Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus c4.s5.6

c4.s5.6

[^asterisk]: * The side niches which represent the plan and the front and side elevations of the *vimána* at *Sri Rangam*, one of the earliest specimens of sacred architecture which the ancients have left us in the South of India. The cupola or dome is crowned with four pinnacles over the front portico, and four more across the former over the principal cell; and in the tabernacle immediately below the cupola, stands the statue of *Paravásudéva*, a form of *Vishnu*. The plan of the cell or sanctuary, where the idol of *Ranganát'ha* is seen in a recumbent posture, is oval, but that of the front portico square, and the outside of the vault is adorned with a sort of tracery-work. The front portico, which extends to a considerable distance from the main cell, is supported by rows of lofty columns; and the whole temple is enclosed by seven square courts, each of them having four pyramidal gateways, one in the middle of each side of the wall. Several of these courts contain private dwelling-houses of Brahmans and other classes. The designs have been taken by an artist on the spot, and the proportions of the different parts of which the temple is composed are, according to his account, as follows: "The whole height of the *vimána* is divided into thirty-two parts, four are given to the base, three to the pillars, four to the entablature, five to the upper pillars, two to the upper entablature, one to the upper base, two to the *can'tha*, four to the cupola, and two to the pinnacle."