Cave Temples at Pallava Period – Mahendra Style
 Photo by : AADHI ARTS in Flickr |
The simple cave-temples of Mahendra (c. AD 580-630) consist of a pillared verandah with shrine-cell or cells cut into either the rear or the side walls of the verandah or hall, depending on which way the main façade of the verandah or mandapa faced. Thus in mandapas facing south or north, the single shrine-cell or cells were often cut into the lateral walls so as to face east or west, while in mandapas facing east or west the shrine-cell or cells were cut into the hind wall of the mandapa. These, as all rock-cut architecture, are necessarily designed to show the interior aspect of the structural monuments they imitated. They are essentially of the mandapa-type of temples. The cave-temples excavated by Mahendra are authenticated by his won inscriptions which are very often single dedicatory verses or stings of his titles. Such templees are ten in number. Nine of them are: the Lakshitayatana dedicated to the tirmurti at Mandagappattu, the so-called Pancha Pandava cave-temple at Pallavaram (now converted No. II at Mamandur dedicated to Siva, the Kal mandapam cave-temple at Kuranganilmuttam, very similar to the Pallava inscriptions, the Vasantesvaram or larger cave temple or Cave-temple at Vallam, dedicated to Siva, the Mahendra Vishun-griha cave-temple or Cave-temple No. 1 at Mamandur, the Satrumallesvaralaya a cave-temple at Dalavanur dedicated to Siva, and the Avanibhajana Pallavesvara-griha cave-temple at Siyamangalam. All of them are located roundabout the Pallava capital of Kanchi and the port town of Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) in the Chingleput, North Arcot, and South Arcot districts-comprising the Pallava home province of Tondaimandalam (the region situated to the north, west and south of modern Madras). The Lalitankura Pallavesvara-griha, or the upper rock-cut cave-temple at Tiruchirapalli, is the solitary one farthest from the capital, situated in the Cholamandalam om the bank of the Kaveri up to which boundary Mahendravarman inherited the kingdom from his father, Simha Vishnu. This cave-temple is also the only example excavated near the summit of the hill, while the rest are nearer to the base of the rocks. The unfinished rock-cut temples at Vilappakkam (North Arcot district) and Aragandanallur (South Arcot district) would also, on stylistic grounds, belong to the Mahendra style.
Where there is only a single cell behind the mandapa, there are four pillars and pilasters on the façade of the rectangular mandapa, two pilasters in antis at the two extreme ends against the side walls, and two pillars in the middle-all equally space. The façade is longer with four, six or eight equally-spaced pillars between the extreme pilasters and with three, five, or seven shrine- cells. The pillars are all massive, short, square in section at the base and top, with the middle third of the height octagonal in section. They carry massive corbels with bevelled or curved ends, sometimes with the faces carved as a series of rolls, the taranga, with a median flat band, the patta. A massive beam is cut above the corbels, but there is no wll-formed cornice projection, or kapota, the rought rock brow itself acting as one. The faces of the square sections of the pillars are adorned with large, circular lotus medallions often inscribed inside a square. The mandapa may be divided by inner longitudinal row of pillars and pilasters into two sections, front and rear, indicating the mukha-mandapa and ardha-mandapa portions, though both may be of the same width and of the same type, corresponding to the façade row. Where there are no inner pillars, the differentiation is indicated by the varying floor-levels or ceiling heights.
A flight of about three rock-cut steps from the floor of the mandapa leads to the simple shrine entrance which is cut projecting a little into the mandapa. The shrine often shows a moulded pedestal, or adhishthana, and the wall is cantoned at its two front corners by four-sided flat pilasters with two more in between, each of the inner pairs flanking the shrine entrance. Often these two inner pilasters form also the two jambs of the simple doorway with a low lintel across and a sill cut at the top of the flight of steps below. The door-frame, if distinct, is again simple and unadorned. The pilasters carry in some cases distinct capital mouldings and corbles, or potika, on top. A beam and flexed overhanging cornice or kapota is cut on top. The kapota is adorned by semi-circular kudu ornaments, with a flat shovel-shaped finial above.
