We allude to
the great temple of Bindh Madhu, which was demolished in the seventeenth
century by the Emperor Aurungzebe. Tavernier, the French baron, who
travelled thither about the year 1680, has preserved a brief description
of it. The body of the temple was constructed in the figure of a
colossal cross (i. e., a St. Andrew's Cross), with a lofty dome at the
centre, above which rose a massive structure of a pyramidal form. At the
four extremities of the cross there were four other pyramids of
proportionate dimensions, and which were ascended from the outside by
steps, with balconies at stated distances for places of rest, reminding
us of the temple of Belus, as described in the pages of Herodotus. The
remains of a similar building are found at Mhuttra, on the banks of the
Jumna. This and many others, including the subterranean temple at
Elephanta and the caverns of Ellora and Salsette, are described at
length in the well-known work by Maurice; who adds that, besides these,
there was yet another device in which the Hindoo displayed the
all-pervading sign; this was by pyramidal towers placed crosswise. At
the famous temple of Chillambrum, on the Coromandel coast, there were
seven lofty walls, one within the other, round the central quadrangle,
and as many pyramidal gate-ways in the midst of each side which forms
the limbs of a vast cross.
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