The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c8.55

v1.c8.55

**[34] Gateways** : The principal entrance to the temple is placed to the east, right in front of the temple. It is covered by a spacious square building, the *toraṇa* or *gopura*, with a pyramidal roof, having the figures of the nine Indian planets (*navagraha*) sculptured in more or less relief on the frieze under the weather-moulding. The structure, however, has neither the lofty storied character of the Tamulian *gopura*,¹⁶ which rises from five to fourteen stories, nor the majesty and massive solidity of the Egyptian *pylon*, or *propylon*, but holds a very subordinate place in the whole composition. For guards it has two lions, either seated, or rampant on crouching elephants, a form of grouping to which the Uriyās seem to have been very partial. At Koṇārak there are also horses and elephants for guards; but they are not common, nor do they at all approach the gigantic size of the human-headed winged bulls and lions of the Assyrian palaces. At Puri there are gateways of about the same size on all the four sides of the enclosure of the great temple; but originally such was not the case at Bhuvaneśvara, the two small doors on the north and the south of the Great Tower now visible, being manifestly subseqent additions: there is no opening in its western wall. The roof of the gateway externally is a counterpart of that of the porch on a small scale, but internally it is so arched as to look like the under surface of a hemispherical dome.