Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.118

c2.118

Temple No. 3 is similar to No. 2 both on plan and in design and faces the east. The shrine cell is about 5 feet square on plan, and contains a small linga of the usual kind. The shrine doorway is guarded by two life-size doorkeepers leaning on huge clubs and the one on the north side has the horned headdress mentioned above. In front is a small terrace 9½ feet in length and 6 feet in width and is without the stone bull facing the entrance. Like No. 2 the facade is fully occupied by the doorway and the two big doorkeepers on each side of it, so there is no room for any additional panels containing figures of Brahmā and Viṣṇu as we find in No. 1. It is strange that these smaller four armed images of Brahmā and Viṣṇu only appear in these old Śiva temples when the facade happens to be wide enough to accommodate them. This seems to indicate that they really are later additions as suggested above, otherwise, the sculptors would have surely designed the original temple with sufficient space on each side of the entrance to accommodate these two figures. The rock-cut side walls of the roofless terrace contain two little niches or panels, one on each side and facing each other. The one on the north side contains a little cross-legged figure of the kind already described and the other a figure of Gaṇēśa, both of which are probably later additions. The overhanging projecting rock above the facade and the outer edge of the terrace floor are provided with socket holes for wooden pillars and beams to support a thatched roof. The temple contains no inscriptions. [Plate XVII].