MODEL OF A BRAHMTX TEMPLE. 



By Immanuel M. Casaxowicz, 



Of the United States Xutional Museum. 



Made of the bleached pith of the cork tree, each piece having been 

 cut with a knife and ghied to its j)lace. 



The temple proper is a square structure standing on a platform 

 and surrounded on all sides by a pillared porch or arcade. Inside 

 the shrine is divided into two chambers; the front is to hold an 

 altar upon which the offerings of the worehipers are deposited, and 

 the rear which is to be occupied by the image or symbol of the deity. 

 The shrine is surmounted by a bower, likewise square in j)lun, rising in 

 three stories, and crowned with a bulbous dome, set at either end 

 between an open lotus, the sacred flower of India. The whole termi- 

 nates in a pinnacle in form of a graceful vase reversed. Tlie tower as 

 well as the balustrade surrounding it are richly carved. In front of 

 the sanctuary is a large court inclosed by a colonnade, the entrance 

 to which is surmounted by an oblong truncated pyramid. The court 

 as well as the platform of the shrine rest on another broad terrace. 

 Steps on all four sides lead up both terraces to the court and porch 

 of the temple. Inside the court and all around outside on the lower 

 platform are placed vases holding flowei-s and shrubs, while at the 

 corners in front of the court stand betelnut palms. 



Mr. Yv". E. De Riemer, who obtained the model in the Madura dis- 

 trict of the Madras Presidency, South India, and for many years 

 lived in India, thinks that, while it was made from a particular tem- 

 ple, it fairly represents the general type of a Hindu temple devoted 

 to the service of Siva in southern India. 



Architecture is the dominant art of India; sculpture and painting 

 have been chiefly developed as acessories to it. As India is "the land 

 of rehgions,'' and the life of its people is in all its aspects governed by 

 rehgious motives, its art is essentially religious and associated with 

 buildings dedicated to the service of religion. 



None of the arcliitectual and sculi)turul monuments of imj)ortance 

 which survive in India antedates the third century B. C. In the 

 early architecture of India wood was almost exclusively emplo^-ed. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 42-No. 1921. 



649 



