History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s13: Tinnevelly.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s13
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Tinnevelly.
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Though neither among the largest nor the most splendid temples of southern India, that at Tinnevelly will serve to give a good general idea of the arrangement of these edifices, and has the advantage of having been built on one plan, and at one time, without subsequent alteration or change. Like the little cell in the Tiruvâlûr temple (Woodcut No. 216), it has the singularity of being a double temple, the great square being divided into equal portions, of which the north one is dedicated to the god Siva, the south half to his consort Pârvatî. The following plan (Woodcut No. 230) represents one of the halves, which, though differing in arrangement from the other, is still so like it as to make the representation and description of one sufficient for both.
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230. Half-plan of Temple at Tinnevelly. (From a Plan in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
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The general dimensions of the whole enclosure are 580 ft. by 756 ft., the larger dimension being divided into two equal portions of 378 ft. each. There are three gateways to each half, and one in the wall dividing the two; the principal gateway faces the east entrance to the temple, and the lateral ones are opposite each other. An outer portico precedes the great gateway, leading internally to a very splendid porch, which, before reaching the gateway of the inner enclosure, branches off on the right to the intermediate gateway, and on the left to the great hall of 1000 columns—63 ft. in width by about 520 ft. in depth.
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The inner enclosure is not concentric with the outer, and, as usual, has only one gateway. The temple itself consists of a cubical cell, surmounted by a vimâna or spire, preceded by two mandapas, and surrounded by triple colonnades. In other parts of the enclosure are smaller temples, tanks of water, gardens, colonnades, etc., but neither so numerous nor so various as are generally found in Indian temples of this class. The inscriptions go back to the first half of the 13th century.
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The great 1000-pillared portico in the temple is one of the least poetic of its class in India. It consists of a regiment of pillars 10 deep and extending to 100 in length, without any break or any open space or arrangement. Such a forest of pillars does, no doubt, produce a certain effect; but half that number, if arranged as in some of the Chalukyan or Jaina temples, would produce a far nobler impression. The aim of the Dravidians seems to have been to force admiration by the mere exhibition of inordinate patient toil.