The much-vexed question of Orthography must receive some notice here. First, then, I must explain that my chief guide in this direction has been a hard-and-fast Order of Government directing me to base my orthography on the principles of the present Government system. In order to ensure uniformity the Madras Government has published Lists, to which it has desired all officers strictly to adhere, fixing the spelling of all the most important places in the Presidency. These Lists retain the popular spelling in the case of places whose names may be considered as now forming part of the English language, while transliterating with more or less accuracy a number of names of taluks, rivers, and less known places. This last list might, I think, be much improved, but as it stands I am bound by it. In the case of all names not entered in the Government Lists I have given an exact transliteration according to a table annexed to this preface. The advantage of this is obvious. Residents in the south, for instance, may desire information regarding a place in the Telugu country, and unless they are able in their correspondence to write in correct Telugu the name of the village in question, great confusion may arise, for the written names may be quite unintelligible to Telugu-speaking people. One example, taken at random, will suffice. The village of Galichinnayyapalem (గాలి చిన్నయ్య పాలెం ), in the Nandyal Taluk of
the Kurnool District, is, in the Ordnance Map, written Golehinpollam. But if any one, desirous of information regarding the inscription there, were to request the Tahsildar of the taluk to try and get him a copy of it, naming the place గోల్చింప్పోల్లం , I fear he would stand very little chance of having his curiosity satisfied. For this reason, in every instance where a popularly spelt or erroneously transliterated name appears, copied from the Government Lists, I have added in brackets the correct transliteration of the native name; and, while copying the letters of the name as given in the Govern
1 I may point, as an instance, to the long list of inscriptions at Draksharama in the God*var l District. Here I have been compelled to depend on the copies sent me, having had no time to examine the originals. Amongst these are a large number of inscrip- I tions of the Chola-Chalukyas, bearing dates, and the numbers of the years of the reign. These will be invaluable when accurately copied. But the volume of copies at my disposal contains such palpable errors, due to sheer carelessness, in almost every instance, that to attempt to base any historical conclusion on the result would be worse than useless. I cannot be certain of the accuracy of a single figure, and quite sure that most are entirely wrong. Nevertheless I have printed them, with due warning, so that the originals may be examined.
The most remarkable fact noticeable in this story, is the recognition of the sun as the healer of diseases. In the dawn of ancient Indian mythology, the sun occupied the most prominent place in a quite different capacity. As the source of light, heat and life, it could not but produce a most vivid impression on the minds of those who first attempted to rise above the earth in search of a first cause of the diverse phenomena of creation and
Sun as the healer of diseases.
destruction which surrounded them. Its position, its majesty, its beneficence, alike recommended it to be the most adorable of objects. It was too far removed from the reach of human touch to be called matter; it was the most gorgeous and majestic object on which the human eye could rest; and it was perfectly unconnected with everything that could do any harm to man. And nothing in human conception could, in primitive times, be more fitly associated with the Divinity than the bright god of day. Its earliest epithet was Prajzipatz', the lord of the animated creation, and innumerable were the hymns which the early Aryans addressed to it to bespeak its favour. Air, water, and fire were but its manifestations, and abided in it. In course of time, however, it lost this proud pre-eminence, and took the secondary position of the visible emblem of the invisible Godhead. The sacred Gayatri of the Brahmans recognised it in this capacity; it invoked not the sun, but the Divine Spirit which vivified it. But the sun did not cease to be a god. Instead of being the God, it became one of the gods,-—it became Vishnu, the “ All-Pervader.” Other changes followed, and these have been already summarised in a preceding part of this work (ante I, pp. 157f). The last capacity in which we find the sun in the S’éstras is that of curing diseases, especially leprosy, and in this character it appears in the few temples still extant in honour of it.
When this last transition took place is not known, but from two verses” quoted in the Kévya Prakas'a of Mammatha Bhatta, which dates from the 9th century, it would seem that the idea of the sun being the divinity over diseases must be considerably older. Mayfira Bhatta lived long before the date of the Kevya Prakas'a, and he, having composed a century of verses in praise of Stirya, is said to have cured himself of leprosyxl' Goyichandra, in his commentary on the Sankshiptasara, says that cures from diseases result from the grace of Siirya,i and other authorities may be easily multiplied. According to the Pursues, the sun had, by Sailjfié, the twin As'vinikumaras, who were the physicians of the gods.
But whatever the age when the change took place, Konarak has been noted from a long period as a holy one, and especially beneficial to those who are afflicted with leprosy. The Kapila Safihité is particularly eloquent in its praise. It says : “ The forest called Maitreya was produced by the penances of the sage Maitreya. A person going thereto immediately cures himself of the frightful disease. Those who wish to dwell there without passion and free from sin, have their desires fulfilled by the 10rd of day. Those who give up their life in the delightful forest of Maitreya, casting aside all their sins, repair to the region of light. Those who devoutly behold
Merits of Konarak.
