Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.115.1

c2.115.1

There are eight temples and all of them contain stone lingas showing that they were dedicated to Siva and most of them face the east. The lingas are of medium size, cylindrical in shape, polished and most of them are made of black basalt, which must have been brought from a distance as there is none in the neighbourhood. The yoni pedestals, which are hewn out of the natural rock, are square on plan and usually about 18 inches in height. The linga is fixed in a round hole cut in the centre of the upper surface of the pedestal. The shrine cells are small and plain, usually about 6 feet square on plan and 6 feet in height. On each side of the shrine doorway is a large panel or niche containing a life-size figure of a doorkeeper leaning on a huge club. All of these figures are two-armed indicating their early origin. The pose and style of these large figures, the headdress, including the bull's horns worn by some of them, the curious arrangement of the hair, extending outwards from each side of the face in a circular mass resting on the shoulders, the body ornaments and the huge clubs, are similar to those found in early Pallava monuments at Trichinopoly, Dalavānūr, Mandagapattu and elsewhere. The bull's horns worn as a headdress appear to be a feature peculiar to Pallava art. It is a common form of headdress in some of the sculptures at the Seven Pagodas and is also met with in the figures of doorkeepers of the Pallava temples at Vallam and Mogalrājapuram.