CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

This Masjid is small structure located at the corner of a street, near Multani Chowk Area. It is a single storied brick structure covered with plaster with an ornate façade. The building is accessible through a number of steps leading to a verandah and on to main door. Façade is constructed of detailed stonework- a main cusped arched entrance and two small arches of each side of the main arch. A small pavilion Is located right above the entrance enhancing the main façade. The terrace is marked with a small room at the first floor level. A continuous chajjas and parapet run along the perimeter of the structure. Currently the structure lies in a deteriorated state of preservation.

Uton Wali Masjid is located overlooking a rectangular courtyard. It is situated in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Musa Complex. The two sides of the courtyard perpendicular to the masjid form arcaded verandah and the fourth side facing the masjd forms the entry to the courtyard. A vault flanked by two domes on either side cover the interior of the masjid. The masjid is constructed in stone with plastered interiors. It is in a dilapidated state and poor state of repairs.

The Uttamadanisvara temple at Kilattanaiyam is built by Muttaraiyar Uttamadani. Although no inscription of his alias Ko-Ilango is found here, a Rajakesarivarma inscription attributable to Rajaraja Chola (985 – 1010 CE) or perhaps to Chola Gandaraditya (949 – 957 CE) is found here, that refers to the temple Uttamadanisvara. The temple’s architecture and extant sculpture are earlier than this inscription. The temple should be placed in the third quarter of the ninth century or early tenth century. Reference: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky 1963, pp. 142-143.

By its style the Uttamadanisvara temple at Kiranur is a Muttaraiyar foundation. An inscription of the thirteenth year of Ko-Ilango Muttaraiyar calls the temple Uttamadanisvara, after Ko-Ilango’s alias of Uttamadani. Ko-Ilango Muttaraiyar could be the same person as Ilango Adiaraiyan alias Cattan Pudi, the builder of Vijayalaya-Colisvara. If this is indeed true then the temple belongs to the second quarter of the ninth century CE. No Chola donator inscriptions are found on this temple. Reference: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky 1963, pp. 141-142.

Uttar Pradesh (Architectural Drawings)

Also known as Vada Kailasam (the place of five rivers), the Uttara Kailasa temple of the Pancanadisvara complex was built by Rajaraja I's (985 – 1014 CE) senior queen Danti Sakti Vitanki alias Loga Mahadevi in about 1006 CE. This temple is significant for it bears an inscription from the reign of Rajadhiraja I (1018-1054 CE), which gives a complete narration of the wars and the victories of the Chola king elucidating contemporary political events and the extent of the empire. References: M.W. Meister and M.A. Dhaky 1963, p. 231, S.R. Balasubrahmanyam, 1975, p. 89 and B. Venkataraman, 1976, pp. 85-90.