Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/432

 380 DRAVIDIAN STYLE. BOOK III. Vaishnava Amman temple stands in the way of this, and the Chettis have been interdicted from removing it. This court contains also the Chita-sabha or central shrine a plain wooden building, as already mentioned, on a stone platform. In it Siva is represented as Nataraja or Nate^a. Behind is the bedroom for the idol a new structure of polished black stone. The special Lingam of the temple is supposed to be the Akasa or " ether " lingam, which is said to stand behind the idol with a curtain and string of Bilva leaves suspended in front of it. In front of the Chita-sabha is the Kanaka-sabha, also of wood, where the daily worship of the Nataraja is performed. Almost adjoining is the temple of Vishnu or Ranganatha. Besides these and the Nritta-sabha already mentioned, is the Deva Sabha used as an office, and near it a small building or old shrine, believed to be the original structure, round which the rest of the temple has grown. 1 RAMESVARAM. If it were proposed to select one temple which should exhibit all the beauties of the Dravidian style in their greatest perfection, and at the same time exemplify all its characteristic defects of design, the choice would almost inevitably fall on that at Rame^varam, in the island of Pambam 2 (Woodcut No. 224). In no other temple has the same amount of patient industry been exhibited as here, and in none, unfortunately, has that labour been so thrown away for want of a design appropriate for its display. It is not that this temple has grown by successive increments like those last described ; for it was finished on a settled plan, as undeviatingly carried out as that at Tanjor, but on a principle so opposed to it, that while the temple at Tanjor produces an effect greater than is due to its mass or detail, this one, with double its dimensions and ten times its elabora- tion, produces no effect externally, and internally can only be 1 Francis, 'Gazetteer of South Arcot,' erections in a nondescript style of build- vol. i. pp. 270, 271. ing. Mr A. R. Gopalaiyar manfully 2 Strictly speaking the temple that opposed the manager in the Courts, but till recently was here for, like Chid- in vain ; they would not interfere with ambaram and other 5aiva temples in the manager's plans, though he leased southern India, the Nathukottai Chettis out the temple property to his own rela- (one of their number having got the lives, or destroyed the statues of former management into his hands), have set about demolishing it, and it is reported that already almost the whole of the interior or oldest portions have been pulled down, and are to be replaced by patrons and benefactors of the temple to substitute those of his wealthy caste fellows, that they may have the merits accruing to temple building hereafter.