the image of the sun on a Sunday in the sacred abode of Ravi, and those who die in the Maitreya forest, attaining immortality and freedom from all subsequent births, repair to the region of the Devas, and enjoy eternal felicity with the sun. Whoever worships Bhaskara there with ardent faith immediately frees himself from all sins, and obtains whatever he wishes. There exists the holy pool named Mangala which bestows desirable rewards to gods. A person bathing in it on a Tuesday for certain obtains prosperity. There also exists the sacred pool Salmalibhanda, the purifier of the three regions, the remover of all sins, the pure, the adored of Siddhas and Gandharvas, surrounded by many‘saints, and the giver of salvation to all. Bathing therein men attain the light of the sun. Bathing in the Silmalibhanda, and then beholding the lord of shadows, a person, destroying his sins, repairs to the region of the sun. There is not, verily there is not a river on earth equal to the Sfiryaganga. Bathing in the sea before the place, a person purifies himself from all sins. The lord of waters, the sea, is the noblest of all sacred waters, and in the waves of the lord of rivers there exists the sacred Rames'vara which Rama worshipped for the good of created beings ; and those good men who worship that Rames'vara with due faith, obtain desirable rewards from Ramachandra himself. Whoever worships Mahes'vara there with aromatics, flowers, and edibles, goes to the region of S’iva in a celestial car. Those who bathe in due form in the waters of the Chandrabhaga, attain a body resplendent as that of the moon, and ultimately translate themselves to the mansion of Indra. There exists an all-granting tree named Arkavata, adorned by numerous birds, and at its foot dwell many saints, and whoever goes to this salvation-giving banian tree, becomes for certain indestructible. For the good of animated beings, Siirya himself has become that tree, and those who recite the excellent mantra of Sfirya under its shade, in three fortnights attain perfection. On the earth this Arkavata is the same with the Nandana tree of heaven, and I verily say unto thee thereby dwell
Siddhas. Those who there reflect on Vishnu obtain the favour of Vishnu. \Vhoever dwells under that tree is doubtless a Siddha. Those who worship the maker of day on the day of Vijayé-saptami become successful everywhere, and free from sin. Those who devoutly behold the Car Festival in the Maitreya forest, behold the real body of the sun.“
The reference to the Car Festival above made is of interest. It has been already shown (ante, pp. 135fi" ) that that festival _ _ _ owes its origin to Buddhism, and its presence here suggests the idea that in it we have the survival Buddhist origin of the place. . . . .
of a Buddhist rite. The place must have been a flourishing town in the t1me of the Buddhists, though perhaps not so important as Bhuvanes'vara or Puri, and even as the two latter were appropriated by the Hindus, so was the former; and S'iva and Vishnu having been provided for, Sfirya came in for the third place. The five leading forms of modern Hinduism, including those of the S’aivas, the Vaishnavas, the S‘auras, the S'aktas and the Ganapatyas, had already long since obtained good currency in the 5th and the 6th centuries, and, at the revival of Hinduism in Orissa about that time, it is but natural to suppose that each sect should select one of the principal Buddhist seats of the province for its respective system of religion. Accordingly we find the S'aivas at Bhuvanes'vara, the Vaishnavas at Puri, and the S'éktas at Y'ajapur, all unquestable Buddhist places, still possessing vestiges of former' Buddhist domination ; and Konarak and Darpan the places for S’r'lrya and Ganes'a, may be fairly supposed to have been Buddhist. The evidence available is, certainly, exceedingly meagre and unsatisfactory; but without the assumption of previous sanctity and celebrity, it becOmes difficult to account for the selection of a sea-beach for the dedication of so costly and magnificent a temple as the Black Pagoda.
During the ascendancy of the Muhammadans, the place was still of considerable importance, and the Pathans were not above claiming it as their own, and attributing, at least a part of, its sanctity to a saint of their sect. This is evidenced by a story cited by Abu’l Fazl in the Ain-i-Akbari. It is there said—“ Many pretend that at this place is the tomb of Kabir Mowelhid, and to this day they relate many stories of his sayings and doings. He was revered both by Muhammadans and Hindus on account of his wisfiom and exemplary virtue. When he died, the Bréhmans wanted to carry his body to be burnt, and the Muhammadans insisted on burying it ; but when they lifted up the sheet from the bier, the corpse could not be found.”'('
Of the Great Temple at the place, Abu’l Fazl gives the following account: “Near to J aganaut is the temple of the sun, in the erecting of which was expended the whole revenue of Orissa for twelve years. No one can behold this immense edifice without being struck with amazement. The wall which surrounds the whole is one hundred and fifty cubits high, and nineteen cubits thick. There are three entrances to it. At the eastern gate are two very fine figures of elephants, each with a man upon his trunk. To the west are two surprising figures of horsemen, completely armed ; and over the northern gate are carved two tigers, who having killed two elephants, are sitting upon them. In the front of the gate is a pillar of black
Muhammadan account.
stone,i of an octagonal form, fifty cubits high. There are nine flights of steps; after ascending which, you come into an extensive enclosure, where you discover a large dome, constructed of stone, upon which are carved the sun and stars, and round them is a border, where are represented a variety of human figures expressing the different passions of the mind ; some kneeling, others prostrated with their faces upon the earth; together with minstrels, and a number of strange and wonderful animals, such as never existed but in imagination. This is said to be a work of seven hundred and thirty years’ antiquity. Rajah Nursing Deo finished this building, thereby erecting for himself a lasting monument of fame There are twenty-eight
other temples belonging to this pagoda, six before the northern gate, and twenty-two without the enclosure; and they are all reported to have performed miracles.Ӥ
This description was apparently obtained from a correspondent who was by no means an accurate observer, and its details are obviously faulty. It shows, however, that the place was at the time, about the close of the 16th century, still flourishing, and not totally deserted as it now is. The Temple Annals say that the images of Siirya and Chandra, which were the presiding divinities of the Konarak temple, were brought away to Puri by Narasifiha Deva. (A. D. 1628— 1652). It must follow that the accident which knocked down the temple, however caused, must have occurred between 1602, when Abu’l Fazl died, and the beginning of the reign of Narasifiha Deva, or within the first half of the seventeenth century. With the removal of the sacred images, from a place which had no manufactures or commerce, nor any large navigable rivers, its desertion by the people who gave it eclth was a consequence which took only a few years to be consummated. The sea also had been gradually receding from its old shore-line, for originally the town was situated close by the sea-beach, and it is now more than a mile away from it, and that must have also told upon the prosperity and contributed to the desertion of the place.
