Friday, July 5, 1929
[Unbeknownst to Hall, his future wife was thrilled to celebrate her 16th birthday today.]
Last night was just one big leap after another. Every time I would get to sleep, the darned train would jump about 20 feet and wake me up. I came to at Tanjore early the following morning and had my first glimpse of a great monument of Dravidian architecture as we passed the Great Temple on the way out of town. The town is of good size, 60,000, and is considered the garden of Southern India. It stands near the head of the delta of the Cauvery River and has a dense population. The region is highly irrigated. For centuries Tanjore has been one of the chief literary and religious centers. The temple is of the early 11th century, 415 feet x 800 feet and the gopuram 90 feet high, solidly carved.
I seem to be at the wrong time of the year for any garden effects near Tanjore.
Soon after our train stopped by signal at a small station and four coolies came up bearing a stretcher and deposited it in the guard’s compartment next to mine. From what I gathered, the man on the stretcher had hopped off a moving train, the one before ours, and sustained serious injuries.
Shortly we arrived in Trichinopoy. Here I decided to leave the train, but connections were so terrible the 12-hour or so wait didn’t appeal to me, especially as it would put me in Madura at about 3AM. So I forwent the famous Rock Temple and the Great Temple of Sri Rangan, the largest temple in India, 2475′ x 2880′. This latter is the equal in importance of Hindu pilgrimage to Benares, Ramesvararn, and two Vaishnavite temples.
From here to Madura is a distance of some 90 miles. The train made good time—downhill, arriving at 11:30AM. Soon after passing Dindigul, where the fort rises from a great rock in the plain to 280 feet above the plain, or 1,223 feet above sea level, we ended the uphill struggle and began to tear downhill. I noticed three rather curious shrines along the wayside at different points. Each consisted of a low wall enclosing at one end a small shrine. Around the inside of the wall, backs to it, on three sides, stood life-size stone-carved horses I guess, or perhaps cows.
In Madurai, after a bite to eat, I set out for the great temple, a half-mile from the station. It was an imposing sight, rearing its largest gopuram at the street’s end to the height of 152 feet, a solid mass of carved figures, once colored. Traces of blue still remain. The temple is 847′ x 729′, forms a parallelogram, and is surrounded by nine gopurams, most of which was built under Tirumala Nayak, who reigned gloriously for 36 years—1623–1659. The outer wall enclosed a wide inner court, and the temples mostly enclosed by another high wall, red-striped. The temple is divided into two parts, on the south a temple to Minakshi (fish-eyed goddess, the consort of Siva); on the north one to Siva, here called the Sundareswar, the legend being that the god under this form married the daughter of the local Pandya Chief, an event celebrated by the annual chariot festival in September. Here in the marriage hall of the temple they are remarried on their throne, and carried to a large tank about two miles distant where I believe a sacred boat takes them to the temple in the middle of the tank. This, of all Hindu temples in India, is said to give one the most complete idea of ritual.
It is difficult to describe clearly the maze of passages, pillared halls, shrines, grotesque, huge images of Subrahmanya or Kartikkeya, the Hindu Mars, or numbers of others. They were carved from pillars supporting the massive roof and then painted. A small gopuram leads to a large one and then one comes to a quadrangle with a Teppa Kulam. This tank is called Swarnapushpakarini, or Pottamarai, Tank of Golden Lilies. The lilies seemed to have been replaced by dirty-looking green water in which people were bathing and washing clothes. These practices have doubtlessly continued for years and centuries. I am sure the water in these tanks is rarely if ever changed, for hundreds of years ago when they were constructed there must have been little thought toward sanitation in this respect. I marvel that these tanks have not become mere disease holes, etc., especially some of those more-sacred tanks to which are attributed healing powers. In these, those who are sick, have diseases, etc. bathe to be cured. Yet the people of today bathe and wash clothes in them the same as they did hundreds of years ago.
But I am digressing. To return, an arcade runs around the tank on all four sides. From here you get a good view of the gopurams, of two golden-roofed tombs, and of the intricateness of the temple. On the north and east sides of the arcade’s walls are painted representations of the most famous pagodas in India and some phases of the doings of Siva.
Wandering through the halls between pillars, statues and figures of Hindu saints and gods, you enter into the Temple of Sundareswar. Here is a regular bazaar on a small scale, where all sorts of junk is sold. There is the sacred bull, a stone image about 2½ feet high, wearing a dumb expression even for a bull; there are two large brass (?) doors full, on one side, with little cups protruding from the surface. These are lighted at night, giving an eerie, weird light in the vast chambers and passages.
Striking is the Hall of 1000 Pillars. There are really only 997. If the guide book is to be believed, speaking of these pillars, “their marvelous elaboration makes it the wonder of the place—sculptures of this hall surpass those of any other hall of its class.” This was erected in 1560 A.D. The guide book also claims this temple to be the largest in India. Perhaps it is discounting the bazaars that are within the outer walls of that mammoth temple in Tanjore. Opposite the great gopuram is the Pudhu Mandapam or New Gallery, known as Tirumala’s Choultry and built by him for the presiding deity of the place, who paid him a 10-day visit annually, 1623–1648. If finished it would have surpassed all. The hall is 333 feet x 105 feet, and has four rows of pillars supporting a flat roof.
Three-quarters mile southeast of the temple is the Palace of Tirumala Nayak. It is in Gothic style and is now one of the finest public buildings in India.
These old temples are impressive piles. It is not hard to imagine the glory, the great pageants, etc. that yearly, monthly, took place in these imposing Dravidian monuments. These temples are usually built in pairs. If one is dedicated to Siva, the other will be dedicated to Vishnu. Madura has a second temple, but only a small one having one gopuram and a tower.
I got a train at 3:35 PM. Had my choice of three and nearly got left as I was for traveling on the wrong one. This new affair was just a passenger train—which means that it stopped at every excuse for a station. I finally fell asleep and didn’t come to until the end of the line, Dhanushkodi, on the island of Rameswaren. My station, Mandapam, was eleven miles back on the mainland. So I just stayed put and slept where I was in the car.