n one of the explanatory labels appended to the sculptures in the Vaikuntha-Perumal temple at Conjeeveram, Tarandikondaposar[1], pointing to an object, is said to have assured Hiranyavarmma-Maharaja, that it is not `the had of an elephant,'[2] but the crown intended for his son. This passage clearly suggests that the crown offered to the Pallava king was shaped like an elephant's scalp. Such a headdress has not so far been met with in Indian sculptures, but strangely enough one with an elephant's head complete with proboscis and tusks is found worn by the Bactrian ruler Demetrius on his coins, who probably copied it from Alexander the Great. The close resemblance[3] of the crown offered to Nandivarman Pallavamalla on the occasion of his coronation ceremony to that found for the Bactrian king cannot be a mere accident, but seems to be connected intimately with the question of the foreign origin of the Pallavas.