Of the twenty-eight minor temples noticed by Abu’l Fazl there is no trace left now; and of the great temple _ itself, there is but a small remnant. The height of the enclosing wall as given by him is palpably
Great Temple,-—1ts courtyard. _
wrong; no enclosing wall that I have ever seen or read of rose to the stupendous height of a hundred and fifty cubits. The wall is no longer existent; but from the remains of the trenches formed by those who dug out and carried away the stones from its foundation, I calculate its thickness to have been about 7 or 8 feet; and, judging from that, I believe the height of the wall was under 25 feet. I noticed a few of the battlements which originally, capped the wall, and are now lying about here and there, and they measured twenty-two inches in height with a thickness of about 16 inches. They had been evidently set up along the outer edge of the wall, leaving a broad berm behind for soldiers to walk about, and defend the temple from outside attack. They are of identically the same shape and size as those of the battlements on the eastern and the southern sides of the Puri enclosure, (plates LII, LIII), and people say that the latter werebrought from Konarak and set up when the Puri temple was repaired in the early part of the last century. This identity of shape and size, ecupled with the fact already noticed (p. 113) that these eastern and the southern battlements are different from those that occur on the western and the northern sides and which are older and smaller, fully bear out the tradition.
The trenches referred to about are not continuous ; they have been filled up in most places ; and the land on the western and the northern sides have been ploughed up and brought under cultivation ; I could not, therefore, measure the length of the enclosure. The breadth was, as far as I could make out, between 500 and 550 feet, and the length must have been about 750 feet. According to Abu’l Fazl this enclosure was pierced on three sides by gateways; but the images of horses, tigers and elephants, said to have been placed by these gateways, are still extant, lying by the three doorways of the porch of the temple, and their pedestals are still traceable there. It is not at all likely that those who pulled down the gateways took the trouble to remove the images a great way otf only to cast them on the ground. It is to be presumed, therefore, that the sites of the statues were the sides of the doors of the porch ; for I suspect the reporter of Abu’l Fazl confounded the outer gateways with the three doorways of the porch. The principal gateway was doubtless placed on the eastern side, right in front of the temple. It was most probably covered over by a pyramidal structure like what we see at Bhuvanes’vara and Puri ; but there is nothing to show whether this was repeated on the other sides or not. The Bhuvanes'vara enclosure has a propylon on the east side, a small doorway each on the north and the south sides, but none on the west, and the same arrangement at one time obtained in the inner enclosing wall of the Puri temple, but its outer courtyard now has pyramidal propylons of uniform make on all the four sides ; it is difficult to determine, therefore, how many gateways there were at Konarak. There might have been three as stated by Abu’l Fazl ; but there are no traces of them now to be seen. The mistake made by Abu’l F azl regarding the position of the statues has led Mr. Stirling to another. He is of opinion that “within this (outer enclosure) was a second enclosure having three entrances called the As'aa or horse, the Hastz' or elephant, and the Sz'fi/za or Lion gate, from the colossal figures of those animals, which surmounted the several side posts. The horses and elephants on the north and south, have long since been precipitated from their bases, but the lions or rather griffins still retain the attitude and position assigned to them by Abu’l F azl, except that they are standing, instead of sitting, on the bodies of elephants, and have one paw lifted in the act of striking”.* Now as the positions of the figures was close by, almost abutting, the entrances of the Audience Hall, there could not have been a second enclosure. The difficulty of removing the statues urged with regard to the outer enclosure, applies equally to an inner one.
The original plan of the Bhuvanes’vara and the Puri temples included only two buildings, a temple proper and a porch
or audience hall, the J agamo ban or Mohan of the Uriyas. Two other buildings were subsequent
The Bhoga Mandapa. _ , 1y, at different times,'_added to each so as to make a suite of four buildings standing in a file and
1.
communicating with each other. The Konarak builder, in addition to the two principal ones, took in hand a third, and he placed it so that enough room was left between it and the second for a fourth. In other words he had the temple and porch abutting each other, and the Bhoga Mand apa or Hall of Offerings at a short distance, leaving space for the Dancing Hall to be afterwards built. From its position, detached from the temple, the third building could not have well served the purposes which its name would indicate. Originally it must have been intended either for a Dancing Hall, a place of entertainment and music, or a lecture-room where the people congregated to hear the S'éstras interpreted, as in the chaultries of Southern India and the Mukti Mandapa of Puri, though it was not an open building such as chaultries and M ukti Maud apas usually are. But whatever it was it was dismantled during the last century and removed to Puri, where it has now been set up as the Hall of Offerings of the Lord of the world (p. 120). Its site at Kon'arak is now indicated by a huge mass of rubbish overgrown with jungle. I
Of the other two buildings the temple proper is also now totally dismantled, and forming an enormous mass of stones,
The Tower or Temple Proper. studded with a few pipal trees here and there, and harbouring snakes, from the dread of which
few care to approach it. The only work of art prominently noticeable on it at the time when I visited the place was a figure of a rampant lion, which had projected from the southern face of the tower. Wishing to have it measured with a tape, I desired a cowherd boy to go up and do the needful for me ; but the dread of snakes made him refuse my offer of two rupees, when his daily earnings probably did not exceed a penny. I guessed its size to be about 14 feet, and its Weight, including that of the horizontal portion which was built into the wall, to be about 6 tons. It had jutted out in the air at a height of about a hundred feet from the ground. Judging from the Great Tower and other temples of Bhuvanes'vara, I believe there were similar figures also on the west and the north sides of the temple, but they are now completely buried in rubbish. In 1824, when Mr. Stirling visited the place, only a small section of the temple was standing. It was about one hundred and twenty feet in height, and, when seen from a distance, gave “ to the ruin a singular appearance, something resembling that of a ship under sail.’HIE This portion was still standing in 1839, when Mr. Fergusson took a drawing of it for his “ Picturesque Illustrations of the Architecture of Hindustan ;” but when I saw it at the close of 1868 its upper portion had tumbled down. Mr. Forgusson has since produced a restored drawing of this temple, and it affords the only representation that can now be had of this most magnificent sample of Orissan art.
