672 Notes on the Ruins at Mahabalipuram. [No. 7. 



not understand how it could escape* remark that the original entry 

 of the building, must have been through the portico which is in rear 

 at present. I trust what I have said may draw the attention of 

 men better versed in Indian antiquities to the subject of the direc- 

 tion in which the entrance is placed in Hindu temples : as it may 

 possibly prove characteristic of some particular sect or epoch. At 

 the present day, all temples in these Upper Provinces (and as far 

 as my observation goes, in the other Presidencies also) are turned 

 towards the east : and a Brahmin at Huridwar gave me as a reason, 

 the rising of the sun in that quarter. I rememberf to have seen one 

 exception (besides the Kylas at Ellora already mentioned ;) which 

 is on the grand trunk-road on the banks of the Burachur near Tal- 

 danga. In a group of four temples, not differing essentially in style 

 or architecture, and all apparently quite modern, one is turned to 

 the west, while all the others are to the east, I could not discover 

 that they belonged to different divinities, but there was no person 

 near from whom I could positively ascertain that such was not the 

 case. 



Another point that strikes me as deserving attention, more parti- 

 cularly from Engineers and persons engaged on public works, is the 

 very great durability of the basaltic rock as compared with the gra- 

 nite of the Coromandel coast. We have no reason to believe that 

 the umbrella-shaped summits of the temples, which for want of a 

 better term I have called chaityas, are otherwise than contempora- 

 neous with the. rest of the temple ; and they are of course equally 

 exposed to the spray and saline atmosphere : yet they appear per- 

 fectly fresh and uninjured, while the granite has lost the whole of 

 its outer surface by gradual disintegration and exfoliation. 



I append two sketch plans to elucidate the above descriptions of 

 locality : but they have no pretensions to strict accuracy, being done 

 entirely from memory, months after I visited the place. 



* I have not been able to procure the papers of Mr. Babington or of Mr. Walter 

 Elliot on the subject : but of the four or five I have perused no one touches this 

 point. 



f And I think that among the Aryan temples of Cashmere, is said to be a group 

 of four facing to all four cardinal points. 



