History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s15.6

v1.c19.s15.6

It seems impossible that the horsemen, the Vyâlîs, and above all, the great cornice of double curvature, shown in the woodcut (No. 232), could have been brought to these fixed forms without long experience, and the difficulty is to understand how they could ever have been elaborated in stone at all, as they are so unlike lithic forms found anywhere else; yet they are not wooden, nor is there any trace in them of any of their details being derived from wooden architecture, as is so evidently the case with the Buddhist architecture of the north. One suggestion that occurs to me is that they might be derived from terra-cotta forms. Frequently, at the present day, figures of men on horseback larger than life, or of giants on foot, are seen near the village temples made of pottery, their hollow forms of burnt clay, and so burnt as to form a perfect terra-cotta substance. Most of the figures also on the gopurams are not in plaster as is generally said, but are also formed of clay burnt. The art has certainly been long practised in the south, and if we adopt the theory that it was used for many ornamental purposes along with wood or stone, it will account for much that is otherwise unintelligible in the arts of the south. But we may further suppose that the broad sloping slabs of the earlier temples having no level bed to rest on the wall head, and being apt to slide down, 233. Compound Pillar at Vellor. (From a Photograph.)