Madanna...cave at Vijayawada in its present form comes first. It is ascribable to the middle of the seventh century, and is closely followed by caves I to iv of Mogalrajpuram, the lower cave-temple at Vijayawada, the Undavalli and other caves in a series (p.81)... ending with the Bhairavakonda group (are) datable to the middle of the eighth century. The lost, if not of direct Eastern Chalukyan vintage, can at best be of Telugu-Choda authorship...."
The... dancing Siva and Harihara... The eight cave-temples... The first four shrine excavations...and...The second group... having an outer mandapa with... pillars and... fully formed kopota with kudus (are) as in Mamall-style cave-temples... The pillars are...in... Chalukyan pattern as found in the cave-temples on the banks of Krishna... some...are...in the Mamalla-style... Shrineentrances are plain... These mixed characters and other features as also the presence of relief sculptures of Brahma and Vishnu in the Mandapa, provision for a linga in the shrine, and the presence of other sculptures like Chendesa and Ganesa, and the rock-cut Nandi, would indicate their non-Pallava origin and their date as being the middle of the eighth century.
S.K.Sarasvati observes: "...Pallava rulers... imbibed and carried on the traditions of the earlier Vengi school. Mahendravarman Pallava (C.A.D 600-630)... in the south... excavated many cave shrines which seem to represent an innovation... Mahendra proudly described his cave-temples as composed without bricks,mortar, metal or timber (anishtakem asudham alauham nirmapitam) in the Mandagapattu inscription." Again Sarasvati says: "The pallavas inherited the less severe repertory of elegant and attenuated forms of the later phase of Vengi style which lingered till the fourth century, and possible even later. But... the pallava sculptors could not ignore entirely the rock-cut idiom of the deccan and the reliefs of Bhairavakonda, distinguished each by a heavy physiognomical form, bea the impress of the contemporary Deccanese tradition. The contribution of the Vengi school, however, principally determined the character of the Pallava style."