How the temple fell cannot now be positively affirmed, but that the destruction was caused either by a sinking of the foundation, or by a smart shock of earthquake, there can be no doubt. Exception might be taken to the earthquake theory as no effect of a seismic commotion is now visible on the porch ; but the effect of an earthquake on a. slender tower upwards of 200 feet high would be very different from what it would be on a squat.four-sided room with stone walls from 10 to 20 feet thick, and the tower might well suffer when the room escapes without a crack. It is difficult, however, to conceive that the memory of so severe a seismic catastrophe could be entirely forgotten. No slight quake could knock down so solid a structure of stone as the temple unquestionably was, and a. quake sufficiently vigorous for the purpose must have been very extensively felt, and for certain remembered. But tradition is entirely silent in this respect, and I am disposed, therefore, to lay greater stress on the faulty character of the foundatiOn. The ground is everywhere in this locality sandy, and, though it is to be presumed that the architect had taken some precaution against the fault of the soil by carrying his foundation below the level of the upper sandy layer, it is very likely that he failed to reach the solid earth below, and, building on sand, rendered the chance of the foundation sinking possible, and that chance overtook his work in time. It is certain that the pillars which supported the masonry ceiling of the porch, did fall by the sinking of the ground on which they had been built. Situated in the middle of a square room with stone walls 10 to 20 feet they could not break but by sinking, and they brought down the ceiling along with them. No force to knock them down could be applied latterally which would leave the side walls uninjured; and the walls are uninjured. It is obvious that in falling the pillars did not knock against the walls, and we can attribute their fall only to the sinking of their bases. No other theory can suffice to explain the occurrence. If so, what has unquestionably happened in the porch, may be fairly assumed to have occurred in the templeMr. Fergusson is of this opinion. He says, “ From an examination of the ruins themselves, I am inclined to think that the failure of the marshy foundation that supported so enormous a mass was by far the most probable cause. Had the place been subject to earthquakes, the tottering fragment of the tower that still remains could scarcely have stood for two centuries, and lightning could scarcely have shattered so enormous a pyramidal mass, and was much more likely to have been attracted by the iron-roofed porch than by the tower which probably had no iron in its composition, while the appearance of the ruin is exactly that which w0uld result from a subsidence of the foundation/’1' That
* Asiatic Researches, XV, p. 326. 1' Picturesque Illustrations of the Architecture of Hindustan, p. 27.
the temple did not suffer from hostile attack may be assumed as certain, for stone walls of the thickness under notice could not be knocked down by any artillery which an enemy could bring to bear against them two to three hundred years ago. Artillery of the time did not break down the brick temple at Buddha Gaya.* Nor can we assume anything like blasting with gunpowder, as the quantity of powder which would have sufliced to knock down the temple would have also told seriously on the four walls of the porch. Mere undermining would have been a dangerous game for the miners; it would have besides required a long time, and left a huge tumulus of earth and sand in the neighbourhood. Adverting to the destruction and desecration of the temple, Mr. Stirling gives a story, the main element of which, a loadstone, is obviously fictitious, but the story is worthy of note. It runs thus :
“The natives of the neighbouring villages have a strange fable to account for its desertion. They relate that a. kumb/za pathar or loadstone, of immense size, was formerly lodged in the summit of the great tower, which had the effect of drawing ashore all vessels passing near the coast. The inconvenience of this was so much felt, that about two centuries since, in the Mughal time, the crew of a ship landed at a distance and stealing down the coast, attacked the temple, scaled the tower, and carried off the loadstone. The priests, alarmed at this violation of the sanctity of the place, removed the image of the god with all its paraphernalia to Puri, where they have ever since remained, and from that date the temple became deserted and went rapidly to ruin. As above intimated, the origin of its dilapidation may obviously be ascribed either to an earthquake or to lightning, but many causes have concurred to accelerate the progress of destruction when once a beginning had been made. To say nothing of the effects of weather on a deserted building, and 0f the vegetation that always takes root under such circumstances, it is clear that much injury has been done by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, in forcing out the iron clamps which held the stones together, for the sake of the metal ; and it is well known that the officers of the Marhattzi government actually beat down a part of the walls, to procure materials for building some insignificant temples at Puri.”'|'
From its great height the tower served, as the porch now does, as a beacon to mariners, warning them of the shallow shore of the neighbourhood, and it was an easy transit from that to the romantic loadstone and the story of Sinbad the sailor of the ‘ Arabian Nights.’ I was at first induced to think that the fall took place before the consecration of the temple, and communicated the opinion to Dr. Hunter; but after mature consideration I am forced to a different conclusion. The age of the images of the sun and the moon must date from the time the place was appropriated to Hindu worship in the 5th, the 6th, or the 7th century, and the Gangetic-king Languliya Narasifiha built the great temple for their better accommodation. The consecration, therefore, must have taken place immediately after its completion. Thereafter, we have the testimony of Abu’l Fazl that the place continued in a thriving condition for three centuries, and fell only in the beginning of the 17th century. It is impossible to believe that the temple was left unconsecrated for such a length of time.
