Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.120

c2.120

Temple No. 5 is situated immediately above No. 4 and faces the east and is without any proper approach. It appears a trifle later and is more ornamental in style than those just described, but on plan it is similar to the others though provided with a small porch supported by two rock-cut pillars in front. The shrine cell measures about 6 feet square on plan and contains a linga of the usual type. On each side of the entrance is a big doorkeeper leaning on his club. These two figures are in the same style as those already described but better executed. As there is plenty of space between the doorkeepers and the ends of the facade, a four-armed image of Brahma appears in a panel on the south and one of Vishnu on the north side of the shrine entrance. The little porch is 15 feet in length and 4½ feet in width its rock-cut roof being supported on two pillars, square in section with cushion-shaped capitals carrying brackets which support the architrave and cornice above. The cornice is decorated with the gable window ornament and below it is a frieze of little dwarfs. The simulated roof line of the facade is decorated with little figures of lions and griffins in pairs, similar to those found in some of the rock-cut temples at Mogalrājapuram near Bezwada. In front is the usual roofless terrace in the centre of which is a small rock-cut bull facing the shrine entrance. The south wall of the terrace has a little figure of Gaṇēśa and the north wall one of Śiva both in small panels like those already described. Cut on the front surface of the cubical portions of both pillars are four short inscriptions concerning which Mr. Krishna Sastri gives the following account :—