A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c8.109

c8.109

‘The building,’ Fergusson writes, ‘stands on a terrace ranging from 5 to 6 feet in height, and paved with large slabs. On this stands a frieze of elephants, following all the sinuosities of the plan and extending to some 710 feet in length, and containing not less than two thousand elephants, most of them with riders and trappings, sculptured as only an Oriental can represent the wisest of brutes. Above these is a frieze of *śārdūlas*, or conventional lions—the emblems of the Hoysala Ballālas who built the temple.² Then comes a scroll of infinite beauty and variety of design; over this a frieze of horsemen and another scroll ; over which is a bas-relief of scenes from the *Rāmāyaṇa*, representing the conquest of Ceylon and all the varied incidents of that epic. This, like the other, is about 700 feet long. (The frieze of the Parthenon is less than 550 feet.) Then some celestial beasts and celestial birds, and all along the east front a frieze of groups from human life, and then a cornice, with a rail, divided into panels, each containing two figures [only a single figure in the part photographed]. Over this are windows of pierced slabs, like those of Belūr, though not so rich or varied.’