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૧૦૨
શેઠ આ૦ કની પેઢીના ઇતિહાસ
great temple is an imposing two storeyed building with a lofty spire, and with its base surrounded by many small shrines.
-History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, Vol. II, 24-28. 33. The view that presents itself from this point may well arrest the attention. It is magnificent in extent; a splendid setting for the unique picture this work of human toil we have reached. But apart from the poetical exaggeration of this, it is truly a wonderful-a unique place-a city of temples,-for, except a few tanks, there is nothing else within the gates. Through court beyond court the visitor proceeds over smooth pavements of grey chunam, visiting temple after temple-most of them built of stone quarried near Gopnath, but a few of marble;-all elaborately sculptured, and some of striking proportions. And, as he passes along, the glassy-eyed images of pure white marble, seem to peer out at him from hundreds of cloister cells. Such a place is surely without a match in the world: and there is a cleanliness withal about every square and passage, porch and hall, that is itself no mean source of pleasure. The silence too, except at festival seasons, is striking; now and then in the morning you hear a bell for a few seconds, or the beating of a drum for a short a time, and on holidays, chaunts from the larger temples meet your ear, but generally during the after part of the day the only sounds are those of vast flocks of pigeons that rush about spasmodically from the roof of one temple to that of another. Parroquets and squirrels, doves and ringdoves, and peacock are occasionally met with on the outer walls.
-Satrunjaya And Its Temples, pp. 18-19.
38. These tops, with the intervening valley, now covered with hundreds of temples of all sizes and designs, might almost be described as a sacred city in mid air. ...... The one thing that removes this collection of temples from others of its kind, as found in the cities of the plains, is the total absence of dwellings of any kind, not only among the temples but anywhere upon the hill. Everyday life, which is so wedded to all collections of sacred buildings
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