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There
is some force in this contention, since in the Amareswaraswamy temple, the foundations are
laid with the charac- teristic Buddhist slabs only.
Just above the Mula Virat in the
Garbha- griha, one can see still a white marble lotus Medallion, done in the delicate and
ornate style of the early Buddhist silpas.
The Mula Virat is a long vertical cyl inder made of white marble, which is so
extensively used in the Buddhist monu- ments.
The height of the linga is about 15 feet or so and another
Legend has it that this was originally an Ayaka Stambha or an Ayaka pillar, which later
has been consecrated and brought into us (as symbolic of the Sivalinga.
The temple as it stands now is a perfect specimen of the
Dravida type of temple architecture.
These gopuras came into prominence only in the medieval
times,and theabsence of any stone epigraph earlier than the Ilth century A.D. in the
temple would suggest that the temple itself was of a compara- tively late origin.
From the legendary point of view, Amara- vati and the
Amareswara temple have had an ancient past. The Skanda Purana gives a complete picture of
the place and the temple.
There is a Sthalapurana for the temple, which is also
equally interesting. The popular legend and the Sthalapurana are as follows.
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