Mysterious Pavilion:
Document in stone of astronomical events
Raja Deekshitar

This article was originally published in Asianart.com on February 1, 2010

Mamallapuram is a well known tourist destination in South India. As a World Heritage Site situated on the east coast of South India, it is a repository of architecture and sculpture created by the Pallava dynasty in the 6th and 7th century CE. In spite of the bustle of tourists it is in a way a mysterious place. Little is known about the Pallava emperors who build it, why they built it and why it was built here. A little away from this busy tourist spot, across a bridge on the other side of s little back-water water, stands an unremarkable pavilion. It looks insignificant and isolated by the side of the road. But the unexpected and unknown treasure it contains is in its own way as mysterious, as significant, and as valuable as the World Heritage Site of Mamallapuram.
But this past summer something had changed. The bushes had been cleared and the pavilion was clearly visible and reachable. So I stopped and took a closer look. It is a simple construction of four rows of six pillars covered by a flat roof (Figure 1). The inner structure is divided into a front porch between the first and second row of four pillars, while the second till sixth row have been placed on a raised floor (Figure 2). It is divided into a central aisle, adjoined by a right and left aisle. The central aisle is slightly wider and the roof is also a little higher compared to the side aisles. The back side has been closed at some time in the past with a brick wall which has partially collapsed and also a kind of porch of brick has at one time been constructed between two pillars on the right

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