Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.94

c2.94

There are five excavations on the eastern side of the hill, but only two of these are interesting and both of them are situated in the quarry compound belonging to the Public Works Department. The other three shrines on this side of the hill have been converted into modern places of worship and are occupied by fakirs and others and are no longer of any interest to the antiquarian. As one enters the quarry compound from the south, the first excavation met with is a small two-celled shrine facing the east. It is unfinished and very much decayed. Two little shrine cells are cut in the back or west wall and each has a small porch in front. Over the shrine doorway, below the cornice, is a small hamsa or sacred goose frieze, so common at the Seven Pagodas. The cornice, too, is in the same style and decorated with the usual gable ornament. There are traces of the figures of doorkeepers at each end of the porch but they are too decayed to be of any interest. On the south side of the porch is a crudely carved image of Gaṇēśa, probably a later addition.