Sir Walter ELLIOT, K.C.S.I., to whom Yule refers for the information given about this pagoda, has since published in the _Indian Antiquary_, VII., 1878, pp. 224-227, an interesting article with the title: _The Edifice formerly known as the Chinese or Jaina Pagoda at Negapatam_, from which we gather the following particulars regarding its destruction:--
"It went by various names, as the _Puduveli-gopuram_, the old pagoda, Chinese pagoda, black pagoda, and in the map of the Trigonometrical Survey (Sheet 79) it stands as the Jeyna (Jaina) pagoda. But save in name it has nothing in common with Hindu or Muhammadan architecture, either in form or ornament."
"In 1859, the Jesuit Fathers presented a petition to the Madras Government representing the tower to be in a dangerous condition, and requesting permission to pull it down and appropriate the materials to their own use...." In 1867 "the Fathers renewed their application for leave to remove it, on the following grounds: '1st, because they considered it to be unsafe in its present condition; 2nd, because it obstructed light and sea-breeze from a chapel which they had built behind it; 3rd, because they would very much like to get the land on which it stood; and 4th, because the bricks of which it was built would be very useful to them for building purposes.'
"The Chief Engineer, who meanwhile had himself examined the edifice, and had directed the District Engineer to prepare a small estimate for its repair, reported that the first only of the above reasons had any weight, and that it would be met if Colonel O'Connell's estimate, prepared under his own orders, received the sanction of Government. He therefore recommended that this should be given, and the tower allowed to stand....
"The Chief Engineer's proposal did not meet with approval, and on the 28th August 1867, the following order was made on the Jesuits' petition: '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."