200 F00TE: GEOLOGY OF THE BELLARY DISTRICT.] 



great durability, as may be seen in various very ancient build- 

 ings. 



A list of the principal localities where granites of different kinds 

 have been raised, or where they occur awaiting 



Granite-yielding loca- . . . . . ,. A ~, i e 



Iities and quarries. trial, is given in Appendix A. Ihe supply ot 



first class rock of this kind is, if the district be 



considered as a whole, absolutely inexhaustible. 



Of the granites that have not* attracted notice as yet"and do not 



~ , . appear to have been at all quarried, one of the 



Dammur red granite. . . 



most striking is the red granite (syenite) occur- 

 ring between Dammur and Bailur (Byloor), II miles due north of 

 Bellary along the high road to Sirguppa. This rock, which is of 

 medium to rather coarse grain, is of a rich deep red colour, and 

 would make a superb decorative stone if well polished. It forms a 

 small hill about halfway between the two villages just named, and 

 is procurable in large quantity. 



Another very handsome stone is the dark porphyry which occurs 

 Tora al on the north side of Toranagal hill in Hospet 



taluq, 18 miles west of Bellary. The dark 

 blackish-grey base is full of bright flesh-colored felspar crystals of 

 large size, The porphyry is apparently a vein intrusive in ordinary 

 grey granite. The quantity of it does not appear to be large, but 

 a very similar, if not identical, rock occurs in the Kurikuppa hill not 

 quite 3 miles to the north-west. 



Some of the most remarkable specimens of worked granite in the 

 district are to be seen among the ruins of the 



Examples of worked , , TT . , ., , _,.. » r 



granite at Vijayanagar. old Hindu capital at Vijayanagar. As, tor 



example, the composite pillars in front of the 



great Vithalaswami's temple, and in the better preserved Kalyana 



Mantapa in the precincts of the same temple. Among the monoliths, 



remarkable for their size, are a great figure of Narasimha in a small 



enclosure west of the road south of the Hampi rise, and the great 



stone trough among the ruins south of the palace. The trough 



measures no less than 41' 3" by 3' by 2'. 



( 200 ) 



