(!uAP. XXV. 



TIRUMALLA NAIK'S PALACE. 



421 



Next to the great pagoda and the choultry, tlio most 

 interesting architectural remains of the former grandeur 

 of Madura are the ruins of the palace of Tirumalla Naik. 

 Tliej consist of a large quadrangular court, now roofless,'^ but 

 apparently once covered over, with side aisles supported 

 by massive stone pillars, rendered almost double their ori- 

 ginal size by a thick coating of chunam, or lime made with 

 pounded sea-shells, which takes a very fine polish, like 

 marble. These columns are exceedingly handsome, and 

 their capitals bear evidence of Italian design.^ They are in 

 double rows, and the roof of the aisles is most elaborately 

 carved with mythological figures, originally painted in bright 

 colours. Numerous green paroquets were screaming and 

 flying about near the roof. At the end of this splendid 

 court, opposite the street entrance, there is a broad flight 

 of steps leading up to an inner hall, where columns of the 

 same massive character support a richly carved roof. The 

 whole building has an exceedingly imposing effect, and in 

 the sombre melancholy of its decay it gives a grand idea 

 of the former civilization of the Tamil people ; but as the 

 English Judge now holds his court in a portion of the ruins, 

 we must not say, with the Persian poet, — 



" The spider now weaves its web in the palace of Cajsar, 

 The owl stands sentinel on the watch-tower of Afrasiab." 



Tirumalla Naik also constructed a great tank, about a 

 mile outside the town, said to be the finest in Southern India. 

 It is an exact square, with sides 300 yards long faced with 

 granite, and flights of steps down to the water, at intervals. 



^ In Fergusson's Architecture, i. p. 

 105, the hall is represented with an 

 arched roof, in a sketch from Dauiell's 

 Views of Hindostan. 



* There was a Portuguese Jesuit 

 mission, with two Christian churches, 

 established at Madura during the 



reign of Tirumalla Naik. It was 

 founded by Robert de Nobilibus, a 

 nejjhew of Cardinal Bellarmin, and the 

 missionaries wore the sacred thread, 

 declaring themselves to be Brahmins 

 from the West. 



