THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 



215 



cornices above are of double curvature, convex above and 

 concave below. Square domical cells occupy the angles of the 

 cell-bearing terraces, between which, on the long sides (east 

 and west), stand two oblong waggon-roofed cells, each fur- 

 nished with three kalasams, the usual complement on those of 

 the monoliths and rock excavations being two only. 



The gopuram at the entrance of the inner court is five-storeyed 

 and has nine kalasams on the ridge of its waggon-roof, a still 

 more modern-looking building. Its lowest cornice, of stone, 

 has the horse shoe face-medallions, and the central dormer on 

 the barrel of the waggon-roof (east side) contains a remarkable 

 grinning face of a man or demon. The pilasters were evidently 

 intended to resemble the style of those on the monoliths and rock 

 excavations. The brackets are deep and of wooden pattern. 

 Another great stone gopuram was designed for the entrance to 

 the outer court but never carried out. 



In the entrance to a small ruined chapel on the north side of 

 the outer court, I noticed a small black polished marble Bud- 

 dhist or Jaina image (?), set up in (or built into ?) a niche in 

 the east wall, facing west. 



Madras Survey Map " Seven Pidaris, Jam Idol and a Lihgam" 

 5. This is a group of slab -stone images set up in a row north 

 and south, facing the east, from 350 to 400 yards north of the 

 Dolotsava or " swinging festival mandapa " of the large modern 

 Vaishnava temple, along the principal street of the village, and 

 on a mound supposed to be the site of a Pidari- Amman (village 

 goddess) temple. The eight figures are cut in high relief out of 

 eight separate slabs of hard stone, standing some two or three 

 feet out of the ground. They are four-armed with high topis or 

 head dresses and bear their cognisances about them. The chief 

 and highest of them occupies the middle of the row, on the top 

 of the mound and represents a four-armed demoness (left upper 

 arm lost), wearing a great shock of hair parted in the centre 

 and hanging down the back in a long tail ending in a triangular 

 knot or knob. She has a large round (disc) earring in the left 

 ear, and a sprawling child (perhaps dead) suspended by the 



