The Colas c36.20

c36.20

Fig. 14. Entrance *gōpura*, Laddigam. It is a simple and beautiful *gōpura* and is one of the very early examples of its kind. It is single-storeyed (*ekatala*). *Kīrtimukha* designs one each over the ends of the vault is all the decoration that the *gōpura* has and it is clearly the prototype for the later day elaborately worked *yāḷi* heads of the *gōpuras*.