The shrine doors are generally guarded by relief sculptures of two armed dvarapalas, or gatekeepers, one on each side. In the earliest cave-temple where the shrines for the trinity-Brahma, Siva and Vishnu-are but deep plain niches cut into the rear wall, the two dvarapalas are found one on either side of the façade of the mandapa. The Vasantesvaram at Vallam, the Vishnu cave-temple of Mahendravadi and Mamandur and the Avanibhajanas cave-temples at Siyamangalam are examples of cave "temples with a single shrine-cell cut into the hind wall of the mandapa. The Rudravalisvaram of Mamandur and the Kalmandakam cave-temple at Kuranganilmuttam are examples with three shrine cells, as at Mandagappattu. The four additional cells, two on each laterl wall of the ardha-and mukha-mandapas of the Kalmandakam temple, are later additions to the original scheme of three cells on the rear wall. The Pallavaram cave-temple has five shrine-cells, while the unfinished Vilappakkam cave-temple has seven shrine-cells. The similar unfinished Aragandanallur cave-temple, with four pillars and two pilasters on the façade and in the hind row, would indicate five shrine-cells on the rear wall still uncut. Thus the number and disposition of shrines on the rear wall would correspond to the pillars of the mandapa in front, each shrine "opening coming in between two equally-spaced pillars, or a pillar and a pilaster. This along with the equal inter-columniation would contrast with the arrangement of the wider central nave and the narrow lateral aisles of the earlier Buddhist example follwed by the contemporary and later examples of the Chalukya-Rashtrakuta series.
The facades as well as the shrines of the Kalmandakam, Rudravalisvaram, Vasantesvaram and the Vishnu cave-temples of Mahendravadi and mamandur and Siyamangalam face almost west. Pallavaram is the only example in the series where the mandapa façade and shrine-cells face south. The Lalitankura and Satrumalla cave-temples at Tirchirapalli and Dalavanur areexamples with the mandapa facing south and the shrine cut into the lateral wall-the eastern one at Tirchirapalli and the western one at Dalavanur-so that the shrines face west and east respectively. In the Dalavanur cave-temple the larger mandapa, with a single row of pillars and pilaster on the façade, indicates an inner division of the front and rear portions of the mandapa by a difference in the floor levels. The shrine on the western wall of the ardha-mandapa part is cut with a small porch-like pillared mandapa in front of it. This too is rock-cut and stands on the floor of the ardha-mandapa on distinct plinth at a still higher level. In the case of the Tiruchirapalli cave-temple, an inner row of pillars and pilasters is cut very close to the hind wall with a narrow passage in between it and the wall. The cell on the east faces west into the front part of the mandapa between the inner and outer rows of columns. This is a feature not quite Pallva, but rather reminiscent of the cave-temples in the Pandyan country, for example, the one at Tirup-parankunram. Incidentally, the Lalitankura Pallavesvaram cave-temple of Tiruchirapalli is the southernmost Pallava cave-temple nearer to the borders of the Pandya territory. The lotus medallions on the top and bottom cubical parts (sadurams) of the pillars, which are absent in the earlier cave-temples of this series like those at Mandagapattu, Pallavaram and Kuranganilmuttam, and the Siva caves at Mamandur and Vallam are to be found in the later ones of the series as in the Vishnu cave-temples at Mahendravadi and Mamandur. The Siva cave-temples at Tirucuirapalli and Siyamangalam have, in addition, other motifs incised in side ciruclar medallions, such as makaras, kinnaris, matanganakras (combination of an elephant and a makara) and pushpa-lata and patra-lata (scrolls of leaves and flowers). The Siyamangalam cave-temple has small relief panels of sculpture on top of the pilasters.
