History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v2.c24.s2.12

v2.c24.s2.12

Before leaving this branch of the subject there is one other rock-cut example which deserves to be quoted, not either for its size or antiquity, but from the elegance of its details. It is situated at a place called Kalugumalai in the Tinnevelly district,² 27 miles south from Srîvilliputtûr, and consequently 75 miles north from Cape Comorin. Like the examples at Mâmallapuram, this one never was finished, probably because the person who commenced it did not live to complete it, and it was nobody's business to finish what was of no use, and intended only to glorify him who made it. It is not cut out of a separate boulder, but out of a ridge, as I fancy those at Mâmallapuram to have been, and if successful, any number of others of any dimensions might have followed. The other side of the Kalugumalai hill had been occupied by the Jains, and numerous images of their Tîrthankars are carved upon it, with inscriptions that supply the names of the villages by which the different figures were carved. This little temple is now dedicated to Subrahmanya, but is said to be originally Jaina; it is probably of the 10th or 11th century, and if it had been completed it would have been one of the most perfect gems of the style. For some reason unexplained it was only blocked out, and the upper part only carved, when it was abandoned, and is now entirely forsaken.³ From its details, it certainly is more modern than the Kailâs—how much we cannot yet say with certainty.