A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s3.9

c13.s3.9

The Tower of Victory, over 120 feet in height, at Chitōr in Rājputāna, built in the fifteenth century to commemorate the military successes of a local chieftain, is covered from top to bottom, inside and out, with an infinite multitude of images, representing, so far as may be, all the denizens of the Hindu pantheon, with their names attached, and constituting an ‘illustrated dictionary of Hindu mythology’. Besides the effigies of the more ordinary deities, there are images representing the seasons, rivers, weapons, and other things as yet unpublished. Whenever this series of sculptures shall be reproduced it will be invaluable as a key to Brahmanical iconography, but is not likely to contribute much to the history of art.¹ The better class of art in Rājputāna dates from an earlier period, ending with the twelfth century.