CHAP. IV. CONCLUSION. 407 CONCLUSION. The buildings mentioned, and more or less perfectly described, in the preceding pages are in number rather less than one-third of the great Dravidian temples known to exist in the province. In importance and extent they certainly are, however, more than one - half. Of the remainder, none have vimanas like that of Tanjor, nor corridors like those of Ramej-varam ; but several have gopurams quite equal to or exceeding those mentioned above, and many have mantapams of great beauty and extent. Several such as Avadaiyar-Kdvil, Virinjipuram near Vellor, Taramangalam in Salem district, Kurugodu in Bellari, and others possess features unsurpassed by any in the south, especially the first named, which may, perhaps, be considered as one of the most elegant of its class, as well as one of the oldest. It would, however, be only tedious to attempt to describe them without plans to refer to, or more extensive illustrations than are compatible with a work of this class. They are, however, worthy of more attention than has yet been paid to them, and of more complete illustration than has hitherto been bestowed upon them. Taken altogether, they certainly do form as extensive, and in some respects as remarkable, a group of buildings as are to be found in provinces of similar extent in any part of the world Egypt, perhaps alone excepted ; but they equal even the Egyptian in extent, and though at first sight so different, in some respects present similarities which are startling. Without attempting to enumerate the whole, it may be mentioned that the gopurams both in form and purpose, resemble the pylons of the Egyptian temples. The courts with pillars and cloisters are common to both, and very similar in arrangement and extent. The great mantapams and halls of 1000 columns reproduce the hypostyle halls, both in purpose and effect, with almost minute accuracy. certainly the most sacred of all those in the Presidency. So sacred, indeed, was it declared, that no unbelieving foreigner had ever been allowed to climb the holy hill (2, 500 ft. high) or profane its sacred precincts. In 1870, a party of police forced their way in, in pursuit of a murderer who had taken refuge there, and Mr J. D. B. Gribble, who accom- panied them, published an account of what they saw in the ' Calcutta Review ' in 1875 (vol. Ixi. pp. 142-156). As he exclaims, "Another of the illusions of my youth destroyed." The temple is neither remarkable for its size nor its magnificence. In these respects it is inferior to Conjivaram, .Srirangam, and many others ; and whatever may be done with its immense revenues, they certainly are not applied to its adornment. It is a fair specimen of a Dravidian temple of the second class, but in a sad state of dilapida- tion and disrepair. It was originally a 5aiva temple, but was converted to the worship of Vishnu, by Ramanujacharya, in the I2th century. For views of the Tirupati temples in the village below, see Dr G. Le Bon's ' Les Monuments de 1'Inde,' figs. 199-204.
