Elephant Stables

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Located outside the Zenana Enclosure, on the East, is an oblong structure of considerable size, called the Elephant stables. Among the many civil structures of the place, this building is a fine example of Indo-Islamic style of architecture.

It has a greater Islamic character about it. The building consists of eleven large rooms with very high ceilings. Large domes crown ten of these. These domes are of brick and mortar, and are of different shapes drum-shaped, ribbed and octagonal. The superstructure of the central upper pavilion is lost. It probably had a Hindu Shikhara in consonance with the Indo-Islamic architecture.

The rooms were used as Elephant stables. The elephants were tied to the chairs hanging from the centre of the ceiling as can be made out from the iron hooks embedded in some of the ceilings. These were not the military elephants but were the ceremonial ones which were used by royal household. Apart from the royal elephants, temples also had elephants of their own to perform various pujas. One such elephant can still be seen in Hampi.

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