnevelley, Tiruvanamalai and Srivilliputtur. Of these the temple at Madura, having the merit of being largely built at one time, is most typical of the architectural style as this prevailed in the seventeenth century. It is a double temple, as it has two separate sanctuaries, one dedicated to Siva and the other to his consort the goddess Minakshi. These two shrines, which are really temples within a temple, occupy the largest space inside the main enclosure. The outer wall of this surrounds an area which is nearly a square as it measures approximately 850 feet by 725 feet, with four large gateways one towards the centre of each of its four sides. Admission is usually through the gopuram on the east which communicates with a fine pillared avenue over two hundred feet long and nearly one hundred feet wide. This leads directly to a smaller gopuram, forming the eastern entrance to the second *prakaram*, a rectangular enclosure measuring 420 feet by 310, also having four gateways one in the middle of each side, but all smaller than the preceding. Most of this second enclosure is covered in with a flat roof, but it is partly open on the northern side. Within, there is again another covered court, its sides 250 feet by 156 feet, and with only one entrance, a doorway on the east. Only so far are the uninitiated allowed to proceed, but it is outside this entrance, in what may be termed the nave and transepts of the temple, that the most elaborate part of the scheme and the most intricate grouping of pillars are to be found. Inside this last enclosure the sacred shrine itself is situated, a structure consisting of three compartments, an assembly hall, a vestibule, and the cella, the last being surmounted by a small sikhara which penetrates through the flat roof covering the whole of this portion of the temple, and may be seen from the outside rising like a golden crown in its midst. All the courts, corridors, and halls making up these enclosures have colonnades of pillars, often strange and unreal in their design, arranged in long lines or groups forming diverse vistas in all directions (Plates LXXIV and LXXIII).
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The other sanctuary of the Madura temple, that of the consort, or associate deity, Minakshi, the "fish eyed", so called as this form of eye is traditionally regarded as of surpassing beauty, is an enclosure attached to the south side of the foregoing, somewhat to the rear, and is a half-size reproduction having one compartment within another, of the adjacent Siva sanctuary. Its exterior measurements are 225 feet by 150, and it is entered by two gopurams, that on the east being comparatively small, but the western one is larger. Rising above the flat roof between the two is the cupola of the shrine, as in the Siva temple. Lying towards the front of the Minakshi sanctuary, in the angle made by that and the Siva enclosure, and forming an important feature of the temple as a whole is a rectangular sheet of water surrounded by steps and with a pillared portico on its four sides. This is the "Pool of the Golden Lilies," an artificial reservoir measuring 165 feet by 120 feet, its picturesque appearance being considerably enhanced by the great mass of the southern gopuram, over 150 feet high, as its background and reflected on its surface. (Plate LXXVII). Not far from the north-east corner of the tank in the outer enclosure is a fair sized gopuram placed across the line of approach to the Minakshi sanctuary, marking a processional passage to that shrine from the outside, and thus indicating an independent entrance. Large and small there are eleven gopurams to the Madura temple, the four outer ones being of the first class as they are all over 150 feet high. There is one other important and spacious structure in the temple scheme and that is the court of a thousand pillars, added about the year 1560 by Arianayakam Mudali, minister of the founder of the Nayak dynasty. This hypostyle hall occupies an appreciable portion of the north-east angle of the outer *prakaram*, covering a space of 240 feet by 250 feet. Its front, which faces south, lies alongside the wide pillared approach of the main entrance, and the doorway is also on the same side. Symmetrical in its arrangements the interior consists of central aisle with a double row of columns on either side, leading up to a small shrine at its northern end dedicated to Sabhapati; behind the colonnades forming the aisle are row upon row of pillars making up the total of 985 in all. As with the other halls forming this temple the hypostyle hall has no architectural exterior, it is merely a low flat-roofed structure, remarkable only for its interior with its unending range of grotesquely carved piers.