The shrine-cells, or garbha-grihas, in all these cases are empty and do not contain either a rock-cut linga or linga-pitha, as is common in the Pandya, Muttaraiyar and Chalukyan cave-temples. They do not have in fact any appropriate sculpture of the deity in worship-Siva, Vishnu or other gods-to whom the temple according to the inscription is known to be dedicated. Often there are traces of lime plaster with a painting over it on the hind wall indicating that the object of worship was a mural painting of the god. Sometimes one finds a slight relief of a pedestal cut at the base of the hind wall indicating that the deity was done in stucco, or lime mortar and painted, or was a wooden panel with a carving set into a sunk chase on the wall.
These Mahendra temples are noted also for the absence of other kinds of sculpture even in the mandapa part, except those of the dvarapalas. These dvarapalas are found at either end of the façade of the mandapa in the Mandagappattu cave-temple. In the Dalavanur and Siyamangalam cave-temples, the dvarapalas are found not only on either side of the mandapa façade but also on either side of the shrine entrance. In the case of the Vishnu cave at Mamandur and the cave-templeat Pallavaram, there are dvarapalas neither on the flanks of mandapa façade nor on the flanks of the shrine-cells. The dvarapalas either face full-front or are in semi-profile or half-turned towards the shrine door and stand resting on a massive club entwined by a serpent. In Siyamangalam the two outer dvarapalas are, however, depicted as warriors inside separate niches at either end of the mandapa façade, while the two flanking the shrine entrance are of the usual form. The Tirucuirapalli upper rock-cut cave-temple of Lalitankura is unique in that it has a large group sculpture forming a panel on the western wall of the mandapa directly opposite the shrine and depicting Siva as Gangadhara. The Siyamangalam cave-temple is unique even otherwise, in having small sculpture panels on top of the façade pillars and pilasters in place of the lotus medallion. The two panels on top of the two pilasters depict, respectively, a dancing form of Siva, or tandava murti-perhaps the earliest such representation in Pallva sculptures, and Siva and Uma standing with the bull behind them depicting the form called Vrishabhantikamurti.
Mahendra’s son, Narasimbhavarman Mamalla (630-68) and his lineal successors, Mahendravarman II (668-72), Paramesvara I (672-700), and Rajasimha (700-728) continued the tradition started by Mahendera I and excavated a number of cave-temples in the Mahendra style in the course of the century. They are the Orukal mandapam at Tirukkalukkunram, the Kotikal mandapam at Mahabalipuram, the Narasimha cave-temple at Singavaram, the kovil, the Ranganathan cave-temple at Singavaram, the Dharmaraja mandapam or Atyantakama Pallava’s cave-temple at Mahabalipuram, and the Atiranachanda mandapam cave at Saluvankuppam, near Mahabalipuram-all in the Chingleput district of Tamil Nadu, except Singavaram which is in South Arcot.
The Singavaram and Singaperumalkovil cave-temples are dedicated to Vishnu, the Kotikal mandapam to Durga and the rest to Siva. While none of the Siva cave-temples contain a rock-cut linga in the sanctum, the two Vishnu cave-temples have in the sanctum stucco figures of the deities now modernized. The Kotikal mandapam of Durga has no sculpture of Durga inside the sanctum, though the dedication is indicated by the female dvarapalikas on either side of the shrine entrance as also by the name of the temple.
The Atiranachanda mandapam of Rajasimha, the last of the series, alone contins a bas-relief panel of Siva as Somaskanda, with Uma and Skanda sitting beside him and Brahma and Vishnu standing on either side of the groupbehind. The carving of such a bas-relief in place of the earlier traditional painting, or stucco-rlief, or woodcarving of the principal god of the sanctum appears to have been started in the time of Paramesvaraman I (672-700). Two more such Somaskanda reliefs aree found carved on the hind wall of the mandapa on either side of the shrine entrance. It would appear that while Mahendravarman I broke the tradition of the wooden and brick-and-mortar temples and excavated temples in stone, he could not go far enough to change the traditional material of which the principal deity in the sanctum was made. This had to wait for a few decades till Paramesvaravarman I, in the last quarter of the seventh century, introduced for the first time almong other innovations the carving of the principal deity as a relief on the back wall of the shrine. In Rajasimha’s cave temple, the Atiranachanda mandapam, a black polished, fluted or sixteen-sided stone linga (dhara-linga) also came to be planted on the floor of the sanctum in front of the Somaskanda relief on the hind wall. This indicated the commencement in the Pallva territory with the installation of the formless lings to represent Siva.
