Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/121

Atril, 1863.] THE SEVEN PAGODAS. 107 THE SEVEN PAGODAS. BY THE REV. MAURICE PHILLIPS, L.M.S. Tlie celebrated rock-cut temples at Mavalive- rain, commonly known to Europeans as the “ seven pagodas,” have from time to time at¬ tracted many visitors, and called forth many notices in the journals of scientific societies as to their origin and antiquity. Mavaliveram is the name of a now small vil¬ lage situated close to the sea between Covelong and Sadras, in the vicinity of which are great masses of hill-like rocks abounding in excavations of curious temples of various shapes and sizes, with figures in high relief representing Hindu mythology. The most celebrated of these are the Bathas, a cluster of fine monolithic temples of a pyramidal shape, differing in size, and covered with ornamental sculptures. All the sculptures are representations of Brah¬ manical mythology, chiefly taken from the Ma¬ habharata, such as the Vamana and VarAha incarnations of Vishnu ; Krishna supporting the mountain of Govardhana in order to shelter his followers from the wrath of Indra; the penance of Arjuna; DronAchari and the five PAndavas ; Dharmaraja’s lion-throne, and the bath of Drau- padi; Vishnu recumbent on the thousand-headed £esha; and DurgA’s conflict with Mahishasura. There are also figures of Brahma, Siva, and Ganesa. If the inscriptions, both in Tamil and Sanskrit, found on some of the rocks, and which have been translated, contained dates or gave any account of the commencement of the sculptures, it would be easy to ascertain their age. But unfortunately those inscriptions only mention the names of the Rajas or Governors in whose reign grants of land were made to the temples; and as those names cannot be identified with any line of Rajas, or with any contemporary event to which a date can be attached, they af¬ ford no clue to the probable age of the sculp¬ tures. There are a few scattered facts, however, in the Mackenzie MSS. which, when collected and compared, enable us, with some degree of certainty, to ascertain their age. It is stated that before the time of Kulattunga- chola and his illegitimate son Adondai, the whole district bounded on the north by the Pe- nar, on the south by the Palar, on the east by the sea, and on the west by the Ghats, was occupied by half-civilized Kurumbars, who had embraced the Jaina religion, brought to them from the north. It is further stated that both Kulat- tungachola and his son, after much fighting, conquered the Kurumbars, and, by way of fixing a stigma on the conquered country, changed its name from Kurumbabhiimi to Tondamandalam, “ the land of slaves ; ” and having cleared the forest founded the celebrated Kanchipuram (Kanjevarem) as the capital of his new kingdom. Kulattungachola was a great warrior who besides conquered the Telingana country. And fortunately there are two local records in Telugu among the Mackenzie MSS. which enable us to fix the date of his reign. One states that he conquered the country in Sam. Sake 1093 (A. D. 1171), and the other records the gift of some charities in S. 1065 (A.D. 1143). It is evident then that Kulattungachola lived iu the twelfth century of the Christian era, and as he must have conquered the Kuramba- bhfimi, in which Mavaliveram is situated, either before or after the Telingana country, we cannot be far wrong in placing his conquest of the former in the second half of the twelfth century A.D. At that time the inhabitants of Mavalive¬ ram were Jainas, and as the sculptures show no traces of Jainaism, it may be concluded that they were not then commenced. Again, it is stated that Adondai (A. D. 1160-80) brought BrAhmans from the north to be accountants in his new kingdom, the Ton¬ damandalam, from which it would appear that there were no BrAhmans there before- Now the present temples at Mavaliveram are Brahmanical. Allowing then a period of 100 years for the Brahmans to suppress Jainaism and establish their own authority, as a monu¬ ment of which we may suppose they caused the temples to be cut, the date of their commence¬ ment cannot be placed earlier than the 13th century A.D. In the reign of Sundara PAndya, which ap¬ pears to synchronize with Marco Polo’s visit to India, the Jainas were finally expeUed from the PAndya country, i. e. about A. D. 1300. Now, considering the proximity of the Tondamanda¬ lam to the Pandya kingdom, and the influence which the one necessarily exerted on the other,