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Outside the main enclosure, but in axial alignment with the eastern gopuram from which it is separated by an intervening busy thoroughfare of traders' shops, is the large supplementary hall of the Vasanta or Pudu Mandapam, commonly known as Tirumalai's Chaultri. This is in the shape of the parallelogram measuring 330 feet by 105 feet and is recorded to have taken seven years to build, from 1626 to 1633, being a contribution to the temple scheme by Tirumalai Nayak. Its use is as a reception hall or temporary place of residence for the presiding deity during a certain festival season of the year. Divided longitudinally into a nave and two aisles by four rows of pillars, all elaborately carved, the long columned perspective of its interior, although lacking in feeling, is rich and impressive. Towards the centre of the hall the regularity of its line of pillars is interrupted by a group of these columns being accorded different treatment from the others. On their shafts are sculptured, in the round, ten life-size statues each of which portrays a king of the Nayaka house of Madura, the last of the line being that of Tirumalai (1623-52) the builder of this fine mandapam (Plate LXXVIII, Fig. 2).
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By far the largest of these Southern Indian temples is that of Srirangam near Trichinopoly, which differs from the Madura temple in two particulars, as it is a single temple having only one sanctuary, and its construction, instead of consisting of mainly one effort, extended over a long period of time. An unusual feature in the plan is that it is laid out from north to south instead of the almost invariable orientation from east to west. It is dedicated to Vishnu, and although many of the buildings date from the seventeenth century, being due to the munificence of the Nayak princes, who made their second capital at the city of Trichinopoly, it contains evidences that other portions are of an earlier period. There are inscriptions which connect it with the Pandyas in the thirteenth century and with Vijayanagar in the fourteenth century, while the celebrated "Horse Court", previously described (Chapter XIX), shows that the rulers of the latter empire maintained their interest in the building in a practical manner until well into the sixteenth century. As at present its dimensions are indeed remarkable as the outermost wall is a rectangle of 2880 feet by 2475 feet, enclosing an area of over a quarter of a square mile, and including large, small, and also unfinished, 21 gopurams, 13 of which may be seen following the axial line of the temple from one point of view. Within this area are six other *prakarams*, making in all seven concentric enclosures, with the shrine in the centre, much on the principle of a nest of caskets, one inside the other, with the treasured contents in the innermost. The three outer courts, the latest to be added, are not of any special architectural significance, as they extend through, and into the surrounding town and are almost lost in the maze of the bazaar. The gateways of some of them may however be distinguished rising above the house tops, forming a long series of pylons each higher than the last, the line finally ending in the two unfinished gopurams of the seventh enclosure. Of these two incomplete gateways that on the south side or main approach sufficient has been constructed to show that had it been finished according to the usual proportions it would have attained the stupendous height of nearly 300 feet, equal to that of Giotto's campanile at Florence, and rather less than the dome of St. Paul's, London. (Plate LXXV)
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The architectural portion of the temple therefore may be said to begin at the fourth court, the outer wall of which measures 1235 feet by 849 feet, with a gopuram in the middle of three of its sides, on the north, south, and east, that on the east being the finest and largest in the entire scheme. Near this eastern gopuram, and within the fourth enclosure in its north-eastern angle, is the hall of a thousand pillars, a flat-roofed structure occupying a rectangle 500 feet by 160 feet. Arranged in rows within are over 900 carved granite monoliths, all leading up to a shrine at the far end. Considering the amount of labour expended in this hypostyle hall it is a somewhat unimpressive production. Except for the "Horse Court", the remaining buildings within this *prakaram*, which consist of a few pillared pavilions, are of no particular importance The next or third enclosure measures 767 feet by 503 feet, with a gopuram on its north and south sides, the latter being the principal entrance, as it opens on to a fine pillared hall known as the Garuda Mandapam. Towards the middle of this mandapa is a shrine with a cupola which rises like a minor dome above the surrounding flat roofs. At the side of the pillared hall is a covered tank, the *surya-pushkarani*, and at the opposite or northern end of this *prakaram* is another tank, horse-shoe in shape, called the *Chandra-pushkarani*, the two comprising the "Pool of the Sun" and the "Pool of the Moon" respectively. The second enclosure is also entered by gateways on its north and south sides, and measures 426 feet by 295 feet. It is a covered court occupied mainly by pillared pavilions, with a long processional pillared passage on its western side. Within this is the first or innermost enclosure, having its entrance on the south side, and its sides being 240 feet by 181 feet, while the object it contains is the sanctuary and its cella. The sanctuary is a square compartment, and the room around the cella is also rectangular, but the actual chamber within is circular, the shape of the whole resembling a small chaitya hall as may be seen by its golden domical roof projected above the flat roof outside.