In most respects this series of post-Mahendra cave-temples resembles those of Mahendra in plan and design and other general features. But one observes a tendency for the pillars and pilasters to become thinner and taller, sometimes flatter, with an oblong section. The space between them is equal but wider. The kapota over the façade is still an undifferentiated, projecting rock-ledge over the beam. All the cave-templess of the series have single shrine-cells cut into the rear walls, with the frontage projecting more into the mandapa. The only example with triple shrine-cells is the Dharmaraja mandapam or Atyantakama Pallva’s cave-temple where the two lateral shrine-cells are simple excavations, which are perhaps later additions, without definite shrine front, as is found in the case of the main central one. All these cave-temples have only two pillars and two pilasters on the mandapa façade, and a similar set behind, inside the mandapa wherever there is such a demarcation of ardha-and, uka-mandapas, as in the Ranganathan cave-temple, the Orukkal mandapam, and Dharmaraja mandapam. The pillars have the top and bottom sadurams and intervening kattu, while the pilasters are uniformly four-sided as in Mahendravarman’s cave-temples expect that in the Singavaram Ranganathan cave-temple the pilasters like the pillars are demarated and have lotus medallions on the saduram faces. This cave-temple is the only example in the series, which has an outer pair of dvarapalas at either end of the mandapa façade. The inner pair flanking the shrine entrance is in common with the rest.
There are generally no other sculptures in the mandapa beside the dvarapalas. In the Orukkal mandapam, however, there are relief sculptures of standing Brahma and Vishnu on the rear wall, one on either side of the shrine entrance and beyond the dvarapalas. In addition there are two fine, bold, life-size reliefs of dvarapala like sculptures, one on either end wall of the mukha-mandapa. In the Singavaram cave-temple, as at Siyamangalam, there are small panel reliefs of two female devotes on top of the pilasters of the inner row.
The last series of Pallava temples dated after AD 730 are small and less interesting. They mark the decadent phase of this type of rock architecture in Tondaimandalam. The Kilmavilangai cave-temple is the only example in the Pallava kingdom of Tondaimandalam of rock-cut cell without a rock-cut front mandapa, but such cell-shrines are more common in the Pandya and Muttaraiyar and Kerala areas, most of them contemporary with the late, post-700 AD Pallava period. The cell contains of its hind wall a flat bas-relief of standing Vishnu. The two smaller cave-temples at Vallam on the rock below Mahendra’s Vasantesvaram cave-temple, one dedicated to Vishnu and the other to Siva, have very thin pillars carrying bevelled corbels on the mandapa façade, the mandapa itself being narrow and the shrine-cell behind very small. An inscription in script of the seventh century reading pa(l)lava-peraraisaru meaning ‘Pallava emperoe’ has since been found in the Vasantesvaram cave-temple in Vallam. This and the other almost similar excavation, both below the larger Mahendra cave-temple, are rather feeble attempts, considering the fact that they are rather crude, small in proportion and shallow in depth.
Where there is only a single cell behind the mandapa, there are four pillars and pilasters on the façade of the rectangular mandapa, two pilasters in antis at the two extreme ends against the side walls, and two pillars in the middle-all equally space. The façade is longer with four, six or eight equally-spaced pillars between the extreme pilasters and with three, five, or seven shrine- cells. The pillars are all massive, short, square in section at the base and top, with the middle third of the height octagonal in section. They carry massive corbels with bevelled or curved ends, sometimes with the faces carved as a series of rolls, the taranga, with a median flat band, the patta. A massive beam is cut above the corbels, but there is no wll-formed cornice projection, or kapota, the rought rock brow itself acting as one. The faces of the square sections of the pillars are adorned with large, circular lotus medallions often inscribed inside a square. The mandapa may be divided by inner longitudinal row of pillars and pilasters into two sections, front and rear, indicating the mukha-mandapa and ardha-mandapa portions, though both may be of the same width and of the same type, corresponding to the façade row. Where there are no inner pillars, the differentiation is indicated by the varying floor-levels or ceiling heights.
