CHAP. II. THE TEMPLES OF INDIA, EGYPT, AND GREECE, EXAMINED AND COMPARED; INCLUDING AN EXTENSIVE HISTORICAL SURVEY OF THE PROGRESSIVE IMPROVEMENT OF THE ORIENTAL NATIONS IN ARCHITECTURE; PARTICULARLY IN SA CRED ARCHITECTURE. SECTION I. The first-erected Temples formed to resemble Groves and Caverns.-The stupendous Magnitude and Elevation of the Indian Pagodas. -The most ancient and celebrated in Hindostan, viz. that of JAGGERNAUT that of BENARES that of MATTRA-that of TRIPPETTY-and that of SERINGHAM, successively and minutely described. An affecting Story relative to the first Defilement of Seringbam by the European Armies.-The amazing Revenues which these and other Pagodas anciently enjoyed. — 40.000 Souls supported by the Revenues of SERINGHAM alone.-A more accurate Survey of their internal Sculptures, and a Description of the monstrous Idols adored in them.-EGYPT and INDIA seem to have assembled in these Pagodas the Animals deemed more peculiarly sacred to each Country; as, for instance, the MEMPHIAN BULL and the CNEPH of Egypt are discovered in the BULL of Seeva and the SERPENTS at Elephanta-while the RAM, sacred to JUPITER, and the GOAT, to PAN, are seen blended with the APE of RAMA, the RHINOCEROS, and the ELEPHANT. EMERGING from the deep shade of caverns, where the image of the solar orb was adored, and from the still deeper obscurity of subterraneous hieroglyphics, we shall traverse with increased pleasure the regions illumined by the glorious SUN himself. Let us now contemplate those more conspicuous, but not less majestic, monuments of antiquity, THE PAGODAS THAT ADORN THE SURFACE, and erect their lofty summits in every quarter, of HINDOSTAN. To the solemn mysteries of superstition, celebrated in caves and amidst the secret recesses of the secluded forest, succeeded the not less splendid and ostentatious worship, practised in the more ancient of these superior temples: temples constructed of such enormous dimensions, that the bigoted natives think them, equally with the caverns we have described, the work of invisible agents. Most of them are of an astonishing height and extent; while the stones, of which they are composed, are of a magnitude hardly credible. The height, for instance, of the pyramidal gateway, leading to the magnificent pagoda of CHILLAMBRUM, on the coast of Coromandel, exceeds 120 feet; the circumference of the outward wall of that of SERINGHAM extends nearly four miles; and the stones, that form the stately roof of its principal gateway to the South, are thirty-three feet long* - Cambridge's War in India, p. 25, Oct. Edit. I cite Mr. Cambridge in this place, not in preference to Mr. Orme, but because Mr. Orme, though he bears testimony to the magnificence of the stones that form this gateway, does not give their exact dimensions; he only says, "they are still larger than those that form the pillars of it.” 1 and five and a half in diameter. We are equally awed by the majestic appearance of these august fanes, and struck with wonder at the laboured decorations which are displayed on their surface. In these sublime structures, indeed, the polished elegance which characterises the Grecian architecture has no share. The reigning features are rude magnificence and massy solidity; and these have been thought still more strongly to point out "the hand of those indefatigable artists who fabricated the pyramids, the sphynxes," and the other vast colossal statues of Egypt. While we range through these immense fabrics, we can scarely yet consider ourselves as entirely emancipated from the gloom of the ancient groves and caves described in the former volume; so great, in many instances, is the similitude between them. This similitude first gave rise to an Essay on the origin and progress of Oriental architecture, which was originally intended to have been inserted in the Dissertation on the Literature, Arts, and Sciences of Hindostan; but, as it is immediately connected with the subject of the present volume, and as the vast field which I have undertaken to explore will not allow of the appearance of 4 |