340 
RAMISERAM. 
underneath being raised about two feet from the ground, and 
painted red and white in stripes. The entrance to the pagoda was 
through a very lofty gateway, I should suppose about one hundred 
feet high, covered with carved work to the summit. It waspyrami- 
dically oblong, and ended in a kind of sarcophagus. The door was 
about forty feet high, and composed of single stones placed perpen- 
dicularly with others crossing over. This massive workmanship 
reminded me of the ruins of Egyptian architecture. We next 
entered a cloister, that led through a triple row of pillars to a square, 
cloistered all around. The inside was concealed, in part, by walls, 
and within were the sacred temples. The pillars w^ere three deep, 
and had carved figures of deities in the front. The square seemed 
to be about six hundred feet in size. The whole was well executed, 
and was the finest piece of architecture I had seen in the East. The 
young Pandaram, attended by his Brahmins, met us, but objected 
to our passing so far as to be parallel to the Holy of Holies. Several 
small temples were beyond the range of pillars, and in one com- 
partment was a tank. The whole building is surrounded by a 
lofty wall. We passed out. at a second gateway on the side, which 
was never finished, but was intended to be as large as the northern 
one, by which we entered. 
Passing along the outside, we went to the south, where was 
the entrance to the temples. In the centre was a small one dedi- 
cated to Mahadeo; on the right, as you faced it, was a very large 
one unfinished, dedicated to Rama-Swamee ; and on the left, a 
smaller, complete, where his wife Seta resided. The front was orna- 
mented with red painting, and innumerable figures of different 
deities : before Mahadeo s was a tank. The \yhole had a very mag-? 
