Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c27.19

c27.19

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)