'The
Governor in Council is pleased to sanction the removal of the old tower at
Negapatam by the officers of St. Joseph's College, at their own expense,
and the appropriation of the available material to such school-building
purposes as they appear to have in contemplation.
"The Fathers were not slow in availing themselves of this permission. The
venerable building was speedily levelled, and the site cleared."
In making excavations connected with the college a bronze image
representing a Buddhist or Jaina priest in the costume and attitude of the
figures in wood and metal brought from Burma was found; it was presented
to Lord Napier, in 1868; a reproduction of it is given in Sir Walter
Elliot's paper.
In a note added by Dr. Burnell to this paper, we read: "As I several times
in 1866 visited the ruin referred to, I may be permitted to say that it
had become merely a shapeless mass of bricks. I have no doubt that it was
originally a vimana or shrine of some temple; there are some of
precisely the same construction in parts of the Chingleput district."
XVI., p. 336 n.
NEGAPATAM.
We read in the Tao yi chi lio (1349) that "T'u t'a (the eastern stupa)
is to be found in the flat land of Pa-tan (Fattan, Negapatam?) and that it
is surrounded with stones.
