Indian Antiquary Vol 04

SR No.: 032496
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 410
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 284

272
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
ARCHEOLOGICAL NOTES. BY M. J. WALHOUSE, LATE M.C.S. (Continned from page 163).
VI.--Buddhist Vestiges in Trichinapalli,
Malas. Kulitale is the kasbd, or chief town, of a taluka of the same name in the district of Tri hinapalli. It lies on the south bank of the Kaveri river, 20 miles from the amous old town of Clive and Lawrence, and is now, I believe, a station of the South Indian Railway that skirts the Kaveri, joining the Great Indian Peninsula line with Tanjore and Negapatam. About two iles south of the station, on a wide open plain, a remarkable rocky ridge crops up, such as is frequently seen on the extensive rolling maidáns of the South. It may be 200 or 300 yards long, of no great height, and strewn with enormous boulders, one of which, situated at the western end of the ridge, is the most remarkable and striking example of the kind I have ever seen, being a colossal rounded mass nearly thirty feet high, poised on its smaller end, so as to resemble a pear or top upright when viewed from the cast, but presenting a different aspect and shape on cach quarter, as exemplified in the plate. Its enormous mass and the very small stand it rests on make it an astonishing object viewed from any side.* The eastern end of the ridge terminates in a precipitous pils crowned with another vast boulder, square and broad, also very striking, but of less interest than the other. Between the two the ridge is covered with an agglomeration of immense masses, some of colossal size, under one of which runs a long deep cave. The accompanying plate gives a general view of the ridge and boulders, but the point of antiquarian interest consists in the square entablature cut on the castern face of the first-mentioned boulder. It is well cnt, in perfect preservation, and represents Buddha seated, with attendants on each side; an enlarged sketch is given on the plate. This lonely memorial of a vanished faith is entirely ignored and unnoticed by the present population. No legend even attaches to it; the herdsmen grazing their cattle on the plain
The rock is granitoid. In Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India by Dr. Oldham, vol. i. pt. 2. pp. 80. 1, there will be found delineations of ther fosque nd striking rocky piles and tors in the Te D
SEPTEMBER, 1875.
have no name for it-that I could discover at least; and it remains a mute witness of Buddhist or Jaina ascendancy. Though calling it a representation of Buddha,† it may also be one of the Jaina Manus or Tirthankaras, which does not seem improbable, considering how long the Jina faith prevailed in the neighbouring Pandyan kingdom of Madura. The only other relic I could hear of in the Trichinapalli district is a large Buddhist or Jaina image, exceeding life-size, that lies prostrate under a hedge near the Vellar river, not far from the point where it is crossed by the high road from Trichinapalli to South Arkat; the Vellar is the boundary between the two districts, and the image is covered with the blown sand from the river-bed, having only the head and shoulders exposed. At Volkondapuram, ten miles south of the Vellar, often mentioned by Orme, once a túlukâ kasba, now a wretched little place, there is a small nasty-looking square tank in a templecourt that has a Jaina or Buddhist appearance, being surrounded with a curious low sunken cloister, the roof level with the ground. Memorials of many creeds and epochs are strangely mingled on this old historic battle-ground. At Volkondapuram there is a small fort, now almost obliterated; an abandoned travellers'bungalow stands, or stood, upon it; and within the circuit of the wall are two temples, one containing the cloistered tank, the other a Siva temple, with a beautiful chattram close by, exhibiting very admirable carving, with six monolithic pillars in front, two representing a warrior on a rearing horse trampling on a fallen enemy, the other a griffin rampant standing on a kneeling elephant, the latter with head thrown up and trunk turning round a sort of thyrsus which the griffin clasps at the middle with its fore claws, holding the end in its jaws. There is much other good sculpture, groups of figures in entablature, &c., many with faces disfigured or heads knocked off by Haidar's men; one Gâddi Mudeliar is traditionally said
It appears to represent Buddha in what Col. Yule dsnas the Western attitude, as a mendicant, both hands rt in the with the palms upwards, the b. gging pot, a often the case. oma.tted.