Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/446

 394 DRAVIDIAN STYLE. BOOK III. which, though differing in arrangement from the other, is still so like it as to make the representation and description of one sufficient for both. The general dimensions of the whole enclosure are 580 ft. by 756 ft., the larger dimension being divided into two equal portions of 378 ft. each. There are three gateways to each half, and one in the wall dividing the two ; the principal gate- way faces the east entrance to the temple, and the lateral ones are opposite each other. An outer portico precedes the great gateway, leading internally to a very splendid porch, which, before reaching the gateway of the inner enclosure, branches off on the right to the intermediate gateway, and on the left to the great hall of 1000 columns 63 ft. in width by about 520 ft. in depth. The inner enclosure is not concentric with the outer, and, as usual, has only one gateway. The temple itself consists of a cubical cell, surmounted by a vimana or spire, preceded by two mandapas, and surrounded by triple colonnades. In other parts of the enclosure are smaller temples, tanks of water, gardens, colonnades, etc., but neither so numerous nor so various as are generally found in Indian temples of this class. The inscriptions go back to the first half of the I3th century. The great looo-pillared portico in the temple is one of the least poetic of its class in India. It consists of a regiment of pillars 10 deep and extending to 100 in length, without any break or any open space or arrangement. Such a forest of pillars does, no doubt, produce a certain effect ; but half that number, if arranged as in some of the Chalukyan or Jaina temples, would produce a far nobler impression. The aim of the Dravidians seems to have been to force admiration by the mere exhibition of inordinate patient toil. KUMBAKONAM. If the traditions of the natives could be trusted, Kumbakonam one of the old capitals of the Chola dynasty is one of the places where we might hope to find something very ancient. There are fragments of older temples, indeed, to be found everywhere, but none in situ. All the older buildings seem to have been at some time ruined and rebuilt, probably on the same site, but with that total disregard to antiquity which is characteristic of the Hindus in all ages as it is of our modern "restorers." One portico, in a temple dedicated to Sri- Rama, is very like that leading from the second to the third gopuram in the temple of Jumbuke.rwara, described above, but, if any- thing, it is slightly more modern. There is also one fine