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