History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c19.s9.1

v1.c19.s9.1

The temple which has been most completely marred by this false system of design is the great Vaishnava temple at Srîrangam, 2½ miles north of Trichinopoly, which is certainly the largest, and, if its principle of design could be reversed, would be one of the finest temples in the south of India (Woodcut No. 219, p. 371). Here the central enclosure is quite as small and as insignificant as that at Tiruvâlûr, and except that its dome is gilt has nothing to distinguish it from an ordinary village temple. The plan (Woodcut No. 218) of the inner four courts will explain its arrangements. The fourth enclosure, however, is the most magnificent. It encloses the hall of 1000 columns (S), which measures some 500 ft. by 138 ft. The number of columns is eighteen in front by sixty-three in depth, and 953 altogether.¹ They consequently are not spaced more than 10 ft. apart from centre to centre; and as at one end the hall is hardly over 10 ft. high, and in the loftiest place only 20 ft., and most of the pillars being spaced nearly evenly over 218. Plan of Śrīrangam Temple—the four inner courts. Scale 200 ft. to 1 in.