5. A fifth are made in a circular form, as the celebrated pagoda of Juggernaut, which Hamilton compares to an im mense butt set on end. Juggernaut is only another name of the god Mahadeo, who is represented by the vast bull which juts out of the eastern aspect of the building. It is the seat of the arch-brahmin of all India, and its sacred domains are said to afford pasturage for 20,000 cows.
Besides these general terms, if our limits permitted ns to trace those interesting structures through the various districts of this extensive country, many different arrangements might be described ; but, for the present, we must be satisfied with mentioning the pagoda of Bezoara, (or Buswara of Major Rennell,) now a fort upon the Kistna river : it was not enclosed with walls, but erected upon 52 lofty columns with statues of Indian deities standing between the columns. it was situated in the midst of an oblong court. around which there was a gallery raised on sixty-six pillars, like a cloister.
Voy. des. Ind. torn. iii. p. 226. Rouen Ed. 1713. Near this, on a hill ascended by one hundred and ninety-three steps, was another pagoda of a quadrangular form, terminated by a cupola.
These temples were generally erected on the banks of the Ganges, Kistna, and other sacred rivers, for ablution. Where there was no river, a tank or reservoir of a quadrangular form was constructed, and lined with •ee-stone or marble, with steps descending into them. Crawford observed many 300 or 400 feet in breadth.—Crawford's Sketches, vol. i. p. 106. At the entrance of the principal pagodas, there is a portico supported by rows of lofty columns, and ascended, as in the case of Tripetty, by more than one hundred steps; under these porticos, and in the courts which generally enclose the buildings, multitudes attend at the rising of the sun, and having bathed, and left their sandals at the border of the tank, impatiently await the unfolding of the gates by the ministering brapmin.—Thevenot.
\\re must reserve, until we come to treat of the detail of Indian architecture, many particulars relative to those splen did edifices, which, with the plates accompanying them, will afford a more distinct view of the nature of their arrange ments and appropriations ; but it will be proper in this place to notice some leading circumstances respecting the Indian sculptures, with a view to ascertain what affinity they had to those in Egypt. From the Ayeen Akbery, and Captain Wilson's paper on Caucasus, we find, that in the Soubah of Cashmere, between Balkh and Cabul, in the numerous excava tions, there were 700 places where the figure of a serpent was carved ; and that near these excavations, there were sculptured in rock, on the side of the mountain, figures of 15. 50, and
SO ells high ; that in the great temple of the sun, whioh was near Juggernaut, and said, by the Ayeen 2Ikbery, to have consumed, in the expense of building, the whole revenue of the Orissa for twelve years; that in front of the gate, there was a pillar of black stone, of an octagon form, 50 cubits high ; that at the eastern gate, there were two elephants, each with a man on his trunk ; at the western gate were figures of horsemen, completely armed ; and at the northern gate two tigers, who had killed two elephants, and were sitting upon them. That in one extensive apartment, there was a large dome constructed of stone, upon which was carved the sun and stars, and around them a border of human figures. In the pagoda at Juggernaut, Hamilton describes the idol as a huge black stone, of a pyramidal form ; and there was a bull, representing the god Mahadeo, jutting from the wall of the eastern aspect. observed a conspicuous idol of black stone in the temple of Benares ; and that the statue of Creeshna, in his celebrated temple of Mathura, was of black marble. In the great pagoda at Elephanta, the bust of the t•iple-headed deity measures 15 feet from the base to the top of the cap, the face is five feet long, and it is 20 feet across the shoulders. Along the sides of the cavern are colossal statues, to the number of forty or fifty, from 12 to 15 feet • high ; some have a sort of helmet of a pyramidal form; others a crown with devices ; others display bushy ringlets, some with curled, and others with flowing hair ; many have four hands, some six ; with sceptres, shields, weapons of war, and symbols of peace. At the west end of the pagoda, there is a great dark recess, 20 feet square, totally destitute of ornaments, except the altar in the centre, and the gigantic figures which guard the several doors which lead into it. Niebuhr says those figures are eight in number ; they are naked, and 13J, feet high ; their heads, decorated like the other statues, have rich collars round their necks, and jewels of great size in their ears. In the before-mentioned recess, the Lingam divinity is represented. The pagoda at Salsette exceeds that at Elephanta ; the two colossal statutes imme diately before the entrance of the grand temple are 27 feet high ; they have caps and ear-rings. There are here two hundred figures of idols ; ninety of which are in and about the great pagoda. In the interior spaces, which recede from the apartments, the Lingam is represented. Many of the sculptures in these grand temples have reference to the astro nomical, as well as mythological notions prevalent in India.