THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 



137 



Map No. revenues, perhaps from the decline in the 



wealth and numbers of the worshippers of 

 Saiva about this time, 1100 A.D. (Carr, 

 pp. 121-124.) 



(61). 11. This is a dated inscription, in the old Tamil 

 character (precisely similar to the previous 

 inscriptions 8, 9, and 10), cut on a stone 

 under a big Pipal tree near the steps on 

 the south side of the tank in the neigh- 

 bouring hamlet of Pavalakkaran Cavadi. 

 It is dated in the Saka year 1157 (= A.D° 

 1235), and records the gift by one Tiru- 

 vengala Nayakar, of a piece of land sur- 

 rounding the mandapam dedicated by 

 Timmappa, for the halting-place during 

 the Padivettai Tirunal (? hunting festival) 

 of Perumal Adivaraha Jnana Piran 

 (Vishnu), the deity of Pufijeri, Tirupar- 

 kadal and Mamallapuram, (See Carr's 

 quotation of Sir Walter Elliot, pp. 124 ? 

 125.) 



CONCLUSION. 



The antique works in stone at Mamallapuram or Seven 

 Pagodas appear to be Brahmanical and of northern origin. 



They would seem to have been executed by some Pallava 

 princes during a time of Saiva ascendancy prior to its struggle 

 with the Yaishnava faith. 



The architects and workmen may have been the remains 

 or the descendants and successors of the Buddhist masons 

 who wrought the splendid marbles of Amravati and excavated 

 the cave temples of Unda villi on the Kistna river at Bezvada. 

 During the decline of Buddhism in India a colony or some 



18 



