Tinnevelly [Tirunelveli] Pagoda. The entrance gateway
0000; Gale Group; Linguagem: English
Resumo
General view of temple gopura. Another copy at Photo 1000 (2993). Lyon's 'Notes to Accompany a Series of Photographs Prepared to Illustrate the Ancient Architecture of Southern India' (Marion & Co., London, 1870), edited by James Fergusson, gives the following description of this photograph: Leaving Kaloogoomulla, the road is nothing but a tract for the first ten miles, and at least eight hours will be necessary for its accomplishment; it then joins the main road to the South; and the journey to Tinnevelly, a distance of 32 miles should be done in 10 hours. Here there is a civil and military station called Palamcottah, - the native village of Tinnevelly in which the temple is situated, being about 2 miles distant 343 - This view shows the Pyramidal Tower over [the] gateway at the principal entrance to the temple; it exactly faces any one arriving from Palamcottah. It has been too carefully and too frequently whitewashed to enable its date to be made out, but from its style, is probably as early as the 14th century. There is also another entrance on the same side about fifty yards to the left, and in an outer portico, on each side of both, about ten feet from the ground, are three rows of figures carved in wood, beautifully executed, but so obscene, as to be a disgrace to the place. They may, however, be very old. Entering the temple immediately in front is the sanctum; a little to the right, under a canopy, is an enormous bull, with his head as usual towards the sanctum; it is made of brick, and covered with whitewash. Immediately in front of the sanctuary, but with their backs towards it, stand four colossal figures, about twenty feet high, and each carved out of one block of black hornblend stone, now so hard, that the natives declare, that to attempt to cut it. destroys all their chisels. The carving is excellent, and when the nature of the stone is considered, surpassing any to be found elsewhere. The names of them are as follows: No. 344, Pagade; 345, Kuman; 346, Argunan; 347, Vevrabadvan.1 The general dimensions of the whole enclosure are 580 feet by 756; the larger dimension being divided into two equal portions of 378 feet each; the one being dedicated to Shiva, the other to his consort Parvati. The temple or sanctum is surrounded by triple colonnades; but the whole of the buildings in this temple, except that between the entrance and the sanctuary, are very low, and so infested with rats, that the stench is quite overpowering. The pillars are nearly all covered with yellow wash, picked out with red and other colours.2 1 It is difficult to recognise who are intended under these uncouth names; but the first seems to represent Parakshit, the third Arjuna, the fourth Virabadra, who generally is considered an avatar of Shiva, but as such represented with four arms at least; these are all mortals having only two, and Kuman can hardly be called Kama, the God of Love. 2 In his 'History of Architecture,' Vol. ii. p. 577, Mr. Fergusson makes the following remarks with reference to this temple: - 'Without wishing to lay too much stress upon it, it is impossible to avoid remarking the striking similarity which exists between this temple and that of Jerusalem; and Josephus' description of the Temple, as rebuilt by Herod, be read, it is difficult to escape the conviction, that the coincidences are not wholly accidental. That temple must of course be squared, and the dimensions become nearly the same. The great choultry is then the Stoa Basilica, the outer court being that of the Gentiles. No separation of the sexes being known in the Eastern temples, the women's court is omitted; but the inner inclosure, the form of the temple, its gateway, its pillars, and other peculiarities, are so alike in both, that we can scarcely doubt their being derived from some common origin. On the other hand, no one can study with any care the arrangement of the Dravidian temples, without being struck with the many points of resemblance between them and the buildings still existing on the banks of the Nile, especially at Thebes. The Gopuras, both in position and purpose, reproduce almost exactly the great Pylons of Egypt. The choultry answers exactly to the Hypostyle Hall. The small sanctuary, scarcely seen from the outside, is common to both. In these and in many other particulars, the temples of the two countries very much resemble each other, and are very unlike any other temples found in any other parts of the world; so striking, indeed, is the similarity, that it again seems difficult to believe all these coincidences are accidental.'. Photographer: Lyon, Edmund David.
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