Account of Mamallaipur. [No. 30. 



temples (No. 28) built eastward from the village close to the 

 sea shore. They are indeed so near the sea that the surf 

 dashes against the foundations of them. They occupy a space 

 ot about 1600 square feet and are becoming ruinous. They ad- 

 join each other, being in some sense but one piece of building ; 

 but the existence of their two spires impresses one with an 

 idea of their being two separate temples. The more lofty 

 structure I imagine to be about 60 feet high. This is the 

 most eastern of the two, and has, overlooking the sea, a door- 

 way 7 feet 6 inches high and 6 feet wide. Within this tem- 

 ple will be found a large broken black granite Lin gam, and 

 a group of sculptures representing Mahadeva, Parvati and 

 their son Kartikeya or Subrahmanya. The smaller temple 

 contains a similar group of figures. The body of the large 

 temple is inclosed with a massive stone wall, which as well 

 as the temple itself bears the appearance of having been cle- 

 oprated with much ornamented sculpture. Small pieces of 

 chunam still adhering to the ornaments give rise to the con- 

 jecture that the temples were either originally coated with 

 it, or have been so covered in subsequent repairs. There 

 can, I think, be no .doubt that they were once elegant 

 specimens of architecture ; though they are now too much 

 decayed £o retain many traces of their original beauty. The 

 mineralogist might possibly form some idea of their age from 

 an inspection of the several species of granite of which 

 the walls are composed. Some kinds of this rock, it is known, 

 are much more liable to decomposition than others, (gneiss 

 especially); and the fact is here evident ; some of the stones 

 are very much decayed, while others appear as sound as on 

 the day they were hewn. In a kind of passage of the larger 

 temple is a large mutilated statue of Vishnu, now" lying 

 supine. 



These temples were formerly surrounded by an outer stone 

 wall, part of which only is now standing. Two pillars also 

 remain shewing the position of the western gateway 



