Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/434

 38= DRAVIDIAN STYLE. BOOK III. seen in detail, so that the parts hardly in any instance aid one another in producing the effect aimed at. The only part of the temple, outside the central prakaram, at least, which is of a different age from the rest, is a small vimana, known as Gandhamadhane-rvara (A), of very elegant proportions, that stands in the garden, on the right hand of the visitor as he enters from the west. It has, however, been so long exposed like the temple on the shore at Mamallapuram to the action of the sea-air, that its details are so corroded they cannot now be made out, and its age cannot consequently be ascertained from them. It is safe, however, to assert that possibly it may be of the nth or 1 2th century. Its dimensions may be roughly 50 ft. in height, by 34 ft. in plan, so that it hardly forms a feature in so large a temple. From the bulls that occupy the platform in front, and from its name, it is evident it was originally dedicated to Siva, as the central temple apparently is, though the scene of Rama's most celebrated exploit, and bearing his name. 1 Externally the temple is enclosed by a wall 20 ft. in height, and possessing four gopurams, one on each face, which have this peculiarity, that they alone, of all those I know in India, are built wholly of stone from the base to the summit. The western one (W) alone, however, is finished, and owing apparently to the accident of its being in stone, it is devoid of figure-sculpture the plaster casts that now adorn it having been added in recent times : it is 78 ft. in height. Those on the north and south (N and S) are hardly higher than the wall in which they stand, and are consequently called the ruined gateways. They are, however, of comparatively modern date, and, in fact, have never been raised higher, and their progress was probably stopped in the beginning of the last century, when Muhammadan, Maratha, and other foreign invaders checked the prosperity of the land, and destroyed the wealth of the priest- hood. The eastern facade of the second prakaram has two entrances and two gopurams, the smaller, C, to the south of the large one and leading into the Parvati temple, is finished. The larger one (B in the plan) is ascribed to 6adayaka Tevar Dalavay, who was the Setupati about 1640, but it never was 1 In the north, the affix sw&min to the names would indicate a Vaishnava cult, but not so here where the chief images Ramalingervaraswamin and Parvata- vardhini in the central temples, and Vijvanathaswamin and Vnalakshi in the secondary shrines, are all essentially .Saiva, and the Linga occupies the chief cell. The shrine of Sabhapati a name given to 5iva at Chidambaram is ascribed to Dalavay Setupati. For an account of the ritual of the Ramervaram temple, see ' Indian Antiquary,' vol. xii. (1883), pp. 315-326.