The Jagamohan or Audience Hall is the only portion of the temple now in existence in its entirety: it passes under the name of the “Black Pagoda.” It is a square building of 66 feet a side, with a twofold projection on each side. In this respect the Konarak Jagamohan is different from the Puri
The Audience Hall.
and the Bhuvanes'vara examples. The latter are, as already shown, so broken by a multiplicity of buttress-like projections and receding angles, that the original quadrangular character of their ground plan is not at all perceptible to the eye, whereas here the square form is prominently and obtrusively apparent (see Plate LVI and compare with Plate LIV). Mr. Stirling notices the square ground-plan, but adds, “If we take in the four projecting doorways, it should rather be called a cross ;”1 but the double projection on each side cannot strictly be so designated. The projections are comparatively slight, and barely sufficient to break the monotony of the flat walls without disturbing their general character. The plinth is high, about 7 feet, and forms a berm all round the building; but rubbish and broken stones have so accumulated all round that I could not ascertain the way in which it had been ornamented. Its existence is indicated by a flight of nine steps on the east side by which access is had to the top of the berm. Similar flights unquestionably existed on the north and the south sides; but they are, except in a few places, now buried under rubbish. Above the berm there is a base-moulding formed of a tile one foot thick, over it a deep cyma engraved on the upper surface in the form of lotus petals, and thereupon a thin receding tile. The walls over this plinth are diversified by niches formed by flat pilasters, and divided into two tiers by a broad flat-ribbed band which goes all round the building, and gives to the whole the appearance of two storeys. Taking into account the plinth and the bands which lie on the upper row of niches,
The niches are set off with floral bands, and designed for statues of men, women and liOIlS- The bands are 0f the various types so common at Bhuvanes’vara (see illustrations in Vol. I), but they are superior both in conception and in execution; taken altogether they afford the most beautiful specimens of Orissan art. Above the upper row of niches there is another series of horizontal bands similar in make to the lower one, but of much greater depth, being equal to the depth of the space devoted to the upper row of niches, and this completes the decoration of the side walls.
The cornice of this building is perfectly horizontal as at Bhuvanes'vara and Puri, and projects nearly six feet from the body of the walls. It is formed of large slabs laid flat on the wall, and has, as elsewhere, no support of any kind, except what it derives from the portion resting on the wall on which it is placed, and the weight of the masonry built over it. Its outer edge is carved into a frieze of animals, and is set off by a series of richly carved lancet-headed crests.
The roof begins on the cornice and recedes uniformly to produce a perfect pyramid, the style of building being of the horizontal arch pattern so common in Hindu temples all over India. The perpendicular height of this pyramid is 63 or 64 feet, and the slope about 72 feet. The body of the pyramid is not left bare; at intervals ledges of the depth of the cornice, project, and these with the cornice form a series of seven steps, of the same character and style, differing
only in the figures carved on their edges, the pattern being different, lions, elephants, geese, soldiers, &c. being the objects carved. Above the seventh ledge the pyramidal core is left bare to the height of several feet; in other words it forms a deep recess, the front of which is ornamented by a. line of life-size human figures, with uplifted hands, showing as if they were supporting the superincumbent weight of a second series of six ledges. In 1838 when Mr. Fergusson visited the place, most of the figures were in situ; but in 1869 they had been removed or broken down. Over the sixth ledge of the second series the bare pyramid re-appears with a line of human figures as in the first instance, and thereupon a series of five ledges are produced. The edges of these are left uncarved, and herein, as in most other details, the architect displays his consummate knowledge of his art. The edges are under 16 inches in thickness, and bassi-rilievi thereon placed at a height of over 80 feet would have been totally lost to the beholder. Over the topmost ledge comes a compressed ribbed dome supported on crouching lions, and having over it a bell-shaped figure carved over with lotus-petals, and thereupon a second dome supported on lions as the first, the arrangement being the exact counterpart of what obtains in the Audience Hall of the Great Tower at Bhuvanes’vara (plate XXX). Originally over this stood the vase-shaped Kalas'a common on Orissan porches ; but it has been somehow knocked down.
The following is Mr. Fergusson’s description of this magnificent roof: “ The roof, which in height is about equal to the width of the temple, or sixty feet, is likewise divided into four compartments, the two lowest of which are composed of six projecting cornices, separated by a deeply recessed compartment containing sculpture as large as life; while all the faces of these twelve cornices are covered by bassi-rilievi of processions, hunting and battle scenes and representations of all the occupations and amusements of life. The immense variety of illustrations of Hindu manners contained in it may be imagined when we think that, with a height of from one foot to eighteen inches, the frieze extends to nearly three thousand feet in length, and contains, probably, at least twice that number of figures. The upper of the three compartments has only five cornices, and none of their faces are sculptured. The whole is crowned by the lotus-shaped dominical ornament, as is universally the case, but which is here of a singularly elegant form. Were such a roof as this placed over a colonnade or on awall much out up with openings, it would, no doubt, be overpoweringly heavy; but placed as it is on a solid wall, with only one opening on each face, and that so deeply recessed, I scarcely know one so singularly appropriate and elegant; and the play of light and shade from its bold and varied projections and intervening shadows give it a brilliant and sparkling effect that, I confess, I have almost never seen equalled.“
The porch has, as usual in Orissa, a single door on each side. The door is placed in the middle of the central bay, which projects nearly ten feet from the line of the wall. The western door is covered by the debris of the fallen temple on the outside, and that of the ceiling inside, and could not, therefore, be seen. The doors on the other three sides are very much alike, and, mutaiz's mutandis, the description of one applies to the other two. The most elaborately finished is the eastern gate which forms the main entrance to the chamber. It was originally flanked on each side by a polygonal pilaster, which was in sz'lu in 1838 when Mr. Fergusson made his drawing, but I saw no trace of it. The broken face of the wall shown in Plate No. LVI, indicates the position it occupied. On its outer side there were two statues one over the other in a line with the niches in the wall. The left-hand side figures are still extant; but those on the right side have been destroyed. The pilasters supported an iron beam 21 feet long with an average scantling of 1 X 8 inches (see Vol. I, p. 36) and over it was placed a heavy piece of stone 19’ X 3 X 3. This formed the architrave, and on its front were carved
in has-relief the images of the nine planets. The top of tho architrave was placed flush with the horizontal bands which form the upper tier of the four-fold division of the wall. In Mr. Fergusson’s picture some bassi-rilievi are shown on the space between the top of the architrave and the cornice,* but in my photograph the space appears all broken and dilapidated. In fact the fall of the side pilasters brought down the iron beam, the stone architrave, and the sculptures above them. In some respects Mr. Fergusson’s picture appears to be a restoration, and I am not certain, therefore, whether the side pilasters with their superstructure have fallen since 1838, or had tumbled before that date; At the close of 1868 the beam was lying in front of the temple, and the stone architrave on a truck at a distance of about two hundred yards from it.
