OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 103 



42. Rajah, Hanuman, and attendant. — Carved ivory plaque. 

 India. (Cat. No. 175771, U.S.N.M.) 



43. Vishnu, LaJcshmi, and attendant. — Carved ivory plaque. India. 

 (Cat. No. 175771, U.S.N.M.) 



44. Garuda. — The mythical bird, the vehicle (vahan) of Vishnu. 

 India. (Cat. No. 175771, U.S.N.M.) 



45. Vishnu, LaJcshmi, and worshiper. — Carved ivory plaque. 

 India. (Cat. 175771, U.S.N.M.) 



46. Footprints of Krishna. — Facsimiles of black shale. Similar 

 facsimiles of the footprints of Krishna are sold to the Sivaites at 

 Jagannath, Peri, South India, one of the centers of Hinduism. India. 

 (Cat. No. 175172, U.S.N.M.) '' 



2. PARAPHERNALIA OF WORSHIP— TEMPLE AND UTENSILS 



47. Model of a Hindu temple. — Made of the bleached pith of the 

 cork tree, each piece having been cut with a knife and glued to its 

 place. 



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 worshipers 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 plan, 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. The 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 flowers and shrubs, while at the 

 corners in front of the court stand betelnut palms. 



Rev. W. 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. 



i« These ivory plaques are part of a collection of 42 which formerly decorated the throne of the Maha- 

 rajahs of Tanjore, southern India (now a portion of the Presidency of Madras) . They are probably the 

 work of the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The last Maharajah of Tanjore, Sivaji, died in October, 

 1855, without male issue, and his state was annexed to the British Empire. Dr. George Shaw, then master 

 of the mint at Madras, received orders to take possession of the throne, which was plated with gold and 

 ivory. The gold was melted into ingots and the greater parts of the ivories came at the death of Doctor 

 Shaw in 1893 into the possession of Prof. Enrico H. Giglioli, of the Zoological Museum of Florence, Italy, 

 from whom the United States National Museum acquired them by exchange. 



