Chap. XXV. THE MADURA PAGODA. 415 



I went early one morning, witli ]\Ir. Levinge the Collector, 

 to visit the great pagoda of ]\Iadura, some of the oldest parts 

 of which date from the reigns of Pandyan kings in the eighth 

 century. It covers twenty acres of ground, and is surrounded 

 by a high stone wall painted in red and white stripes, the 

 Hindoo holy colours. The walls form a perfect square, and 

 in the centre of each side there is a lofty gopuram or tower. 

 These towers are broad, solid, and very lofty masses of 

 brick, in the form of a truncated pyramid. From the base 

 to the summit they are one mass of sculptured figures, repre- 

 senting all the gods in Hindu mythology, rising tier above 

 tier to the summit, and decreasing in size with the height. 

 Each end of the top of the gopuram is ornamented by a fan- 

 shaped structure of brick-work, representing the hood of a 

 cobra. We entered the pagoda by a gateway in the left 

 corner of the wall facing the great clioultrg built by Tirumalla 

 Naik. Here the warden of the pagoda was waiting for us, who 

 had arrived just before in his palkee. He is of Sudra caste, a 

 man advanced in years, and of much reputed holiness ; and 

 he received us in a state of nudity, with the exception of a 

 yellow gauze scarf, his belly, chest, and forehead being 

 smeared Avith holy ashes. A crowd of Brahmins accom- 

 panied us. 



A long corridor leads from the entrance to the cloister, 

 with a roof supported by stone pillars, between which ele- 

 phants were stationed, gaudily painted and caparisoned. The 

 cloister is the finest part of the interior of the pagoda. The 

 walls are covered with paintings representing the marvellous 

 adventm'es of Krishna, and the pillars supporting the roof of 

 the galleries are roughly carved. The central space is occu- 

 pied by " the tank of the golden lotus," with very dirty green 

 water, and stone steps leading down from the cloister. The 

 view from one corner of this tank is very striking ; with 

 green stagnant water as a foreground, rows of fantastically- 



