DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0162
98
SOUTHERN HINDU ARCHITECTURE.
Book II.
and eft'ect, making np one of the most vast and elaborate of all the
temples in tiie sonth of India.1
Wliere tlie subordination of parts is preserved, the general eftect of
these clioultries is pleasing, and, from their vastness, sometimes
almost reaches to sublimity. But in the more modern times this
cpiality is neglected, ancl, as at Tinnevelly and Chillumbrum, both of
which were erectecl during the last century, the choultries are mere
collections each of 1000 columns, placecl at equal distances, generally
no more tlian 6 ft. apart, without, any variety or harmony of arrange-
ment whatever. Such a forest of pillars, carved and elaborated as
these are, cannot f’ail to procluce some eflect, but it woulcl be difiicult
to conceive any design on which so much labour coulcl be bestowed
procluctive of so little of either beauty or grandeur.
In other instances, as at Seringham, Conjeveram, and elsewhere, a
middle course is followmd between these two extremes, the great hall
being traversed by one wicle aisle in the centre for the wliole of its
greater length, and intersected by transepts of like dimension running
across at right angles. There still remain seven sicle-aisles on each
side, in which all the pillars are equally spaced out. In these, look-
ing outwarcls from the centre aisle, the arrangement is not without a
certain magnificence of effect, but it neither has the sublimity of the
long-drawn vistas of Ramisseram, nor the spacious exuberance of Tri-
mul Naik’s choultry at Madura.
The mode in which those various parts are generally grouped
together will be understood by the two following illustrations, one a
plan of the temple at Tinnevelly, the other an isometric view of that
at Tiruvalur, both comparatively modern examples, but siifficiently
characteristic to explain all that has been said above of the style.
Tlie temple at Tiruvalur measures extemally 945 ft. by 701 ft., and
has 5 gate pyramids in its outer enclosure, 2 in tlie second, and
one in thc inner. The sanctuary is double, and surrounded by a
cloister. The next enclosure is crowded by temples and buildings of
every shape and size, placed without the least reference to sym-
metrical arrangement. In the outer court are several larger temples,
some placed at different angles from the rest; and towards the princi-
pal entrance is the great choultry, intended apparently to have had
1000 columns, but evidently unfinished, one-half of those already
erected having no roof to support. As before mentioned, the number
now standing is 688. These are all equally spaced, except that there
is a broad aisle down the centre, and a narrower transverse avenue in
tlie direction of the entrance. ITence it will easily be understood liow
inferior, as an architectural design, this is to such an arrangement as
that of the 420 columns of the temple at Sadree,2 or indeed of any
Jaina building, however small. Their uniformly flat roofs prevent
even the older choultries from reaching the beauty of these domical
1 A plan nf tliis temple is given in the gopura, and in the India House are MS.
Journal of tlie GeogtAphioal Sdciety of Bom- views of its interior.
bay, vol. vii. Salt publishcd a view nf its 2 See p. 79, woodcuts 51 and 55.
SOUTHERN HINDU ARCHITECTURE.
Book II.
and eft'ect, making np one of the most vast and elaborate of all the
temples in tiie sonth of India.1
Wliere tlie subordination of parts is preserved, the general eftect of
these clioultries is pleasing, and, from their vastness, sometimes
almost reaches to sublimity. But in the more modern times this
cpiality is neglected, ancl, as at Tinnevelly and Chillumbrum, both of
which were erectecl during the last century, the choultries are mere
collections each of 1000 columns, placecl at equal distances, generally
no more tlian 6 ft. apart, without, any variety or harmony of arrange-
ment whatever. Such a forest of pillars, carved and elaborated as
these are, cannot f’ail to procluce some eflect, but it woulcl be difiicult
to conceive any design on which so much labour coulcl be bestowed
procluctive of so little of either beauty or grandeur.
In other instances, as at Seringham, Conjeveram, and elsewhere, a
middle course is followmd between these two extremes, the great hall
being traversed by one wicle aisle in the centre for the wliole of its
greater length, and intersected by transepts of like dimension running
across at right angles. There still remain seven sicle-aisles on each
side, in which all the pillars are equally spaced out. In these, look-
ing outwarcls from the centre aisle, the arrangement is not without a
certain magnificence of effect, but it neither has the sublimity of the
long-drawn vistas of Ramisseram, nor the spacious exuberance of Tri-
mul Naik’s choultry at Madura.
The mode in which those various parts are generally grouped
together will be understood by the two following illustrations, one a
plan of the temple at Tinnevelly, the other an isometric view of that
at Tiruvalur, both comparatively modern examples, but siifficiently
characteristic to explain all that has been said above of the style.
Tlie temple at Tiruvalur measures extemally 945 ft. by 701 ft., and
has 5 gate pyramids in its outer enclosure, 2 in tlie second, and
one in thc inner. The sanctuary is double, and surrounded by a
cloister. The next enclosure is crowded by temples and buildings of
every shape and size, placed without the least reference to sym-
metrical arrangement. In the outer court are several larger temples,
some placed at different angles from the rest; and towards the princi-
pal entrance is the great choultry, intended apparently to have had
1000 columns, but evidently unfinished, one-half of those already
erected having no roof to support. As before mentioned, the number
now standing is 688. These are all equally spaced, except that there
is a broad aisle down the centre, and a narrower transverse avenue in
tlie direction of the entrance. ITence it will easily be understood liow
inferior, as an architectural design, this is to such an arrangement as
that of the 420 columns of the temple at Sadree,2 or indeed of any
Jaina building, however small. Their uniformly flat roofs prevent
even the older choultries from reaching the beauty of these domical
1 A plan nf tliis temple is given in the gopura, and in the India House are MS.
Journal of tlie GeogtAphioal Sdciety of Bom- views of its interior.
bay, vol. vii. Salt publishcd a view nf its 2 See p. 79, woodcuts 51 and 55.