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A very comprehensive idea of the formation of this grand temple-complex may be obtained by ascending the eastern gopuram, as from its elevation the entire plan is laid at one's feet. Here it is possible to trace out all the different mandapams, which combined, present a wide expanse of uninspiring flat roofs, with here and there a golden cupola asserting itself to indicate the position of some specially sacred shrine. Towards the centre of the scheme the innermost sanctuary may be recognized by its apsidal vault of gold, while nearer the main southern entrance is another larger cupola, marking the Garuda shrine within the third enclosure. Attached to this Garuda mandapa on its eastern side lies the Surya-pushkarani, the Pool of the Sun, and within the same enclosure, but at its northern end and identified by its curved shape is the Chandra-pushkarani or Pool of the Moon. On the opposite side of the temple from the spectator, in the distance, may be discerned two fair sized gopurams one behind the other, the western counterpart of those on the side from which the spectator is taking his stand. Some distance in front of these, within the third *prakaram* on its western side, five cylindrical structures are visible, which, together with other large erections in their vicinity are buildings used as granaries, as much of this portion of the temple is reserved for storing and suchlike purposes. Except for the fact that from this high standpoint the general disposition of the temple is made intelligible, there is little of interest in its succession of flat roofs, but following the axial line to the north and south, the view of the long series of gopurams already mentioned is impressive, the distant ones losing themselves among the roofs of the surrounding houses and palm trees. Of these thirteen gateways at least six are notable for their size, while the two unfinished examples at the far end, one of which on the south has a considerable portion of its lower storeys erected, were intended to be of colossal proportions.
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The temple of this type which has the finest architectural interior is that of Jambukeswara, situated within a mile of the previous example of Srirangam, and laid out on much the same pattern, but considerably smaller in size. It consists of four concentric enclosures, the two outer being open *prakarams* while the two inner are covered courts. The principal entrance is by a gopuram on the east, leading to a pillared avenue passing through a large hypostyle hall with one hundred and twelve pillars on either side. To the right beyond this intricacy of columns is a spacious pool, surrounded by a tall double-storied arcade. Continuing along the main approach, and passing through a gopuram with a pillared portico projecting on each side of its doorway, the second enclosure is entered. Opposite lies the doorway which leads to the covered portion of the scheme, and it is from this entrance that the finest portion of the architectural effect may be observed. The doorway opens on to one arm of a cross formed by avenues of columns, the intersection of the arms widening out into a capacious square court or central hall. Within this are four immense square piers, one at each corner of a square, leaving an open space or "crossing" in the centre for the four symbols of the creed, the *lingam*, *nandi* (bull), *dwajastambha* (flag-staff) and *balipatam* (sacred jewel). Massive as are the solid shafts of these piers, ornamented with a triple pilaster on each face, their capitals and superstructures are even more stupendous, as they spread out like inverted pyramids into a phenomenal width. Around this central group of piers at some distance from them are the ranges of pillars forming the outer edge of the central court, a kind of pillared facade with receding avenues of pillars in their rear. This large and dignified composition of nave, aisles, and transepts, is the prelude to the innermost court containing the shrine, the doorways being on its further side beyond which admission is limited to Hindus only. No Dravidian temple interior of this period gives a better idea of the style at its best than the large central court of Jambukeswar. (Plate LXXVIII, Fig 1).
