100 foote: geology of maduba and tinneveli.y districts. 



Massive black hornblendic gneiss is quarried at Kotaiparai (Koteau- 

 paurse) hill, 6 miles west-by-south o£ Arupukotai. 



At Kotai parai. . . . , •,•■,• 



At the time or my visit a large monolithic male 



figure some 10 to IS' feet long was lying in the quarry, having, as I was 

 told, been rejected for some reason or other by the authorities of the 

 Kameswaram temple for whom it had been carved. Tlie figure, which 

 represented one of the minor divinities worshipped at Eameswaram, 

 was a fine specimen of stone cutting, and showed the fitness of the rock 

 for such purposes. 



To return northward for a little there is a large quarry of hand- 

 some banded gneiss at Puliarpatti, 4 miles east 



At Puliar patti. i <. m • 



by north or Tripatur; blocks or large size can 



be quarried here. I measured some nearly 30 feet in length. As the rock 

 is easily quarried and moderate in price as well as very handsome, it is in 

 demand. Large pillars for temple cloisters or for mantapams measuring 

 12' X 3' X r 6", and roughly dressed, were procurable for Rs. 30 on the spot. 

 The fine black polished pillars in the Judge's room in Tirumal Naik's 

 Carved and polished palacc in Madura, and the dark hornblendic rock 

 stones at Madura. q^^ ^f which are carved some of the very elaborate 



and often bold statues in the great Pagoda, must have been brought 

 from quarries I did not come across, as I saw no rock of the kind. 

 I made personal enquiries of the head temple trustee as to whence 

 they came, but he either could not, or would not, give me any inform- 

 ation on the point. Some of the finest and boldest carvings, both 



of statues and scroll work that can be met with 

 At Avadiar Kovil. 



in Southern India, are to be seen at the Avadiar 



Kovil (temple) in the southernmost corner of Tanjore district, which 



just comes into the limits of the map accompanying this memoir. 



The great mantapam in front of the temple gate is an architectural 



work of great beauty and noble proportions, and well worth the attention 



of photographic artists, though unfortunately much out of the beaten 



tract and therefore but very little known. The stone used here is said 



to have been brought from Tirumayam (Trimiem) and Trikonem in 



( 100 ) 