The face of the stone architrave is divided into nine panels, each containing a human figure, richly ornamented, wearing a high-pointed crown, and seated cross-legged on a lotus. The panels are framed by squat pilasters supporting a trifoiled arch, (Plate LVIII). The design is neat, and beautifully executed. The first figure, beginning from the left-hand side, is that of Ravi or the sun. According to a hymn attributed to Vyasa, he should be of the colour of the hibiscus flower fjabrtj, and very refulgent ;1' but in sculpture he appears like a genial-looking man holding a full-blown lotus in each uplifted hand. The second is Soma or the moon. In appearance it is the counterpart of the first, except in the position of the hands, which are stretched forward, the left holding a water vessel, and the right a rosary which he is engaged in counting. The hymn aforesaid assigns him a white colour like that of conch-shell, or snow; The third is Mangala (Mars); the fourth Buddha (Mercury), son of the moon ; the fifth Vijihaspati, (Jupiter) ; the sixth S’ukra (Venus) ; and the seventh Sani, (Saturn). In sculpture they are alike in form, feature, ornaments and occupation, except Jupiter who sports a flowing beard. In the hymn, the third is described to be a red-coloured youth, born of the earth, resplendent as an agglomeration of lightning, and holding a spike.§ The fourth is a son of the moon, of a dark blue colour like that of the bud of the pra'yangu [Panicum It'al-z'cumj, of unrivalled beauty and benign appearance.“ The fifth is of the colour of gold ; he is the high priest of gods and sagesfif The sixth is the high priest of the Asuras, and of the colour of the stalk of the winter jessamine (Jesmenz'a pubesccnsj.“ The seventh is the son of Ravi, (Sun) by Chhaya, (darkness,) and of a deep blue colour.1"|' The eighth Rahu or the ascending node, is the son of Sifihiké. He was produced by one human body being divided into two, the upper half forming him, and the lower half the descending node. He is of a most fierce aspect, and the oppressor of the sun and the moon,ii one or other of which, according to Puranie mythology,§§ he swallows and thereby produces an eclipse. In sculpture he is represented as a grinning grotesque monster, with one immense canine tooth projecting from the upper jaw ; he has a rounded crown with three triangular peaks, and a nimbus of rays terminating in dots. In one hand he holds a rounded object, which Mr. Stirling takes for ahatchct, but which is probably meant for the sun, and in the other a crescent moon. The last is Ketu, the descending node, son of Rudra; he is of the colour of a smoke rising from smouldering straw, fierce and wicked, the oppressor of the starsllll The upper part of his body is in all its details similar to that of the first four figures, but the lower part is formed of the body of a serpent which coils round so as at first sight to produce the impression of its being of the same character as that of the first seven figures. The busts of most of the figures are so developed as to appear like those of young women. Mr. Stirling describes the 6th as a youthful female, with “plump well rounded figure ;”1H[ but the mistake has arisen from the association of the idea of Venus with this figure. As an Englishman, Mr. Stirling could not shake off his early impressions. In India neither the moon nor Venus is anywhere likened to a female. On reference to the photograph, (Plate LVIII) it will also be seen that the sixth figure does not differ from the others. Images of these planets, besides, occur over the doorway of all the richer temples in Orissa, and nowhere has a female been placed in the room of the high priest of the Asuras. In legends S’ukra is blind of one eye, but this is not shown in sculpture. The object of placing the planets over the gateway is to make them, who are the arbiters of mundane destiny, subservient to the welfare of the temple.
Both the design and the execution of the frieze are excellent, and as the stone was lying uncared for in front of the porch, the Asiatic Society of Bengal some time ago expressed a wish to have it brought to its Museum at Calcutta. The Government, thereupon, sanctioned a grant of Rs. 3,000 for its removal, and the work was made over to the Public Works Department. The grant, however, sufficed for the laying of a tram-road and the removal of the stone to a distance of about two hundred yards, and, the nearest port for putting the stone on board a Government steamer being somewhat over a mile, the work had to be abandoned, and the stone now lies on its truck as shown in the photograph.
