Oriental Scenery/Part 2/Plate 24
No. XXIV.
THE GREAT PAGODA, TANJORE.
This edifice by way of eminence is called the great Pagoda, and appropriated to the worship of Chokee Lingum, or Seeva. It is considered the most magnificent in the Tanjore dominions, and being held in the greatest veneration, is consequently resorted to by vast multitudes on days of public festival.
Although this building is of a form that occurs frequently in the Deccan, it differs materially both with regard to the style of its external decoration and the form of its termination at the top. It is about two hundred feet in height, and stands within an area enclosed with high walls, the top of which along their whole extent is decorated in the usual manner with bulls sacred to the divinity to whose service the temple is devoted.
The red stripes observable on the lower walls denote its being in the possession of the Bramins.
This with the former view, No. XXII., were taken in September, 1792.
The great Pagoda, Tanjore.