336-337.
CHINESE PAGODA AT NEGAPATAM.
Sir Walter ELLIOT, K.C.S.I., to whom Yule refers for the information given
about this pagoda, has since published in the Indian Antiquary,
VII., 1878, pp. 224-227, an interesting article with the title: The
Edifice formerly known as the Chinese or Jaina Pagoda at Negapatam,
from which we gather the following particulars regarding its
destruction: -
"It went by various names, as the Puduveli-gopuram, the old pagoda,
Chinese pagoda, black pagoda, and in the map of the Trigonometrical Survey
(Sheet 79) it stands as the Jeyna (Jaina) pagoda. But save in name it has
nothing in common with Hindu or Muhammadan architecture, either in form or
ornament."
"In 1859, the Jesuit Fathers presented a petition to the Madras Government
representing the tower to be in a dangerous condition, and requesting
permission to pull it down and appropriate the materials to their own
use...." In 1867 "the Fathers renewed their application for leave to
remove it, on the following grounds: '1st, because they considered it to
be unsafe in its present condition; 2nd, because it obstructed light and
sea-breeze from a chapel which they had built behind it; 3rd, because they
would very much like to get the land on which it stood; and 4th, because
the bricks of which it was built would be very useful to them for building
purposes.'
"The Chief Engineer, who meanwhile had himself examined the edifice, and
had directed the District Engineer to prepare a small estimate for its
repair, reported that the first only of the above reasons had any weight,
and that it would be met if Colonel O'Connell's estimate, prepared under
his own orders, received the sanction of Government.
