THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 



129 



shrine cell, in most of which a ling a, the emblem of Siva, was 

 enshrined, with a sculptured altar-piece or tableau carved on 

 the panel of the back wall. 



The old structural temples Nos. 6, 8, 34 and 54, are of 

 the same style and design as these pyramidal monoliths, and 

 apparently were erected for precisely the same purpose. Old 

 temples of this style may still be seen in the districts south 

 of Madras and in Malabar. But the nearest likeness to the 

 original of these Vihara-like pillared halls, as figured in 

 Fergusson's volume (I.E. A., 1876, p. 134) I have met, is the 

 Grandhamana Parvata open pillared mandapa at Ramesva- 

 ram, which only wants the cells to complete the likeness, 

 the terraces there being quite vacant. 



Next to the pyramidal shrine comes the oblong waggon- 

 roofed form with curved gable ends. Of this there are two 

 specimens here ; one of only two storeys, Bhima's Rath 

 No. 42, having a single cell-bearing terrace, and one of three 

 storeys, Kamaraja's Temple No. 24. These are supposed 

 to resemble the halls or porticos of the Buddhists. No. 24 

 is nearly finished, and was always apparently intended for 

 the small shrine cell it has now. The other, No. 42, may be 

 supposed to have been intended for a larger shrine cell, but 

 it has no projecting portico on one side. 



It rather represents an oblong hall surrounded by a 

 verandah which is open and supported by pillars in the 

 centre of each of the four sides, whilst the ends of the veran- 

 dah, i.e., the four square blocks at the angles, have been left 

 closed, as if intended for four small chambers or for stairs. 

 The original must have been admirably well adapted for 

 a college hall. The great Gropurams or entrance towers of 

 South Indian temples are the lineal descendants of this 

 waggon-roofed form of building ; but, as seen from without^ 

 the modern Yaishnava temple (No. 13) at this place, singu--. 

 larly enough, has its principal Vimana or shrine tower of 

 this shape (and is so described in the Sthalapurana, see, 



17 