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Although all these Southern Indian temples have evolved on much the same lines and disclose plans and general arrangements in which there is a certain similarity, several possess some special feature to distinguish them from all others of their class A notable example is the temple of Rameswaram of which the chief glory consists in its pillared corridors, which not only completely surround it, but form avenues leading up to it, so that combined they are calculated to aggregate three thousand feet in length The breadth of these fine columned passages varies from seventeen feet to twenty-one feet, and their height from floor to roof is about twenty five feet. Richly decorated pillars of good proportions and closely set continue along the entire length, each pillar being twelve feet in height and rising from a moulded stylobate five feet high. In almost every direction therefore there is an unending perspective of columned halls, those on the north and south sides being particularly effective as they are over seven hundred feet in length. The general scheme of the Rameswaram temple consists of a double shrine enclosed within three concentric perimeter walls, the outer of these measuring eight hundred and eighty feet by six hundred and seventy-two. Like the temple at Madura most of it in its present state was planned and constructed within one period although on a very ancient and sacred site, as remains of the original shrine are still in evidence. These comprise a few small structures near the western exterior which differ in their orientation from the remainder of the temple, and from their style may be as early as the twelfth century. Externally, as the temple is enclosed all round within a plain wall twenty feet high, there is no architectural effect save that of a very fine gopuram on the eastern side. This gopuram which forms the principal entrance to the second enclosure, is recorded to have been begun about 1640, and then left unfinished, to be completed within modern times. It is in eleven stories and about one hundred and fifty feet high, with good proportions and the contours of its angles straight and strong, the scheme of decoration being of the architectural order without much figure work Two other much larger gopurams have been begun on the north and south sides of the outermost wall, but only their lower stories have been finished. (Plate LXXIX).
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The Siva temple at Chidambaram consists of a large group of buildings, the construction of which has extended over several hundred years, each century making its contribution until it has attained its present form. As with most of these shrines it originally rose on an ancient site, some of the inner parts being of legendary antiquity, but there are definite records of its existence before the tenth century, and some inscriptions of the eleventh. The east gopuram was erected in the thirteenth century, the Parvati temple added in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, the north gopuram in the sixteenth century, and the hall of a thousand columns in the seventeenth century. With such a history it is surprising, there should be any symmetry in its plan, yet the scheme is not without a certain regularity, and the orientation, right-angles and parallels, have been maintained throughout. There are evidences of four encircling enclosures, some unfinished with high massive walls of stone, the courtyards being paved with granite, and the whole covering thirty-two acres in extent. Its outermost wall forms a parallelogram measuring one thousand and forty feet by seven hundred and eighty feet, but the fifteenth century Parvati temple encroaches on its north-west angle affecting the uniformity of the plan, although adding to its area The enclosure wall of the outer *prakaram*, of which only the south-west portion is finished, is entered by four gopurams, one in each side, that on the east being the Sundara Pandya erected about 1250 (Chapter XVIII), and that on the north being built by Krishna Deva towards 1520 The usual entrance was by the Sundara gateway as it leads directly to the main temple contained within a square court of three hundred and twenty-five feet side with entrances on its east and west sides Within this enclosure is the shrine, dedicated to Natesa, where no doubt the earliest structures will be found, but admission is restricted. It is recorded however that the inner shrine is in the form of a temple car mounted on wheels and drawn by horses, by no means an unusual temple design, as may be seen at Konarak, and the Alankara *mandapa* at Darasuram, to mention only two examples. One of the chief features of the Chidambaram sanctuary is its portico which is composed of fifty-six pillars of intricate pattern.¹
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¹ Fergusson, J., *History of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, Vol. I, p. 374.
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All the main structure comprising the temple of Natesa lies to the south-centre of the entire walled-in space, leaving a relatively large area on its northern side. Here are two important annexes to the temple scheme, consisting of a large tank or Sivaganga, and a thousand pillared mandapam or Rajasabha. The former is a sheet of water 275 feet by 175 feet bounded by flights of steps and pillared arcades, with the fine north gopuram in its rear, which reflected in the water forms an effective scene. Alongside is the hypostyle hall, a rectangular building 338 feet long and 197 feet wide and containing a thousand monolithic columns each ornamented with carving, but owing to most of these being dull and rather mechanical repetitions the appearance as a whole is somewhat monotonous.
