318 IDENTIFICATION OF MANIPTJRA WITH MANALURU. 



I believe that these and other such carvings originated 

 with the Pandya princes, who, by honoring their ancestors, 

 conferred still greater distinction on themselves. A reigning 

 dynasty alone could have undertaken the construction of such 

 works. The assumption that these carvings originated with 

 the Pandyas, under whose sway for some time the whole 

 Eastern Coast remained, does not contradict any historical 

 statement especially as the reign of the Pandya kings 

 extended aver a long period. 



The execution of these sculptures is generally ascribed to 

 the architectural energy of Buddhists and Jains, but there 

 is nothing against the assumption that the Pandyas may 

 have once also followed the religious tenets of the Buddhists 

 and Jains and supported their co-religionists in the same 

 manner in the South as the Maurya Kings of Pataliputra 

 did in the North. 



If this hypothesis can be proved to rest on historical 

 evidence, we shall perhaps be able to settle before long the 

 date of the construction of these rock carvings in a more 

 satisfactory manner than has been done up to this day. 



Gm stav Oppert, 



