THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 



83 



which rises abruptly from the sandy plain in a solid mass of 

 bare gneiss rock to a height of nearly 100 feet. The top and 

 sides of this rocky hill or ridge are carved, scored or exca- 

 vated in numerous places, and some of the many outlying 

 fragments or detached boulders with which it is surrounded 

 have been hewn into the shape of temples and antique struc- 

 tures which are noticed in the following pages. 



Besides the monolithic shrines, the rock-hewn chambers 

 and the sculptures, there are ruined remains of a few struc- 

 tural temples of ancient style, and a larger number of more 

 modern temples and buildings, associated with the dwellings 

 of the present villagers. 



Of the antiquities to be mentioned the most peculiar and 

 interesting from an architectural point of view are the mono- 

 lithic temples or shrines, the principal group of which lies at 

 a distance of a third of a mile (or 650 yards) south of the 

 main rocks. There are five of them here, and it may be this 

 number, combined with the two spires of the built temple on 

 the sea-shore as seen from the sea, which has given rise to the 

 Anglo-Indian name " Seven Pagodas." 



A few other scattered clusters of rocks crop up here and 

 there above the surface of the sand, and one of these near 

 the sea-shore at Saluvankuppam, a couple of miles to the 

 north of Mavalivaram, is well worth a visit to inspect the 

 peculiar rock carvings, an excavation, and some inscriptions, 

 which have been made there. 



" Seven Pagodas " may be best visited from Madras, 

 whence it is a long night's journey distant,, in a canal boat. 



The principal objects at Mavalivaram may be seen in a 

 single day, but it would require two or rather three days for 

 a leisurely and close examination of all the objects of interest, 

 including a visit to the carved rocks at Saluvankuppam. 



A boat must be engaged accordingly and provisions taken 

 for the whole time, as nothing of the kind is procurable 



