204 



DESCRIPTIVE REMARKS ON 



The ruins of a little temple (No. 8), 200 yards to the south- 

 west, show it to have been also somewhat in this style, as well as 

 those of the Olakkannesvara temple (No. 34), and the Mukunda- 

 nayanar (No. 54). 



The great Saiva shrines of Tanjore and Gangaikondapuram 

 also approximate, and a perhaps superficial likeness of it may 

 be seen in the temple at Tellar, and doubtless many other 

 examples of the style might be found, if looked for, in Madras 

 and Malabar. 



The temple consists of a rectangular shrine surmounted by a 

 high pointed roof rising pyramidally in four terraces capped by 

 a tall bell-shaped octagonal dome with a kalasam finial like 

 those of the monolithic shrines. 



Including the basement, there are five storeys marked by four 

 boldly projecting (convex) cornices and the dome. 



The first and fourth terraces are without the usual domical cell 

 ornaments, such as adorn the second and third terraces, but they 

 are furnished with lion's conchant at the angles, the lion being of 

 the type so prevalent here throughout the monoliths, the excava- 

 tions and the structural shrines. From 20 to 30 (K.L.) of these 

 lions may be counted here. 



The proper entrance to this temple is by a regular doorway 

 in the centre of the east side of the great screen or surrounding 

 wall, and not the " mere plain opening in the wall " as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Gubbins (at p. 158 of Carr's book). On the out- 

 side (to east) there is a flight of steps leading down to the rocks 

 and to the sea (? as at Eamesvaram), and alongside them is a 

 smooth ramp or slide, just as may be seen on the north side of 

 the great bas-relief (No. 17 Arjuna's penance). The doorway 

 itself is 7' 6" high and 6' wide, Braddock, p. 107, flanked by 

 (dvarapal) warders, and surmounted by a higher or bigger 

 cell-ornament cornice, evidently contemporaneous with the 

 screen wall. On entering this doorway from the seaward the 

 entrance to the principal shrine-cell lies open immediately 

 opposite, at the top of a narrow flight of steps between the 

 usual parapets. Two lions are carved on the walls on each 



