Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/466

 390 FURTHER INDIA. BOOK VIII, diameter ; the capital with its abacus ; the base with its plinth ; the architrave, etc., are so like the Roman order that it is difficult to conceive the likeness being accidental. But whoever gave the design for these piers and, according to M. Mouhot, there are 1532 of them in this single building we have abundant evidence to show that the people for whom it was erected were of Turanian blood. Without insisting on other facts, there are in every part of the building groups of female figures in alto-rilievo. They are sometimes in niches or in pairs, as in the Woodcut No. 466, attached to pilasters, or in groups of four or more. There are a hundred or more in various parts of the building, and all have the thick lips and the flat noses of true Tartars, their eyes forming an angle with one another like those of the Egyptians, or any other of the true building-races of the world. Unfortunately, no statues of men are so attached, though there are several free-standing figures which tell the same tale. The bas-reliefs do not help in the enquiry, as the artist has taken pains to distinguish carefully the ethnographic peculiarities of all the nations repre- sented, and, till the inscriptions are read, and we know who are intended for Indians or who for Chinese or Cambodians, we cannot use the evidence they supply. It is a well - known fact that, wherever Serpent - worship prevailed in any part of the world, it was the custom to devote the most beautiful young girls to the service of the temple, and this may account for the numerous female statues. Though the god is gone, and the Buddhists have taken possession of the temple, every angle of every roof is adorned with an image of the seven-headed snake, and there are hundreds of them ; every cornice is composed of snakes' heads ; every convolution of the roofs, and there are thousands, terminates in a five or seven- headed snake. The balustrades are snakes, and the ridge of every roof was apparently adorned with gilt dragons. These being in metal, have disappeared, but the holes into which they were fixed can still be seen on every ridge. This temple, now in French hands, has been taken possession of by Siamese bonzes, who have dedicated it to the worship of Buddha. They have introduced images of him into the sanctuaries and other places, and, with the usual incuriousness of people of their class, assert that it was always so. If, however, there is one thing more certain than another in this history, it is that Angkor Vat was not originally erected by Buddhists or for Buddhist purposes. In the first place, there is no sign of a dagaba or of a vihara, or of a chaitya hall in the whole building, nor anything that can be called a reminiscence of any feature of Buddhist architecture. More than this, there is no trace