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GAZETTEER. pillared mandapam (called the mukhamandapam) facing this, and an enclosing- verandah, all made of dark granite richly and delicately carved with conventional and floral ornament and scenes from the Vaishnavite puránas. These are doubtless the work of the Narasimha I referred to above. Much of the carving is mutilated (by Muhammadan conquerors, it is said) and much more has been covered over with a thick coat of plaster at the order, it is Locally declared, of a Rája of Vizianagram, whose wife was disgusted at its indecencies. One of the pillars is called the kappam stambham or 'tribute pillar.' It is credited with great powers of caring cattle- disease and granting children, and the right to collect the numerous tributes paid to it in consequence is annually sold by auction. In the verandah is a stone car with stone wheels and prancing stone horses. The image of the god is small and is kept covered with an unctuous preparation of sandal paste. Once a year, in May, this is removed with much ceremony at the festival called Chandanayátra. Outside this inner enclosure there is little worthy of note except the excellent nátyamandapam on the north side of the temple, where the god's marriage is performed and which is also the work of Narasimha I. This is supported by 96 pillars of black stone, arranged in sixteen rows of six each, which are more delicately carved than any others in the temple, are all different in the details of their design, and yet avoid incongruity of effect by adhering to one general type — -especially in their capitals, which are usually of the inverted-lotus shape.
 * The head-quarters of the taluk and district and a municipality of 40,892 inhabitants. The municipal limits (see the map attached) include the suburb of Waltair, where the European officials reside and several of the zamindars of the district have bungalows. The history and achievements of the municipal council have already been referred to on p. 215 above; the medical and educational institutions in the town are mentioned in Chapters IX and X respectively; its arts and industries in Chapter VI; and its jail in Chapter XIII. Besides the officers usually found at a district head-quarters, the place is the station of a Superintending Engineer, Conservator of Forests,Deputy Commissioner of Salt, Abkári and Customs, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Inspector of Schools, Inspectress of Girls' Schools and Port Officer, and is the head-quarters of the Bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Vizagapatam and of sections of both the Madras and Bengal- Nagpur railways.

The town is built along the shore of a wide bay, five miles across, which is bounded on the south by the Dolphin's Nose 325