Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.104

c2.104

(13) *Undavalli*.—The great rock-cut temple of Anantasayana at Undavalli in the Guntur district is situated on the south bank of the Krishnā river opposite to Bezwada and can be reached by boat from that place or from Tadepalle, the next station to Bezwada on the Guntur line. The temple and a few minor excavations and crude rock carvings are excavated in a rocky hill about two miles north-west of Tadepalle station and face in a north-easterly direction towards the river and the Kistna district beyond. A description of the big temple appears in Fergusson's "*Cave Temples of India*", Chapter IV. The few inscriptions discovered at Undavalli throw no light on the origin of the temple. The earliest is an old Telugu record of about the 9th century A. D. engraved on the front surface of the unfinished cornice of the facade of the ground floor. It is incomplete and records nothing of any interest except the date, which is later than the age of the monument. Another record shows that the temple was in good order and well patronised by the Reddi chiefs of Kondavīdu in the Guntur district during the 14th century and a record from the South Arcot district indicates that the great Vijayanagar king Krishnarāya visited the temple and bestowed gifts upon it in the 16th century. These inscriptions show that the temple was called Anantasāyigudi or Anantasyanagudi in the middle ages and contains in its second storey a decayed colossal image of Anantasayana (Vishnu lying on a serpent couch), with its attendant deities (Plate XII). In the hall adjoining the sanctuary containing the great image of Vishnu are a number of figures carved on the back wall representing devotees, which by their appearance confirm the statements made by the local villagers, that they are Vaishnava Alvārs and appear to be later additions. Since the inscriptions give no information regarding the origin of the temple its approximate age can be ascertained only from its architectural style.