Photo 212/3(33)

Genre: Architectural Photography

View along the 670 foot long arcade running the length of the south side of the Ramalingeshvara Temple. 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: '363 - Continuing along the same passage, the visitor now enters the side aisle, which if it were only higher, would be unequalled in the world. Its length is 690 feet, and it extends the whole length of the temple, between the inner wall and the sanctum. In its centre, another passage intersects it, leading out through a ruined gateway to the street. The pillars, which are of granite, are all painted red and yellow, while the ceilings are covered with frescos. Writing of these wonderful corridors, Mr. Fergusson says, 'Their aggregate length is nearly 4,000 feet, and when we consider that their section is that of a small Gothic church, and their length eight times that of our largest cathedral, that all the pillars are of granite, and all richly carved, it must be admitted that the whole forms one of the most wonderful exhibitions of human labour to be found anywhere. The variety of light and shade, and the wonderful effects of perspective in the long-drawn aisles, probably surpass anything of its class to be found elsewhere.' It is a sad pity the pillars have lately been so covered with coat after coat of yellow wash, and picked out with red, that the original carving is almost entirely obliterated. According to the Hindu manuscripts, or puranas before alluded to, the tradition of the great sanctity of this temple is as follows:- Ravana, king of Ceylon, carried off Sita, the wife of Rama; and to recover her, the hero, who was Vishnu in his seventh incarnation, crossed the sea on a bridge of rocks, which Hanuman the monkey-king made for him. After slaying Ravana, and recovering his bride, as he returned back he was observed to have two shadows - a mark of sin of the deepest dye. However, on reaching this island, the second shadow disappeared, and he was informed by a priest that he stood on holy ground, and that his sins were forgiven him. From that period the whole island has been devoted to him, and the celebrated pagoda, which is here situated, of course becomes equally venerated. It is rumoured to contain two Lingams, one of which Rama is said to have procured from Benares, while he fashioned the other with his own hands. Here the Hindu devotee, who, having commenced his pilgrimage with the temple of Devi, in Sindh, proceeds to Jevala Mukhi, near Lahore, and then down the Ganges to Benares and Orissa, finishes his tour. Vast numbers resort here annually, in the hope of worldly blessings and immediate beatitude after death, which is said to be insured to all who visit the sacred shrine and perform the prescribed ceremonies; and hard indeed would it be for us to form any adequate idea of the feelings of delicious rest and repose that the pilgrim here enjoys, after all the wearisome miles and miles of travel that he has accomplished, and after all the sufferings he has endured, for it is a well-known fact that these pilgrims in their fanaticism condemn themselves constantly, at the end of every mile, to prostrations, face downwards, in the dust. After all the pangs of hunger, and the numberless other privations which only those who know what Indian travel is can realise, after he has passed through the hands of the Brahmin priests, after he has taken the necessary baths, and has returned from the toilsome visit to the temple in the sea above alluded to, after he has made his offerings at the shrine of the Deity, here is rest at last, he has performed his pilgrimage, he has conquered all difficulties, he has gained his goal, now he looks forward to the worldly blessings, and the immediate beatitude after death, said to be insured to him; and, while rejoicing in his rest, he wanders in the waning light through the gloomy and silent corridors of these sacred precincts, he fancies himself actually in the presence of the gods, he imagines he hears their murmurs as they meet and converse in the dark, and he forgets all he has undergone in the remembrance that he has earned the just right to be thus permitted to wander and repose in their hallowed presence.' Another copy at Photo 1000 (3012).