Page:Oriental Scenery — One Hundred and Fifty Views of the Architecture, Antiquities, and Landscape Scenery of Hindoostan.djvu/70

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rock of Tritchinopoly is celebrated in the military annals of Hindoostan. This view is taken on the north side from the river Cauvery in the dry season. The building to the right on the western extremity of the rock is an ancient Hindoo temple, held in great veneration by the votaries of that religion; and the lesser one on the summit, a Choultry, commanding a very rich and extensive prospect. Many small Choultries and places of worship also embellish the banks of the river. This with the following views of Tritchinopoly were taken in June, 1792.

Tritchinopoly is in lat. 10° 49′ north, long. 78° 40′ east. Distant from Madras two hundred and sixty-eight miles.

 

Pagoda, or temple, is a south-western view of the same edifice, which, taken from the north, appears in the preceding plate. Its exterior form is very much unlike the style that generally prevails in the Hindoo temples: being remarkably plain, and without any decoration excepting the top of the walls, along which are arranged idols of various denominations; and that part of its interior which may be entered by Europeans retains the same unornamented appearance.

This view is taken from an elevated situation on a part of the rock where many of the Bramins reside.

 

Fort of Tritchinopoly belongs to the Nabob of the Carnatic, but is garrisoned by the English. Its walls are nearly four miles in extent, and surrounded by a broad and deep ditch. There are several tanks here of excellent water; the one seen in this view is principally used by the Hindoos for ablution, where persons of all ages and of different sexes assemble together to perform that religious ceremony.

 

statue of the sacred Bull, a celebrated idol at Tanjore, is formed of a single block of stone, sixteen feet two inches in length, by twelve feet six inches in height, and of a kind not to be met with but at a considerable distance from Tanjore; from which circumstance the natives are very much inclined to attribute something miraculous to the bringing of it thither; particularly as no records are yet discovered respecting the time of erecting it.

The pillars surrounding the idol are in the ancient Hindoo style, and very well wrought.

Tanjore is in lat. 10° 46′ north, 79° 12′ east. Distant from Madras two hundred and five miles.

 

this view of the rock of Tritchinopoly, the Hindoo temple, occurring in Plates XIX. and XX., is represented on that part by which it is entered. The numerous flights of steps, and different buildings to be passed through, both open and enclosed, in ascending the rock, give an awful and grand effect to its approach. The buildings higher up are the Choultries attached to the temple, where devout persons resort after performing their religious duties. 