History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s8: Tiruvâlûr.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s8
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Tiruvâlûr.
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The temple at Tiruvâlûr in Tanjor district,⁴ about 15 miles west of Negapattam, contrasts curiously with that at Tanjor in the principles on which it was designed, and serves to exemplify the mode in which, unfortunately, most Dravidian temples were aggregated.
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² From 'Technical Art Series,' 1894.
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⁴ At Tiruvallûr, in Chingalpat district, is a Vaishnava temple dedicated to Vîrarâghava.
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216. Inner Temple at Tiruvâlûr. Scale 200 ft. to 1 in.
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The nucleus here was a small village temple (Woodcut No. 216), drawn to the same scale as the plan of Tanjor in Woodcut No. 212. It is a double shrine, dedicated to Valmikesvara or Siva and his consort, standing in a cloistered court which measures 191 ft. by 156 ft. over all, and has one gopuram in front. On the south is a shrine of Tyâgarâja-swâmi. The central shrine is said to belong to the early years of the 15th century; but there are some defaced inscriptions of Râjarâja I. and Râjendra Chola (A.D. 985-1018) on the small shrine of Achalesvara, which may be the oldest portion now existing; otherwise there is nothing to distinguish it from the ordinary temples found in every village. It, however, at some subsequent period became sacred or rich, and a second court was added, measuring about 470 ft. each way, with two gopurams, higher than the original one, and containing within its walls numberless little shrines and porches. Additions
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217. Temple at Tiruvâlûr. (From a Drawing in Ram Raz’s ‘Hindu Architecture.’)
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were again made at some subsequent date, the whole being enclosed in a court 957 ft. by 726 ft.—this time with five gopurams, of which those on the west and east or front are respectively 101 and 118 feet high, and containing several subordinate shrines. When the last addition was made, it was intended to endow the temple with one of those great halls which were considered indispensable in temples of the first class. Generally they had—or were intended to have—1000 columns; this one has only 807, and almost one-half of these mere posts, not fitted to carry a roof of any sort. There can, however, be very little doubt that, had time and money been available, it would have been completed to the typical extent.
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The general effect of such a design as this may be gathered from the bird’s-eye view (Woodcut No. 217). As an artistic design, nothing can be worse. The gateways, irregularly spaced in a great blank wall, lose half their dignity from their positions; and the bathos of their decreasing in size and elaboration, as they approach the sanctuary, is a mistake which nothing can redeem. We may admire beauty of detail, and be astonished at the elaboration and evidence of labour, if they are found in such a temple as this, but as an architectural design it is altogether detestable.