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The door-frame is of chlorite, and of a rectangular shape. It appears, however, in the annexed photograph (Plate LVII) narrow above and broad at the base, like an ancient Egyptian doorway; this is owing to error produced by the camera having been placed in a slanting position on very low ground right in front. Its front is one mass of carving of the richest and most sumptuous description to be seen anywhere in India. The pattern is conventional, being met with not only in different parts of Orissa, notably in the porch of the Great Tower of Bhuvanes'vara, but also in the Ajanta Cave No. 1* and elsewhere; but its finish is most exquisite. The design includes seven distinct bands enclosed in a frame having its edge moulded in the form of a cymarecta, and set off with a series of lotus petals edged with beaded ornaments. In the photograph the petals may be mistaken for echinae. The bands are all set on the same level; they rise from the top of alto-rilievo human figures standing in different attitudes, and terminate at the corner of the lintel, the transverse portions on the lintel being in some of the bands differently ornamented. The inmost band has a floral design similar to Fig. 24,, Plate XI of Vol. I. The next is formed of two twining serpents which terminate at the top in a female bust. The chaste design and exquisite finish of this scroll cannot be surpassed by any carving of mediacval times. The third is formed of panels filled in, alternately, with the coat-of-arms design shown in Fig. 466, Plate XXXIII, Vol. I, and human couples in disgustingly obscene attitudes. In the transverse portion of this band the coat_of-arms design is omitted, and the human couples are replaced by single squatting figures, either singing, or playing on musical instruments. The fourth is a trailing vine in the loops of which cherubs are at play. In the transverse portion of this band the vine is dropped, and the cherubs are replaced by human figures in a flying attitude, each carrying a female seated on his out-stretched thigh. (Fig. 143, Plate XXXVI, Vol. I.) The fifth is formed of a series of miniature pilasters set one over the other, the transverse portion being filled in with musicians playing mostly on the large drum called Irkola, (Fig. 169, Plate XXX, Vol. I.) The sixth is a repetition of the third in every detail; and the seventh is formed of a string of cucnrbitaccous flowers (Fig. 143, Plate XXXVI, Vol. I). In the middle of the transverse portion of each hand there is a panel flanked with pilasters and filled in with bassi-rilievi. The subject of the lowest panel is the sun as shown in the Navagraha frieze, holding a full-blown lotus in each hand, and attended by two servants waving chauris. In the next panel the central figure is a raja explaining something to a minister standing with folded hands on one side, while a servant on the other side wavesa chauri. This is repeated in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth panels. In the topmost panel the réjé appears in a niche surmounted by a trifoilcd arch and having the head of an elephant on each side.
When the side pilasters were in sz'lu the frame was separated from them by an interval of about a foot and a half, which was left plain. This arrangement brought out the carvings in good relief, and by marked contrast produced excellent artistic effect. The sides of the entrance were also perfectly plain, the large polished chlorite slabs with which they are lined producing a much better effect than any carved work could do. The slabs have now been defaced by the Vandalism of European visitors—mostly civil and military officers who have from time to time held charge of the districts of Puri and Cuttack,—who have purchased cheap immortality by scratching their names thereon with penknives or other iron instruments. To the honour of the learned historian of Orissa, I must, however, add that Mr. Stirling’s name does not appear on the slabs.
The interior of the chamber is plain. The walls were plastered and white-washed, but not set off with any carving. A plain moulding formed of a cyma and a tile runs all round the room at a height of 5 feet from the floor, and that is the only decoration which has been attempted for the interior. The floor is entirely covered by a large mass of rubbish, which has resulted from the fall of a false flat ceiling which originally covered the under surface of' the pyramidal roof. This ceiling was supported on four square pillars which had divided the area of the room into a nave and two aisles. The remains of these pillars are still to be found in the midst of the rubbish, as also the iron beams which were laid over them, and which extended from them to the side walls to support the ceiling. The beams are of thick scantling, and from 12 to 20 feet long. A few of the beams are still sticking to the walls by one end, the other hanging in the air. The ceiling formed no part of the roof, and there was considerable space left vacant between it and the roof. According to Abu’l F azl’s description the ceiling was painted (p. 148); but no trace of such painting can now be found. It is obvious the pillars did not fall from the weight of the roof, nor could lightning or earthquake knock them down, leaving the side walls and the roof untouched. Hostile human agency could not be brought to bear upon them without injuring the walls, but the walls are uninjured, and even the plastering on them is tolerably intact. The solution of the problem, therefore, can be effected only by the supposition that the foundation of the pillars sank, and thereby brought down the superstructure.
Taking the structure as a whole it is the noblest specimen of mediacval art extant in India. Faults it has, both mechanical and artistic, and serious ones too,——but its general excellence entirely covers its defects, and very justly did
Abu’l Fazl remark “ that no one can behold this immense edifice without being struck with amazement.” Mr. Fergusson, by far the ablest European critic who has visited this temple, and whose opinion in a question of this kind would carry the greatest weight, is most emphatic in his praise of this monument. He says, “ The temple itself is of the same form as all the Orissan temples, and nearly of the same dimensions as the great ones of Bobaneswar and Puri; it surpasses, however, both these in lavish richness of detail; so much so, indeed, that perhaps I do not exaggerate when I say that it is, for its size, the most richly ornamented building—externally at least—in the whole world.”“Ii Again ; “ Taken altogether, this building may, as far as my experience goes, be considered as one of the very best specimens of Indian architecture as an exterior; though in Upper India there are interiors infinitely finer. There is altogether so much consonance in the parts and appropriateness in the details, that the effect of the whole is particularly charming. In speaking, however, thus in its praise, I must be understood to limit that to its effect as an artistic architectural composition; for the sculpture that covers the walls—not the roof—is generally bad in design and execution, and of an obscenity of expression which it is impossible to describe, and which it would be difficult for even a very depraved European imagination to conceive.'|' It is, however, so completely subordinate to the architecture, that this defect is not perceived in contemplating the building at such a distance as enables one to grasp it as a whole”:
