BISHURMA, Or V1SWAKURMA KA JOOMPREE.
According to the legend, Bishurma• was the artist who fabricated the whole of these wonderful works in a night of six months ; but the cock crowing before they were finished, they remained imperfect, and he retired, having wounded his finger, to this hovel, in which state, the figure in front (I) of the entrance of this beautiful excavation, is said to be a representation of him holding the wounded finger ; but it is more probable, that the figure is in the act of devout meditation, as many figures, with similar positions of the hands, occur. But quitting the fable for the fact, this excavation is, in beauty, infe rior to none. In form it is unique, and in design elegant. The portico is light, and striking to the beholder. On the right hand, as you enter, is a fine cistern of water. Above the gateway (11,) which is richly sculptured on the outside, is a balcony, which seems well suited, if not intended, for a music gallery to the interior temple (r,) which has the appearance of an elegant chapel, with an arched roof, and is exactly in the style of a similar exca vation at Canara on the island of Salsette, and another at Ekvera, near the top of Bhore Ghaut, first explored by Mr Wales the painter. At the upper end is the figure (1) above-mentioned. From the ceiling arc projected stone ribs, following the curvature of the arch to the capitals of the pillars on each side, through the whole length of the excavation. Beside the grand aisle, or body of the excavation, there is a small passage formed by the row of pillars on each side round the altar; but it is dark and narrow. This singular form of a cave, wherever it has been met with, has conveyed the same impression of its being a place of congregation and adoration, rather than of resieence or habitation, and has given rise to an idea, from the orbicular ceiling and the name and attitude of its inhabitant, that it may be meant to represent the Almighty, meditating the creation of the world, under the arch or canopy of unlimited space. It is necessary,
however, to accompany this idea with an acknowledg ment, that the similar caves of Ekvera and Canara are not inhabited by Bishurma,—they having only a very high altar, the top of which is circular, and situated as represented in the annexed drawing at the back of Ilish urma.
3. The third kind of temples are those composed of square inclosures; the largest is that of Seringham, situ ated near Tritchinopoly. The pagoda is composed of seven square inclosures, one within another; each side of the outermost is a mile in length, making the whole four miles in circumference. The walls of each inclo sure are 350 feet from those of the others; they are 25 feet high, and four feet thick. Each inclosure has four gateways, that is, one in the middle of each side, opposite the cardinal points. In the outward wall, the gateway which fronts the south is ornamented with pil lars, several of the single stones 33 feet long, and five feet diameter; those of which the roof is composed are still larger. All the gateways are covered with figures emblematical of their divinities. In the innermost in closures are the chapels. Into the last, which is 1024 feet square, and contains the sanctuary of Veeshnu, no European is willingly admitted ; but during the wars between the English and French, it was alternately oc cupied by each. The pagoda of Chillambrum, which consists of one square only, 1332 feet by 936, entered by a pyramid 122 feet high, has already been sufficiently described in the Historical Part of this article.
The pagoda Ahmed-Abad in Guzerat, or pagoda of Santidus, consists of three courts surrounded with mar ble columns, and paved with marble. No person is ad mitted into the innermost court with his sandals on. All the porticos are covered with female figures of ex cellent workmanship; the inside of the roofs and walls are decorated with Mosaic and precious stones, (see Ta vernier and Thevenot's Travels.) This pagoda was con verted into a Turkish mosque by Aurengzebe.