Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.72

c2.72

The plan and the style of the facade is very similar to the Mandagapattu temple but the Pallāvaram temple has no figures of doorkeepers like the former. The pillar on the right side of the entrance has the octagonal portion of the shaft at the bottom instead of in the middle like the other pillars. It is curious that the masons should have made this mistake. Presumably this feature is due to accident and not intentional, and spoils the appearance of the facade. The shape of the upper portion of the shaft shows that it is not a later addition. Engraved all along the architrave of the facade and also along that of the inner row of pillars, is an inscription which is made up of a series of names which are evidently titles or *birudas* of a Pallava king (*Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1909*, Part II, No. 14, page 75). It is noteworthy that the first name in the series is "Sri Mahēndra-Vikrama," the same name, in fact, as that which appears in the inscription in the Trichinopoly temple. The form of the letters, too, is similar in both inscriptions; so there can be no doubt that it was Mahendravarman I who had the Pallāvaram temple excavated in the early part of the seventh century.