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Two temples both planned on much the same general system, and which depict relatively compact but comprehensive examples of the later Dravidian style are at Tiruvarur in the Tanjore district, and at Tiruvannamalai. Both have records associating them originally with the earlier period of the southern mode, the former bearing inscriptions referring to the Chola period (850-1100), and the latter displaying in the east gopuram of its third circuit stylistic evidences that this gateway was built about 1300. Such temple therefore appears to have developed in the traditional manner, from what was at first a village shrine, through successive stages until it attained the ample proportions it now presents. The Tiruvarur temple contains a double shrine dedicated to Siva and his consort in the form of Valmikesvara, the two sanctuaries being placed side by side within a cloistered court measuring 191 feet by 156 feet, the only entrance being by a gopuram in the middle of the eastern side. This inner shrine, the nucleus of the whole, is recorded to date from the early fifteenth century, and probably existed in the same form for more than a century, when a second enclosed court was added increasing the whole to a square of 470 feet each way. With this were built two gopurams, on the east and west. Finally about 1700, the outermost circuit was constructed, measuring 957 feet by 726 feet having two large gopurams on the east and west, and three more of lesser size at other points. At the same time a thousand pillared hall was begun on the eastern side of the outer enclosure, but never finished. One of the finest features of the Tiruvarur temple is the eastern gateway, which although constructed as late as the early eighteenth century is as good an example of Dravidian art as can be seen anywhere. The three lower stories are particularly well produced, the lowest with its broad pilasters alternating with sunk recesses containing rearing hippogryphs being boldly conceived, while the two above have magnificent roll-mouldings and plinths carrying pillared niches in which are enshrined black basalt images remarkable for their architectonic treatment. (Plate LXIX, Fig. 2).
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Of the remaining temples of this group most of these are repetitions, with certain variations, of the foregoing. That at Tinnevelly is a double temple dedicated to Siva and his consort Parvati and therefore divided into two almost equal proportions, the whole occupying a rectangle 580 feet by 756 feet. Each deity is accommodated in a sanctuary towards the centre of the area, each containing a cella and portico and entered by a gopuram on the east. There are four other gopurams as entrances to the outer enclosure, and another for communication between the two separate enclosures. Tanks and pillared pavilions occupy most of the outer circuit, while extending along the whole of the southern side is hypostyle hall of a thousand pillars, measuring 520 feet by 63 feet, the pillars being arranged in rows of ten with a hundred in each row. Another temple in the Tinnevelly district is that at Srivilliputtur, notable for a gopuram which is two hundred feet high. An example of the later type, being built mainly of brick and plaster, it is in thirteen stories exclusive of the superstructure forming its roof. This superstructure is an excessively tall composition resembling a hall with a chaitya roof, elaborately ornamented with a great *suraj mukh*, or "sun-face" above its gable-end, and a row of immense vase pinnacles along its ridge. It belongs to the class of gopuram with the contours of its angles slightly concave, a structural expedient giving a curved outline to its mass, which, while adding to the sweeping effect of height and grace, deducts from it virility and strength.
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Proofs of the Dravidian master-builders losing little of their traditional skill even within comparatively recent times may be seen in the temple of Subramaniar, a relatively small building, introduced into the courtyard of the great Siva temple at Tanjore in the eighteenth century. (Plate LXXVI, Fig. 2). For some time the perfection of the design and workmanship of this architectural gem led authorities to believe that it belonged to the early mediaeval era, that it was in fact more or less contemporary with the majestic structure to which it is an appendage. It bears no inscriptions, but the date has been determined by its style, particularly that of its architectural embellishments. The position of this supplementary temple, which is dedicated to Subramaniar, the south Indian name of Kartikeya, the god of war, is at the north-east angle of the enclosure, where it occupies a space of 120 feet by 35 feet, with a sikhara about 55 feet high, approximately the proportions of a typical parish church in England. A glance will reveal that the Subramaniar temple in all its details is very much more ornate in style than the larger eleventh century building at its side, but the elaboration of its parts does not make it meretricious as its ornamental features are so skilfully distributed. Compared with the Siva temple it is at once obvious that its plastic ornamentation belongs to a widely different and later date. In the course of the six centuries which separate the two structures, the style has advanced considerably, it has accumulated much, some perhaps not for its betterment, although as a whole it is a most satisfying composition. There is an animation in its sculptured relief with its pulsating light and shadow, every shaft is fluted, many mouldings ribbed, capitals and bases are scalloped, all its details have been wrought in a school where the desire for enrichment was insatiable. There could be no finer tribute to the genius of the Indian artisan than that he could squander ornament so recklessly yet produce a building which, although exuberant, is still in good taste. It is well that the Dravidian style which persisted for over a millennium in varying phases, should end on this note, a small but admirable example of a mode that had become decadent, but a very brilliant decadence in no wise discreditable to its creators.
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REFERENCE Jouveau-Dubreuil, G., *Archéologie du Sud de L'Inde*, Paris, 1914.