Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.100

c2.100

On the east side of the facade and cut in the rock is a little niche about 4′ long and 2′ in height containing three little decayed bas-relief figures representing the three gods of the Hindu Trinity. On the west side of the facade is a corresponding niche which has been left unfinished. A few feet to the west of the latter is a figure of a warrior with a drawn sword roughly carved on the face of the rock and on the west side of the figure is an old Telugu inscription. The latter is much worn and only partly legible. I sent a copy of it to Mr. Krishna Sastri, the Government Epigraphist, and he kindly informs me as follows :—" The record is an early Telugu one of about the 8th or 9th century and refers to the stabbing of some individual. In the first line I can clearly read the name Chōla and in the third the words stabbed." The figure with the sword apparently is intended for a crude portrait of the individual who did the stabbing. The figure does not appear to have any connexion with the temple and belongs to a later period.