Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/450

 378 FURTHER INDIA. BOOK VIII. giants on sculptured pedestals, the serpent terminating at the entrance end by a lofty Niga figure 10 to 12 ft. high, with from five to seven heads. A similar feature terminates the balustrades of bridges across rivers or streams, an example of which, the Spean Taon, is shown on Plate XLIV., Fig. 2. In the latter case the bridge is carried on great stone piers corbelled out at the top, the banks being widened out so as to give an equal passage to the torrent as that enjoyed before the bridge was built. Across the moats which surround the outer enclosure of the temples, the bridge is carried on circular or compound piers, sometimes carrying side walls enriched with Naga figure sculpture. In front of the temples and also in parts of the enclosure are tanks of water known as sras, with stone borders and steps round. These provide for the services of the temple ; there are some cases in which these sras are of enormous dimensions, forming reservoirs to supply water for agricultural and other purposes. 1 The principal approach to the temples is, as a rule, from the east, unless, as in the case of Angkor Vat, where there is some special reason for the change, the main road from the capital Angkor Thorn being on the west side of the former, which has accordingly a western entrance. The entrance gateways to the several enclosures are called gopuras 2 and are cruciform on plan, owing to projecting wings thrown out on all four sides : the side wings being of greater length than the others, in some cases, as at Angkor Vat, having a second entrance on each side. Over the centre of the gopura is a tower which in the entrance gate- way of Angkor Thorn is carved on each side with Brahma heads. The gopura is repeated for the entrance of each enclosure, always being in the centre of the east and west fronts, but on the north and south fronts nearer to the west end, where the main entrance is on the eastern side, and to the east end if on the western side ; the reason being to provide additional space for other structures within the enclosures on the entrance side, the axis of the sanctuary and of the gopura being always the same. In the pyramidal temples and in those of the third class, where each terrace or enclosure rises from 1 5 to 20 ft, the staircases are very steep in some cases the rise of the steps being three times the width of the tread. The steps are enclosed between projecting spurs or ramps of stone, which are richly moulded and carved, and the width of each flight is of less dimension as it rises, so as to give the appearance of greater height. In some of the large temples in addition to the towers over the central 1 De Lajonquiere, * Inventaire arche- | 2 Loc. cit. introd. pp. soffg. ologique,' tome i. introd. pp. 43ff.