Leon rrTec LURE 
Priates 1—60. 
I: ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE. 
1. ANCIENT HINDOO ARCHITECTURE. 
Hinpoo AxcuirecturE, probably the most ancient that exhibits regular 
architectonical mouldings, is remarkable for its well defined character, for the 
distinct ground-plan of its temples, and for three different orders of pillars. 
As its leading features arose from the peculiarities of climate and situation, 
it has rarely been introduced into any other country. 
Impressed with the idea that the worship of an eternal religion should be 
conducted in imperishable temples, and in order to insure their being both 
airy and cool, the Hindoos constructed and excavated these edifices in the 
rocks. The temples at Tintali, Dasavatara, and the grotto palace of Siva, 
_ near Ellora, number among the most ancient. They are all constructed in 
the following manner. 
The entire temple being under ground, the ceilings are supported by pillars 
of three different sizes and forms, of various thicknesses, and more or less 
finished and elaborated. Some temples are so deep below the surface as to 
require two tiers of pillars, one above the other, as in the grotto temple of 
Indra Sabah at Ellora (pl. 2, jig. 2). All these pillars are entirely different 
from those in the Nubian or Egyptian temples. The temples receive no 
light except through the openings infront. The large pillars, or those of the 
first order, are square and plain, and from three to five and a half diameters 
in height. A few small fillets form a kind of base, and a fillet on the top 
constitutes a capital, upon which rests a sort of cornice, divided into three 
stripes, running from pillar to pillar. The higher pillars are of an octagonal 
form. Their base is composed of regular mouldings, and they have caps 
consisting of a fillet and torus, similar to the astragal of the Doric order, and 
probably its prototype, as it is supposed that the construction was introduced 
into the island of Crete from India, where the Indian cap was rounded 
to suit the round column. Similar pillars are found in the interior of the 
temple of Vishnu Karmah (jig. 4), and as supporters of the ceiling of 
the Kailasa, as well as in the grotto temple of Indra Sabah, near Ellora. 
This remarkable palace is 247 feet long, by 150 feet wide; and its height in 
the clear, divided by two tiers of pillars, is 47 feet. Some of the walls are 
ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOP.£DIA.—-YOL, IY. 1 1 
