Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c27.14

c27.14

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).