SOME SKETCHES OF THE SOUTH 57

sacred stream. Beyond the farther bank is the
Trichinopoly Eock which rises out of the plain to a
height of about two hundred and seventy ieet. On the
summit of the Eock is a temple to G-anesh, the G-oci of
Wisdom and the Eemover of Obstacles, that overlooks
Trichinopoly and its environs. Despite the torrid sun
of Tamilnad, pilgrims climb the sfceep hewn steps from
'dawn to dusk, to visit this shrine of undiminishecl
sanctity.

Close to the foot of the Eock is a house that brings
back to mind some famous battles of South India and
the struggles and rise to power of a captain in the East
India Company forces—the house of Eoberfc dive. 'The
reflection of a church steeple in the waters of the sacred
tank, for a moment creates the illusion that Nature
knows no difference of religious.. Elsewhere, outside
the limits of the old town, a twentieth century
Trichinopoly is at "work with the machinery of the
present age/

Somewhere in the early eleventh century, a blocfc
of stone weighing some eighty-five tons was dragged up
an inclined plane and set to crown the temple tower of
Tanjora The gigantic carved tower with.. ifs rock dome
is still there, two hundred odd feet high. Like every
temple, of Siva, this one has its stone bull—one of the
largest m India. Carvings in profusion cover' the tower,
the pillars, and the walls; and round the vast square of
tho temple are the r&mparts of the ancient fort.

For ^ time after the rule of the Tamil dynasties, a
line of kings who claimed descent from the house of
Shiva ji the Mahratta,, practically settled, in 'Tanjore.
One pr.omtoeot JQlio .of these .TOlera m the palace 'in