A flight of about three rock-cut steps from the floor of the mandapa leads to the simple shrine entrance which is cut projecting a little into the mandapa. The shrine often shows a moulded pedestal, or adhishthana, and the wall is cantoned at its two front corners by four-sided flat pilasters with two more in between, each of the inner pairs flanking the shrine entrance. Often these two inner pilasters form also the two jambs of the simple doorway with a low lintel across and a sill cut at the top of the flight of steps below. The door-frame, if distinct, is again simple and unadorned. The pilasters carry in some cases distinct capital mouldings and corbles, or potika, on top. A beam and flexed overhanging cornice or kapota is cut on top. The kapota is adorned by semi-circular kudu ornaments, with a flat shovel-shaped finial above.
The shrine doors are generally guarded by relief sculptures of two armed dvarapalas, or gatekeepers, one on each side. In the earliest cave-temple where the shrines for the trinity-Brahma, Siva and Vishnu-are but deep plain niches cut into the rear wall, the two dvarapalas are found one on either side of the façade of the mandapa. The Vasantesvaram at Vallam, the Vishnu cave-temple of Mahendravadi and Mamandur and the Avanibhajanas cave-temples at Siyamangalam are examples of cave "temples with a single shrine-cell cut into the hind wall of the mandapa. The Rudravalisvaram of Mamandur and the Kalmandakam cave-temple at Kuranganilmuttam are examples with three shrine cells, as at Mandagappattu. The four additional cells, two on each laterl wall of the ardha-and mukha-mandapas of the Kalmandakam temple, are later additions to the original scheme of three cells on the rear wall. The Pallavaram cave-temple has five shrine-cells, while the unfinished Vilappakkam cave-temple has seven shrine-cells. The similar unfinished Aragandanallur cave-temple, with four pillars and two pilasters on the façade and in the hind row, would indicate five shrine-cells on the rear wall still uncut. Thus the number and disposition of shrines on the rear wall would correspond to the pillars of the mandapa in front, each shrine "opening coming in between two equally-spaced pillars, or a pillar and a pilaster. This along with the equal inter-columniation would contrast with the arrangement of the wider central nave and the narrow lateral aisles of the earlier Buddhist example follwed by the contemporary and later examples of the Chalukya-Rashtrakuta series.
The facades as well as the shrines of the Kalmandakam, Rudravalisvaram, Vasantesvaram and the Vishnu cave-temples of Mahendravadi and mamandur and Siyamangalam face almost west. Pallavaram is the only example in the series where the mandapa façade and shrine-cells face south. The Lalitankura and Satrumalla cave-temples at Tirchirapalli and Dalavanur areexamples with the mandapa facing south and the shrine cut into the lateral wall-the eastern one at Tirchirapalli and the western one at Dalavanur-so that the shrines face west and east respectively. In the Dalavanur cave-temple the larger mandapa, with a single row of pillars and pilaster on the façade, indicates an inner division of the front and rear portions of the mandapa by a difference in the floor levels. The shrine on the western wall of the ardha-mandapa part is cut with a small porch-like pillared mandapa in front of it. This too is rock-cut and stands on the floor of the ardha-mandapa on distinct plinth at a still higher level. In the case of the Tiruchirapalli cave-temple, an inner row of pillars and pilasters is cut very close to the hind wall with a narrow passage in between it and the wall. The cell on the east faces west into the front part of the mandapa between the inner and outer rows of columns. This is a feature not quite Pallva, but rather reminiscent of the cave-temples in the Pandyan country, for example, the one at Tirup-parankunram. Incidentally, the Lalitankura Pallavesvaram cave-temple of Tiruchirapalli is the southernmost Pallava cave-temple nearer to the borders of the Pandya territory. The lotus medallions on the top and bottom cubical parts (sadurams) of the pillars, which are absent in the earlier cave-temples of this series like those at Mandagapattu, Pallavaram and Kuranganilmuttam, and the Siva caves at Mamandur and Vallam are to be found in the later ones of the series as in the Vishnu cave-temples at Mahendravadi and Mamandur. The Siva cave-temples at Tirucuirapalli and Siyamangalam have, in addition, other motifs incised in side ciruclar medallions, such as makaras, kinnaris, matanganakras (combination of an elephant and a makara) and pushpa-lata and patra-lata (scrolls of leaves and flowers). The Siyamangalam cave-temple has small relief panels of sculpture on top of the pilasters.
