Indian Antiquary Vol 16

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 21

ASIATIC SYMBOLISM.
JANUARY, 1887.]
in the lower valleys, less is used, the deficiency being supplied by a thick layer of sods, which in time bears a luxuriant crop of wild flowers during the summer, and not unfrequently several young trees also.
So much for secular architecture; let us now turn our attention for a while to sacred buildings. We find the same type of religious structure existing all over the Himalayas, in Népal, in Kullâ, and in Kasmir; a type which, strangely enough, corresponds with the old wooden church architecture of Norway. The Nepali temple at Benares, figured in Plate XX., will be sufficient to show the general form and construction of these buildings.
This temple overlooks the Ganges, and was erected in honour of Siva by a Maharaja of Népal about two hundred years ago. It is a large square wooden building, elevated on a platform about four feet in height. A small flight of steps forms the approach to the principal entrance, on either side of which is a lion carved in stone. On the right, between the steps and the lion is a stone bust of Siva in alto-relievo. The hair is arranged below the ears in a double row of curls, standing out like the rays of the sun, and round the neck are coiled most life-like snakes. The temple has four doors, with a window on either side of each. These doors, as well as the shutters of the windows, are richly carved, and over each is a segment of a pointed arch, surmounted by the well known chhatrí, or umbrella of royalty. Sloping eaves, about six feet wide and roofed with small tiles, project all round the lower story, supported by wooden brackets. Above rises a square upper story of smaller dimensions, furnished with similarly sloping eaves, along the outer edge of which are small bells hung in a row at short distances from each other, so as to tinkle at the slightest breath of wind. Above this again is a kind of kiosk, having a high pinnacled roof and smaller kiosks of the same form occupying the four corners of its platform. A large bell is suspended from an iron rod at the summit of the whole. A trisûl or trident, one of the emblems of Siva, is attached to this kiosk. This trident and the
14 Several persons, unacquainted with India, on being shown the drawing of the Norwegian church, and asked to what country it belonged, at once exclaimed that it resembled a Chinese pagoda, a form familiar to them on objects coming from that country. [Compare Fergusson,
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roofs of all the kiosks are gilt. The building, represented in the plate as adjoining the temple, is a dharméálá, or house of rest, where pilgrims of good caste receive board and lodging gratis for a certain fixed period. It was erected by the Maharaja who built the temple.
I would it were possible to give drawings of other examples of the same style of architecture, such as the temple at Manali in the Kulla Valley, situated in the midst of a forest of debdárs, or of one of the mosques in Srinagar in Kasmir, which are, of course, Muhammadan structures; but it must suffice to say, from personal knowledge, that the type is the same as that of the temple just described.
Let us now turn to Plate XIX., which is a representation of the wooden church at Borgund in the Laerdal, one of the oldest in Norway." The drawing is taken from the north side, with the west door and the apse shown in profile.
Taken by themselves the details of the exterior of this Norwegian wooden church, which was built in the XIth Century, i.e. soon after the introduction of Christianity into Norway, would make the student look upon it as most singular that any race of people, inhabiting almost the extreme north of Europe, should have built thus; but, if the hypothesis be admitted that the remote ancestors of the builders came from Asia, it becomes very easy to imagine that in constructing the church they adopted forms which had been preserved amongst them by tradition. How can we otherwise account for the circumstance that, though living in such a high latitude, their chief object seems to have been to try and exclude both sun and light, by making a deep verandah all round, the exterior after the fashion of European and native builders in India ?
The building is placed upon slabs of stone having a uniform height of about eight inches, on which the wooden uprights and cross pieces rest: a fact to which it owes its preservation. Starting from the base of the exterior, a row of sloping eaves forms the roof of a verandah,
History of Indian Architecture, p. 270ff. on the Dravidian Temples at Mudbidri in Kanara and p. 298. on those in the Himalayas. Compare especially his figs. 150, 154, 172, 173.-ED.]