Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c27.24

c27.24

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