Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.115.3

c2.115.3

In the later and more ornamental temples at Bhairavakonda, we have the cornice decorated with the gable window design and a frieze of fat little dwarfs below it and lion pillars with bracket capitals carrying the architrave spanning the facade, just as we find them in many of the temples at the Seven Pagodas. When the Pallavas became dispossessed of their Telugu province by the Chālukyas in the early part of the 7th century and were driven south, they must have passed through that region which is now called the Nellore district and it is probable that this area formed a frontier between the two countries for some years as the Pallavas never regained their northern province although their empire continued to flourish in the south. The architectural style of the earlier temples at Bhairavakonda clearly indicates that they were excavated in the 7th century or thereabouts, and as we know that the Pallavas must have occupied this part of the country about this period at least for a time, and the fact that both on plan and in design the temples are similar to Pallava monuments discovered elsewhere, it is reasonable to assume that the earlier temples at least are the work of the Pallavas. As there are eight temples all of which are dedicated to Siva and have no special names, it will be necessary to number them 1 to 8 in describing them below in detail.