BUDDHIST TEMPLE. 
233 
its shrines. It has become a scene of gloomy deso- 
lation, a forsaken sanctuary, a shelter for the fox- 
bat and the serpent. At a short distance to the 
left of the building there is a remarkable stone, up- 
wards of six feet in diameter, representing the 
chackra of Vishnoo, most exquisitely carved in fine 
bas-relief ; indeed, so great is the knowledge of art 
displayed in these carvings and the adaptation of 
that knowledge to the subjects they exhibit, that it 
would be difficult to find a specimen of modern sculp- 
ture of a similar character that could surpass them. 
The chackra represented by this stone is a missile 
with which the forefinger of Vishnoo’s main right- 
hand, for he has four hands, is armed. It is a sort 
of discus or quoit, the periphery terminating in a keen 
edge ; and this, when hurled from the finger of the 
deity, carried death and desolation before it. 
There are few inhabitants in the neighbourhood of 
this magnificent structure, which, in spite of neglect, 
desertion, and the dilapidations of ages, seems formed, 
like the pyramids, to endure until it shall be finally 
toppled down amid 
“ The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.” 
About a mile from Bode Gyah there is an immense 
pile of building which forms one solid mass of ce- 
mented brick, but for what purpose it was erected no one 
can now surmise. As a contrast to the ancient Hin- 
doo architecture exhibited in this temple, the reader 
is referred to a grand mosque in the Coimbatoor dis- 
trict, built by Hyder Ally, and perhaps the finest 
specimen of modern Mahomedan architecture in India, 
x 3 
