6zo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



by all to be one of the finest in India. It is built of pure gray granite. 

 Every pillar in it to the right and left is whitewashed. The natives 

 always whitewash them to a certain height. On each side are repre- 

 sentations of the king and his successors. You see him on the right 

 under his canopy, and beside him his two wives. The story goes that 

 Trimul Nayak married a daughter of the Rajah of Tanjore. The day 

 after he brought her home he took her to see this magnificent building, 

 which was just completed. After walking through it, as she did not 

 say a word, he asked her why she had not spoken, and what she 

 thought of it. She answered that her father had a better stable for 

 his horses. In a fury he drew his dagger and stabbed her in the side, 

 and it is said that, when the pillar was cut, and they sculptured 

 the figure of the wife, the hole appeared in the side ; and, although 

 they changed the pillar three times, every morning after, they found 

 the hole still there, as a warning to passionate husbands to keep their 

 tempers. One of the pillars outside this temple, being very much 

 exposed to the weather, is consequently much damaged. It represents 

 Vishnu giving his sister in marriage to Siva, and every year there is a 

 cermony of marriage performed. But, while the ceremony is going on, 

 a Bramin invariably sneezes, and as that is an omen of bad auspices, 

 the marriage is postponed, and, as this has been going on year after 

 year, it probably will to all eternity. That sneezing puts a stop to it. 



The outside of this celebrated mundapum is similar to that we saw 

 before at Trichinopoly, the two side-pillars being carved differently, 

 the one on the right being Ravana, the celebrated giant, who was con- 

 demned to bear a mountain on his back in punishment for his sins. 

 Exactly opposite is situated the celebrated Temple of Madura, the 

 richest in India, with an income of 4,000 a year, and an enormous 

 number of priests. The difference between this and the other at 

 Trichinopoly is that this is all covered over, while that is uncovered. 

 That one is very poor, while this is enormously rich. I ought to have 

 said a few words here respecting Hindoo worship. There is not a 

 single Hindoo temple dedicated to the worship of the one God, and 

 they have no representation of Him. He is something too awful for 

 that. They never address Him except through a priest, or one of his 

 personifications, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. These are the three 

 principal deities. Brahma is Creation, Vishnu is Preservation, and 

 Siva Destruction. And, although it is said that there are 330,000,000 

 gods in India, yet the simple truth is, all these are only names given to 

 one or other of these in any particular place where the god is wor- 

 shipped. He is always named for some act or other which he is sup- 

 posed to have performed at or near the place of worship. One or other 

 of these three is the god, and there are 330,000,000 names of these 

 gods. That is the whole secret of the Hindoo religion. 



Passing into this celebrated temple, we come to the golden lotus- 

 tank, one of the most celebrated tanks in India. It is supposed that 



