The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-04

truth and beauty. You walk through
scaffold pones into q great square round
the great tower. and with reverence they
show you that colossal monolith, the
great bull Of Tanjore. 1 wish I could
show you picture Of him, for words are
unequal to him. In size he stands, or
rather SITS thirty-eight hands two. His
material Is black granite, but 1t is kept
sopiously anointed with grease that he
looks as If he were made Of toffee. In at
t1tude he suggests q roast hare, and he
wears a half SNUG. half coquettish ex-
preston. as If he hoped that nobody
would kiss him.
From this wonder you pass to the
shrines Of the chief gods. The unbeliever
may not enter, but you stano at the door
while man goes along the darkness
with fambeau. The light falls on silk
and tinsel. and by faith you can divine
a seated image at the end. Next you
are at the foot of the great tower, and
tho ridiculous has become the sublime
again. Every story Is lined with serene
faced gods and goddesses, dwindling rank
above rank. ladder of deities that seems
to climb half way up to heaven.
Then the Brahmin shows you a stone
bull seated on the ground. like younger
brother of the great one. 1T Is In ex-
tstence," he says, throwing out his words
In groups, dispassionately, as though
somebody else were speaking and 1t were
nothing at all to do with hint is in
existence-to show the dimensions-of
four other bulls-which are in existence
up there" You lay your head back
between your shoulder blades and up
there. at the very top. among gods so
small that you wonder whether they are
gods or only panels or pillars. are four
more little brothers of the hare-shaped,
toffee-t extured monster below.
'rReduplication Is the keynote Of the
Hindoo art. The same bulls everywhere,
the same gods everywhere. and all around
the clustered outer wall scores on scores
of granite, fat-dripping. f1ower-crowned
emblems, SO crudely shapeless that you
forget their gross signifcance-but all
absolutely alike Next he leads you aside
to piles and piles of what look like over
grown gaudily painted children's toys.
This Is an exact facsimile Of the tower.
reduced and initiated in wood. 1t is all
In pieces, but at the festival the parts
are fitted together and carried on a car.
Every god sculptured on the pyramid Is
represented in g. section of this model.
waiting to be fitted into his place. Only
what Is richly mellow in tinted stone is
garishly tawdry in kings yellow and red
lead-and again you tumble from the
sublime to the infantile.
Next little shrine that Is net of the
fantastic as wood. Pillar and panel,
moiding and cornice, lattice and imagery.
all tapering gracefully till they become
miniatures at the summit-it is gem of
exquisite taste and patient labor. And
the very next minute you are again
among flaming red and yellow dragon
tigers and duck peacocks, and the one
ia just as holy and just as beautiful to
It's worshipers as the other. From which
oh of
lightly to the domestic life of the fres-
coed rajahs of Tanjore. This gentleman
marry seventeen wiveS-al one day
doubtless in anxiety of getting son. 1t
is quite true. The rajah, having but
three wives and no child, resolved to
marry six more young ladies, and col
lected seventeen to choose them from
But the fathers and brothers of the re-
jected eleven were affronted. land rather
than have any unpleasantness on his
wedding day his majesty tactfully mar
ried the whole seventeen, nine in the
morning and eight in the afternoon.
And here" pursued the Brahmin auto
matically, showing tank. 'he will let
in water-and here he will play-with all
his females-and all that"
That is all, except to write your name
In the visitors book. AS I went to sign
noticed a band of musicians standing at
the door and thought no more of 1t. But
as my pen touched the paper suddenly
reedy pipes and discordant fiddles and
heavy tam-tams began to play God Save
the Queen" A huge pamphlet of muslin
and tinsel, like magnified Christmas tree
stocking, was cast about my neck. betel
and altar of rose were brought up in
silver vessels and flowers and fruits on
silver trays. The pagoda keeps its char
acter to the end-the compliment was
sublime, and j was ridiculous.
Yet the temple of Tanjore Is the most
simple and orderly of its kind. Visit the