Photo 212/1(18)

Genre: Architectural Photography

Close view of two pillars carved in the form of rearing horses at the entrance to the Pudu Mandapa in the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple at Madurai. Lyon's 'Notes to accompany a series of photographs prepared to illustrate the ancient architecture of southern India' (Marion and Co., London, 1870), edited by James Fergusson, gives the following description of this photograph: '267 - Exactly opposite this gateway is the magnificent Portico called the Puthu Mundapum, generally known as Trimul Nayak's choultry. It was built by Trimul Nayak, and is said to have been commenced in 1626, the third year of his reign, and to have required twenty-two years for its completion. Its cost is estimated at more than a million sterling. It is of an oblong square, from 333 feet long by 81 feet broad, and is divided into a nave and two side-aisles with passages at each end. The roof, which is of long slabs of stone, rests upon 128 pillars about 25 feet in height, each fashioned from a single block of hard grey granite, the labour of carving which must have been immense. This photograph shows two of the Pillars on the east side of the building facing the street. They are said to represent the ministers and commanders-in-chief of Visvanatha Nayak, the founder of the dynasty in 1530. The lower part of the pillars is so completely obscured by whitewash, that it is difficult to make out the surface.' Another copy at Photo 1000/29(2917).