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YAŠASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
veram, of which we shall speak later. The Siva temple of Virattaneśvara at Tiruvadi in the South Arcot district contains an inscription belonging to the reign of Parameśvara-Pottaraiyar, and might perhaps be attributed to Parameśvaravarman II.
There was a change in the line of succession after Parameśvaravarman II, and Nandivarman Pallavamalla came to the throne about 720 A. D. The Pallavas reigned for a further period of more than a century and a half, and continued the tradition of building temples in honour of Śiva. These shrines are smaller in size, of which the best examples are the temples of Mukteśvara and Matangesvara at Conjeeveram. The first may be assigned to about the middle of the eighth century and the second to its end. The temple of Kailasanatha at Alambākkam founded by Dantivarman, who succeeded Nandivarman Pallavamalla towards the end of the eighth century A. D., was probably rebuilt during the Cola period. To the later Pallava period also belong the temple of Parasurameśvara at Gudimallam near Renigunta and that of Vādāmallīśvara at Oragadam near Chingleput. It is said that Siva temples with the name Parasurameśvara are not rare in the South, and they are believed to owe their existence to Paraśurāma. The temple at Oragadam is apsidal-ended, and modelled on the style of the rock-cut temple known as Sahadeva's Ratha at Mahābalipuram. Apsidal-ended temples of this type are not uncommon in Southern India, and as a rule are dedicated to Siva. Perhaps in adopting this style of building from the Buddhists, the Brāhmaṇas saw in its apsidal-ended plan the sacred form of the linga or phallic emblem of Siva, and thus considered it an appropriate design for Saivite temples.
One of the latest Pallava temples dedicated to Siva is that of Virattaneśvara at Tiruttani, which belongs to the reign of Aparăjita, the last of the Pallavas, and was therefore built in the last quarter of the ninth century. It is square on plan with a small porch or hall facing the east giving access to a shrine chamber 6 feet square.' The tower or Vimāna over the shrine chamber is designed like a small model of a Buddhist caitya and bears a striking resemblance to Sahadeva's Ratha.'
That Saivism was the prevailing religion during the Pallava period is shown by the Pallava monuments, most of which are dedicated to Siva. It has been said of the Pallava capital that in the south the honour belongs to one city only and that is Kāñci, It seems that this position was attained by Kāñci under the orthodox rule of the Pallavas and mainly by the religion of Saivism which they propagated and favoured together with the greatness of the Saiva saints who flourished there. Buddhism and Jainism both found followers in the Pallava empire, but the religion of the ruling family and the people generally was Saivism. They built a few Vişņu temples, but 'Siva was their family deity, and Kāñči is still
1 Jouveau-Dubreuil: The Pallavas, p. 46. 2 For the later Pallava temples see Longhurst (op. cit.), Part III and Jouveau.
Dubreuil; Pallava Antiquities, Vol. II,
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