The shrine-cells, or garbha-grihas, in all these cases are empty and do not contain either a rock-cut linga or linga-pitha, as is common in the Pandya, Muttaraiyar and Chalukyan cave-temples. They do not have in fact any appropriate sculpture of the deity in worship-Siva, Vishnu or other gods-to whom the temple according to the inscription is known to be dedicated. Often there are traces of lime plaster with a painting over it on the hind wall indicating that the object of worship was a mural painting of the god. Sometimes one finds a slight relief of a pedestal cut at the base of the hind wall indicating that the deity was done in stucco, or lime mortar and painted, or was a wooden panel with a carving set into a sunk chase on the wall.
These Mahendra temples are noted also for the absence of other kinds of sculpture even in the mandapa part, except those of the dvarapalas. These dvarapalas are found at either end of the façade of the mandapa in the Mandagappattu cave-temple. In the Dalavanur and Siyamangalam cave-temples, the dvarapalas are found not only on either side of the mandapa façade but also on either side of the shrine entrance. In the case of the Vishnu cave at Mamandur and the cave-templeat Pallavaram, there are dvarapalas neither on the flanks of mandapa façade nor on the flanks of the shrine-cells. The dvarapalas either face full-front or are in semi-profile or half-turned towards the shrine door and stand resting on a massive club entwined by a serpent. In Siyamangalam the two outer dvarapalas are, however, depicted as warriors inside separate niches at either end of the mandapa façade, while the two flanking the shrine entrance are of the usual form. The Tirucuirapalli upper rock-cut cave-temple of Lalitankura is unique in that it has a large group sculpture forming a panel on the western wall of the mandapa directly opposite the shrine and depicting Siva as Gangadhara. The Siyamangalam cave-temple is unique even otherwise, in having small sculpture panels on top of the façade pillars and pilasters in place of the lotus medallion. The two panels on top of the two pilasters depict, respectively, a dancing form of Siva, or tandava murti-perhaps the earliest such representation in Pallva sculptures, and Siva and Uma standing with the bull behind them depicting the form called Vrishabhantikamurti.
Mahendra’s son, Narasimbhavarman Mamalla (630-68) and his lineal successors, Mahendravarman II (668-72), Paramesvara I (672-700), and Rajasimha (700-728) continued the tradition started by Mahendera I and excavated a number of cave-temples in the Mahendra style in the course of the century. They are the Orukal mandapam at Tirukkalukkunram, the Kotikal mandapam at Mahabalipuram, the Narasimha cave-temple at Singavaram, the kovil, the Ranganathan cave-temple at Singavaram, the Dharmaraja mandapam or Atyantakama Pallava’s cave-temple at Mahabalipuram, and the Atiranachanda mandapam cave at Saluvankuppam, near Mahabalipuram-all in the Chingleput district of Tamil Nadu, except Singavaram which is in South Arcot.
The Singavaram and Singaperumalkovil cave-temples are dedicated to Vishnu, the Kotikal mandapam to Durga and the rest to Siva. While none of the Siva cave-temples contain a rock-cut linga in the sanctum, the two Vishnu cave-temples have in the sanctum stucco figures of the deities now modernized. The Kotikal mandapam of Durga has no sculpture of Durga inside the sanctum, though the dedication is indicated by the female dvarapalikas on either side of the shrine entrance as also by the name of the temple.
