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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
with coir rope to form a key for the plaster. Work executed in this manner appears to be as durable as lath and plaster, if not more so. The removal of this timber corbelling seldor affects stability.
[NOVEMBER, 1883.
At Madura I accidently knocked a piece of plaster off a tall cornice figure, and by this means discovered about an inch below the surface an older and better-proportioned figure, and in another place, beneath a particularly coarse and uneven pier, I found (also about an inch below the surface) a better finished pier; the latter was bound with coir rope to key the new plaster. This rope was sound and strong, and could not possibly, I think, be more than 50 years old. Now all historians agree that the Madura Palace was abandohed after the Court removed to Tiruchinapalli. It appears to me, therefore, not unreasonable to conclude that the old servants of the East India Company, with characteristic love of India and everything Indian, instituted these innovations, making use of local labour only, which would account for the coarse finish.
On the north or rear face of the palace in question the walls, pierced by the arches which have crossed work, are built with brick entirely. Again on the south side, the arches are not pointed but segmental, rising from a succession of corbels. It is noticeable also that while all the lower arches are stilted on bands rising from corbels, the upper piers have no preparation for the arch,-the salient angles changing suddenly to hollow angles in a particularly bald and disagreeable manner. Further, the older vaults, particularly those in the lower story, appear to be worked in stone from stone corbels, while the upper vaults are of brick; and lastly, with one exception noted further on, not a particle of ornament of any kind exists above the basement! These facts would lead to the conclusion that the building was never finished at all, but such a conjecture is contradicted by the fact that the lower and presumably meaner apartments were finished to the intrados of the arches with clean-cut plaster mouldings, griffin brackets and coffered ceilings, while in the floor of State, where a superior finish would be expected, we find on one or two arches only a coarse imitation of the lower work, and higher still on the third storey is a coarse piece of cornice work worthy of the later Golkonda tombs. There is nothing beyond these miserable attempts at ornament above the lower storey. It is a curious fact that many of the remains of civil buildings in the south of India present similar characteristics. In the old Palace of Tirumal Nayyak at Madura, in the ladies' bath at Hampi, in the Zenâna tower at Jinji, and here in the Chandragiri Palace, well conceived and carefully executed designs are marred by the coarsest of plaster finishing, and frequently, as in the present case, the better finished parts are found in what should be inferior positions. May it not be that the walls of the superior apartments were covered with a surface of intrinsic value, such as tiles, mosaics, tapestry, &c., since removed, and if so, what good genius adorned their nakedness with the present coarse plaster work?
It is difficult at the present time to form any conception of the finished exterior of the buildding. The bold projections beyond the face of the arches, supported by massive corbels, probably carried a network of Hindu cusped openings tier upon tier, not unlike the rude imitation seen in the central compartment of the south elevation. This network would hide the larger pointed arches, and completely alter the character of the work. The central screen cannot, I think, be accepted as original work, although it is undoubtedly cotemporaneous with some of the coarse work executed on the later parts of the building, and in the absence of anything better it might be accepted as the kind of work which extended over the whole of the face of the building.
The present condition as regards stability is highly satisfactory. There is no structural weakness, the few pieces of exposed wood used to corbel out the octagonal pendents will rot and fall without damaging the more durable parts, and the wear and tear for some years will be confined to the crumbling of the brick and mortar projections, and possibly to the fall of a brick column or two in the outer projecting works.
The accompanying four plates of illustrations were drawn by Mr. Lewis, my assistant, at the expense of the Government of Madras, who have directed me to prepare plans for renovating the structure.
