JOURNAL 



OP THE 



ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL. 



— o — 



Part I.— HISTORY, LITERATURE, &e. 

 No. I.— 1880. 



Description of tlie Great Siva Temple of Oangai Konclapuram ami of 

 some other places in tlie Tricliinopoli District. — 



By Lieut. -Col. B. R. Beanpill. (With a Plate.) 



During the past season I visited and examined the great Siva temple 

 of Gangaikonda (-Shola-)puram (Gangacondapuram of A. S. 79), situate in 

 the extreme E. N. E. part of the Trichinopoly District, 20 miles S. W. 

 from Chidambaram. 



As this is the largest* and best specimen of a South Indian temple 

 proper I have ever met with, I venture to offer a short description of it. 

 Eoughly speaking it is a facsimile of tlie great Tanjore Temple, possibly 

 its prototype, or perhaps more probably a copy ; but never having been 

 " restored," as the Tanjore example has, and being built throughout in a 

 very hard kind of stone, it retains much of its pristine appearance and 

 purity of design, which has been lost there. 



I made notes of my observations on the spot and took measurements, 

 sketches and some impressions of the inscriptions with which its base is 

 covered, as specimens of the character, which is mostly old Tamil, very 

 similar to that at Tanjore. 



Gangaikondapuram is the site of a deserted town supposed to have 

 been the city or chief town of Gangaikonda Chola. 



* The largest Indian sanctuary towers mentioned by Fergusson (llist. of Arch. 

 Vol. III.) are those of Jaganath at Purl and the groat Tanjore Pagoda, which are 80 

 and 82 feet square at base respectively. 

 A 



