Page:Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1904-05.pdf/49



N last year's Report I gave a general account of the conservation work in progress at numerous places throughout the Presidency. The work of the past year has gone on at most of these places on the same lines as before and it would mean to some extent a repetition of words to recount its continuation. This year, therefore, I propose to devote my remarks particularly to the repairs at Vijayanagar and the Tanjore Fort, merely noting very briefly what has been accomplished at other places.

The most important temple at Vijayanagar from an architectural point of view, is the Vitthalasvämin temple. It stands in the eastern limits of the ruins, near the banks of the Tungabhadra river, and shows, in its later structures, the extreme limit in floral magnificence to which the Dravidian style advanced. The most important portion is a mandapa in front of the Central shrine, on which are found inscriptions from the years 1544-45 and 1554-55 A.D. The central shrine must have existed already during the reign of Krsnaraya (A.D. 1510-29), for he is stated to have made gifts to the temple in A.D. 1513-14. The latest inscription is dated S. 1486, A.D. 1564-65. The temple stands in an extensive courtyard, with gopuras on three sides. There are several buildings of architectural note grouped in the courtyard, but the great hall or mahamandapa, in front of the main shrine, is the glory of the place, and one of the most magnificent buildings in Vijayanagar. It is open on three sides, and supported on piers, so arranged, that they leave a large hall in the centre, and a smaller one on each of the three open sides. The outer piers are cut out of immense monolithic blocks of granite, covered with carved ornament and mythological figures, and with clusters of small shafts grouped around the central column. This building has evidently attracted the special attention of the Muhammadan invaders in their attempts to destroy the buildings of the city, of which this was no doubt regarded as one of the most important, for, though many of the other temples show traces of the action of fire, in none of them are the effects so marked as in this. Its massive construction, however, resisted all the efforts that were made to bring it down and the only visible results of their iconoclastic fury are the cracked beams and pillars, some of the latter being so flaked as to make one marvel that they are yet able to bear the immense weight of the stone entablature and roof above. The damage thus caused is irreparable, but, nevertheless, much has