The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c19.55

c19.55

When a famous shrine like the Virûpâksha temple attracted more pilgrims than could be accommodated under the walls, or when a pious king wished to increase the endowments of Brahmanical learning which belonged to the temple, the difficulty of enlarging the original sacred structure was overcome by the expedient of enclosing the first quadrangle with a larger one, the gopurams of the latter being correspondingly greater in width and height. The temple of Tiruvallûr (fig. 58) is an example of this natural process of organic growth in building which Fergusson, with curious inconsistency, criticises as a "false system of design." To satisfy architectural theorists, the builders should have pulled down the innermost shrine, with all its immemorial traditions, and rebuilt it on a larger scale according to the "true principles" of design.