656 Notes on the Ruins at Mahabalipuram. [JNo. 7. 



Notes on the Ruins at Ilahdbdlipuram on the Coromandel Coast. — 

 By C. GtUBBINS, Esq. B. 0. S. 



The temples of MahaMlipoor or Mavellipuram are situated in 

 Lat. 12° 36' 57" North, and Long. 80° W 1" East ; nearly thirty-five 

 miles south of Madras, and about five north of the little town of 

 Sadras. 



They are built and excavated from a low rocky ridge, that rising 

 isolated from the plain, runs slanting towards the shore for about a 

 mile and a half. The highest part, towards the north, is little more 

 than 120 feet in elevation ; and perhaps a mile from the sea, into 

 which the southern extremity runs. It appears to have some small 

 spurs, which may be seen cropping out at various points on the 

 beach. 



It is chiefly* of a binary granite, that conveys to a casual ob- 

 server, the idea of having been recently half- wetted by a driving 

 pelt of rain ; and although extremely hard, splits readily into masses 

 of various, but considerable size. I saw a block from forty to fifty 

 feet in length, and twenty-five to thirty feet in width, that had been 

 divided with an apparently! plane surface by a single blast of gun- 

 powder. The hewers of the caves, however, do not seem to have 

 enjoyed the assistance of this powerful agent : their method was to 

 trace out on the surface of the rock, the line in which they required 

 a separation, along which small holes were made with the chisel, 

 and wedges introduced with sufficient force to compel cleavage. It 

 would however be difficult at the present day, to determine whether 

 these wedges were of wood, well dried before insertion, and subse- 

 quently swelled by the application of water ; or of metal driven in 

 by repeated blows, as appears to have been the custom in ancient 

 Egypt. 



The rock yields to the weather by conchoidal peelings, which gives 

 to the group the general appearance of a mass of gigantic boulders, 

 or a confused assemblage of ruined domes. Considering its hard- 



* As far as I could perceive, it was entirely so : but I had not leisure for an ex- 

 amination sufficiently minute, to authorize my speaking positively. 



-f- I say " apparently, 1 ' because with reference to the known conchoidal frac- 

 ture of the rock, it is probable that when closely examined, the surface would be 

 found somewhat curved. 



