The Interior Of The Temple Consists Of A Principal Hall (66 Feet Long By 100 Broad), And Several Adjoining Halls,

Which are all furnished with sculptures and gigantic idols; but the real magnificence consists in the rich and beautiful sculptures

On the exterior, in the tastefully-executed arabesques, and in the fine pinnacles and niches, which are cut out on the tower. The temple rests on the backs of numerous elephants and tigers, which lie next to each other in peaceful attitudes. Before the principal entrance, to which several flights of steps lead, stand two figures of elephants above life-size. The whole is, as has been said before, hewn from a single mass of rock. The cliff from which this immense block was separated surrounds the temple, on three sides, at a distance of 100 feet, forming colossal perpendicular walls, in which, as at Adjunta, enormous colonnades, larger and smaller temples, from two to three stories high, are excavated. The principal temple is called Rameswur, and somewhat exceeds in size the largest vichara at Adjunta; its breadth is ninety-eight feet, it extends into the rock 102 feet, and the height of the ceiling is twenty-four feet; it is supported by twenty-two pilasters, and covered with the most beautiful sculptures, reliefs, and colossal gods, among which the principal group represents the marriage of the god Ram and the goddess Seeta. A second vichara, nearly as handsome as this last, is called Laoka; the principal figure in this is Shiva.

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Words from 119483 to 119734 of 187810