History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s11.13

v1.c19.s11.13

But for the wilful destruction of the inscriptions (less than fifty years ago), we might have had the whole history of this temple.¹ The central shrines are built of a dark hard limestone, differing from that employed in the rest of the building, and are ascribed to a Setupati named Udaiyân, early in the 15th century.¹ To him also is ascribed the west gopuram and surrounding walls,² but they probably belong to the time of Sadayaka Tevar Udaiyân, early in the 17th century. The first prâkâram or enclosure, containing the older shrines, measures about 190 ft. by 307 ft., and outside this—excepting the old vimâna—the style is so uniform and unaltered that its erection could hardly have lasted beyond a hundred years; and if so, it must have been during the 17th century, when the Râmnâd râjas were at the height of their prosperity, and when their ally or master, Tirumalai Nâyyak, was erecting buildings in the same identical style at Madurâ, that the second prâkâram, measuring 386 ft. by 314 ft., was completed by Raghunâth Tirumalai, about 1658, the south half of it having been built by his predecessor. Vijaya Raghunâth Tevar (1709-1723), erected some buildings in the Amman temple, with the mandapa in front, in which are statues of himself and of his father Kadamba Tevar; and in 1740 Muttu Raghunâtha began the third prâkâram, 690 ft. in length by 435 ft. from east to west, which was completed by Muttu Râmalinga Tevar in 1769. The central shrine may probably belong to the 15th or 16th century, but all the enclosing courts had been erected within 170 years after the end of the 16th century, and endowed exclusively by the family of the Setupati chiefs of Râmnâd. It is one of the last great works of Hindûs, and the last addition to it is the finest of all.