226 HINDOO M\'THOLOGV. 



the south of India ; but in grandeur and beauty they aio all 

 eclipsed by that of Tanjore, a city long celebrated as the 

 most learned and opulent in that part of the peninsula. It 

 is 200 feet high, and the interior contains the figure of a 

 bull in black granite, the dignified object in whose honour 

 it appears to have been constructed. Lord Valentia was 

 not allowed to enter the precincts of the temple ; but from 

 the door he obtained a view of this revered animal, which 

 appeared to him to present rather a favourable specimen of 

 Hindoo sculpture. 



The Jains have ancient temples in Rajpootana, which 

 may vie with the most splendid of those erected by the dis- 

 ciples of Brama or Boodh. One of these, built within the 

 fortress of Kumulner, is marked by a fine style of simple 

 and classical elegance, its form bearing even a close anal- 

 ogy to the temple of Theseus at Athens. Hence Colonel 

 Tod has been induced to entertain the conjecture, that it 

 may have been designed by Grecian architects, at an era 

 when the kingdom of Bactriana, under Greek sovereigns, 

 held sway over a great part of India. Another temple, of 

 a style decidedly oriental, in the fortress of Ajmere, is one 

 of the most perfect as well as most ancient monuments of 

 Hindoo architecture. The facade is covered with Arabic 

 inscriptions ; but Colonel Tod thought he discovered under 

 these the traces of Sanscrit characters, and conceives the 

 design to have been originally Hindoo, but worked over by 

 the less skilful hand of a Mussulman architect. 



In the vicinity of Kotah, a Rajpoot territory bordering 

 on Malwa, Colonel Tod discovered, and has described, in 

 his second volume, some very splendid structures. The 

 temple at Barolli is remarkable, not for its dimensions, for 

 it does not exceed fifty-eight feet in height, but for the pro- 

 fusion of sculpture with which its surface is covered ; so 

 that every stone is considered as forming a miniature build- 

 ing. Notwithstanding a very high antiquity, it is still in 

 wonderful preservation, owing to the close-grained quartz- 

 rock of which it is constructed, and to a fine marble cement 

 spread over it. The colonel considers the sculptured figures 

 as completely redeeming the character of ancient Hindoo 

 art ; being marked by a peculiarly easy and flowing style, 

 and presenting some heads that would not disgrace Canova, 

 The temple is dedicated entirely to Siva, of whom, and of 