The Atiranachanda mandapam of Rajasimha, the last of the series, alone contins a bas-relief panel of Siva as Somaskanda, with Uma and Skanda sitting beside him and Brahma and Vishnu standing on either side of the groupbehind. The carving of such a bas-relief in place of the earlier traditional painting, or stucco-rlief, or woodcarving of the principal god of the sanctum appears to have been started in the time of Paramesvaraman I (672-700). Two more such Somaskanda reliefs aree found carved on the hind wall of the mandapa on either side of the shrine entrance. It would appear that while Mahendravarman I broke the tradition of the wooden and brick-and-mortar temples and excavated temples in stone, he could not go far enough to change the traditional material of which the principal deity in the sanctum was made. This had to wait for a few decades till Paramesvaravarman I, in the last quarter of the seventh century, introduced for the first time almong other innovations the carving of the principal deity as a relief on the back wall of the shrine. In Rajasimha’s cave temple, the Atiranachanda mandapam, a black polished, fluted or sixteen-sided stone linga (dhara-linga) also came to be planted on the floor of the sanctum in front of the Somaskanda relief on the hind wall. This indicated the commencement in the Pallva territory with the installation of the formless lings to represent Siva.
In most respects this series of post-Mahendra cave-temples resembles those of Mahendra in plan and design and other general features. But one observes a tendency for the pillars and pilasters to become thinner and taller, sometimes flatter, with an oblong section. The space between them is equal but wider. The kapota over the façade is still an undifferentiated, projecting rock-ledge over the beam. All the cave-templess of the series have single shrine-cells cut into the rear walls, with the frontage projecting more into the mandapa. The only example with triple shrine-cells is the Dharmaraja mandapam or Atyantakama Pallva’s cave-temple where the two lateral shrine-cells are simple excavations, which are perhaps later additions, without definite shrine front, as is found in the case of the main central one. All these cave-temples have only two pillars and two pilasters on the mandapa façade, and a similar set behind, inside the mandapa wherever there is such a demarcation of ardha-and, uka-mandapas, as in the Ranganathan cave-temple, the Orukkal mandapam, and Dharmaraja mandapam. The pillars have the top and bottom sadurams and intervening kattu, while the pilasters are uniformly four-sided as in Mahendravarman’s cave-temples expect that in the Singavaram Ranganathan cave-temple the pilasters like the pillars are demarated and have lotus medallions on the saduram faces. This cave-temple is the only example in the series, which has an outer pair of dvarapalas at either end of the mandapa façade. The inner pair flanking the shrine entrance is in common with the rest.
There are generally no other sculptures in the mandapa beside the dvarapalas. In the Orukkal mandapam, however, there are relief sculptures of standing Brahma and Vishnu on the rear wall, one on either side of the shrine entrance and beyond the dvarapalas. In addition there are two fine, bold, life-size reliefs of dvarapala like sculptures, one on either end wall of the mukha-mandapa. In the Singavaram cave-temple, as at Siyamangalam, there are small panel reliefs of two female devotes on top of the pilasters of the inner row.
The last series of Pallava temples dated after AD 730 are small and less interesting. They mark the decadent phase of this type of rock architecture in Tondaimandalam. The Kilmavilangai cave-temple is the only example in the Pallava kingdom of Tondaimandalam of rock-cut cell without a rock-cut front mandapa, but such cell-shrines are more common in the Pandya and Muttaraiyar and Kerala areas, most of them contemporary with the late, post-700 AD Pallava period. The cell contains of its hind wall a flat bas-relief of standing Vishnu. The two smaller cave-temples at Vallam on the rock below Mahendra’s Vasantesvaram cave-temple, one dedicated to Vishnu and the other to Siva, have very thin pillars carrying bevelled corbels on the mandapa façade, the mandapa itself being narrow and the shrine-cell behind very small. An inscription in script of the seventh century reading pa(l)lava-peraraisaru meaning ‘Pallava emperoe’ has since been found in the Vasantesvaram cave-temple in Vallam. This and the other almost similar excavation, both below the larger Mahendra cave-temple, are rather feeble attempts, considering the fact that they are rather crude, small in proportion and shallow in depth.