Adverting to the sculptures of this temple, Mr. Stirling says, “ The skill and labour of the best artists, seem to have been reserved for the finely polished slabs of chlorite, which line and decorate the outer faces of the doorways. The whole of the sculpture on these figures, comprising men and animals, foliage, and arabesque patterns, is executed with a degree of taste, propriety, and freedom, which would stand a comparison with some of our best specimens of Gothic architectural ornament. The workmanship remains, too, as perfect as if it had just come from under the chisel of the sculptor, owing to the extreme hardness and durability of the stone.”§
The testimony of Dr. W. W. Hunter is also worthy of note. He says, “ The most exquisite memorial of sun worship in India, or I believe in any country, is the temple of Kanarak upon the Orissa shore. * * It concentrates in itself the accumulated beauties of the four architectural centuries among the Hindus. Notwithstanding the indecent sculptures which disgrace its exterior wall, it forms the climax of Bengal art, and wrung an unwilling tribute even from the Muhammadans.”]] Referring to the tact and talent of the artists, he observes: “Sculptures in high relief, exquisitely cut, but of an indecent character, cover the exterior walls, and bear witness to an age when Hindu artists worked from nature. The nymphs are beautifully shaped women, in luscious attitudes; the elephants move along at the true elephant trot, and kneel down in stone exactly as they did in life. Some of the latter have, however, the exaggerated ear and conventional mouth of modern Hindu sculpture, and the lions must have been altogether evolved from the artists’ inner consciousness.”1l “ They handled their colossal beams of iron and stone with as much ease and plasticity as modern workmen put up pine-rafters ; and fitted in blocks of twenty to thirty tons with absolute precision at a height of eighty feet.” “Among the life~sized pieces, elephants crouch in terror under rampant lions, while mutilated human figures lie crushed beneath the flat pulpy feet of the elephants. Clubmen, griffins, warriors on prancing horses, colossal figures of grotesque and varied shape, stand about in silent stony groups. The elephants have the flabby under-lips of nature, and exhibit a uniformity in all the essential points of their anatomy, with a variety in posture and detail, which Hindu art has long forgotten. Two colossal horses guard the southern facade, one perfect, the other with his neck broken and otherwise shattered. The right hand stallion has a Roman nose, prominent eyes, nostrils not too open, and in other respects carved from a wellbred model ; excepting the jowl, which is bridled in close upon the neck, making the channel too narrow—a mistake which I have also noticed in the ancient sculptures of Italy and Greece. The legs, too, have a fleshy and conventional look. He is very richly caparisoned with bosses and bands round the face, heavy chain armour on the neck, tasselled necklaces, jewelled bracelets on all four legs, and a tasselled breast-band which keeps the saddle in position. The saddle resembles the mediaeval ones of \Vestern chivalry, with a high pummel and well-marked cantle, but has a modern girth, consisting of a single broad band clasped by a buckle outside the fringe of a sumptuous saddle-cloth. The stirrup irons are round, like those of our own cavalry. A scabbard for a short Roman sword hangs down on the left, a quiver filled with feathered arrows on the right, while a groom adorned with necklaces and breast jewels runs at the horse’s head, holding the bridle. The fierce war-stallion has stamped or aborigines, from their woolly hair, tiger-like mouths and tusks, and their short curved swords like the national Gurkha weapon, flea/cum” half bill-hook, half falchion, and equally suited for ripping up a foe, or for cutting a path through the jungle. They wear heavy armlets, but no defensive armour, excepting a round shield made of several plies of metal richly carved, with a boss in the centre, and tassels or tufts of hair hanging down from it. The shields appear to have borne some heraldic device, and the most perfect of them still exhibits two lizards climbing up on either side of the boss, done .to the life. Such quasi-armorial bearings frequently appear in Orissa. Stirling noticed one at Bhuvanes’war in 1820, and the chiefs of the adjoining Tributary States have each a heraldic device or emblem of signature, handed down in their families from remote generations.“
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9" Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindustan, pictures, taken from life, and indescribany obscene, were equally abundant; p. 27. in Calcutta. T Not quite so, for, before the passing of the Act for the suppression of I Picturesque Illustrations, &c., p. 28. obscene pictures, print-shops in Calcutta abounded in European pictures of § Asiatic Researches, XV, p. 332. the most disgusting description possible, which could not be surpassed by the u Orissa, I, p. 288. prurieney of the sculptures under notice. Until lately, European stereoscopic 1T Ibid, p. 291.
The date of the Sun Temple, according to the Temple Annals, is S’aka 1200 = A. D. 1278. In the abridged version of the Annals the statement runs thus : “His son Langulfya Narasifiha Deva reigned for 45 years, S'aka 1204. This king erected in the Arka Kshetra a temple to the god Konarka. His seal runs thus: ‘ The lord of the earth, the tailed king Narasiiiha, erected a temple for the ray-garlanded god in the S’aka year twelve hundred.’ This king filled up the river Bankimohani.”1' Mr. Stirling says, “the present edifice, it is well-known, was built by Raja Langora Narsingh Deo, A. D. 1241, under the superintendence of his minister Shibai Sautra.”1 In the Purushottama-chandrika, the reign of the tailed king is said to have extended from 1159 to 1204 S’aka; but the date of the temple is not given. Dr. Hunter adopts these dates, giving 1237 for the accession and 1282 for the demise of the king. The date
Date of the Temple.
of erection given in the Annals does not correspond with the date given by Mr. Stirling, the difference being 37 years. I know not how to account for this, unless I assume that Stirling named the commencement of Narasifiha’s reign for the date of the temple. This difficulty, however, is greatly enhanced when the statement of Abu’l F azl, that the temple was, in his time at the close of the 16th century, 730 years old, is taken into account. Mr. Fergusson, commenting on the date given in the Annals, says :
“ Complete as this evidence, at first sight, appears, I have no hesitation in putting it aside, for the simple reason that it seems impossible—after the erection of so degraded a specimen of the art as the temple of Puri (A. D. 117 4)—the style ever could have reverted to anything so beautiful as this. In general design and detail it is so similar to the Jagamohan of the great temple at Bhuvaneswar that at first sight I should be inclined to place it in the same century; but the details of the tower exhibit a progress towards modern forms which is unmistakable, and render a difference of date of two or possibly of three centuries more probable. Yet the only written authority I know of for such a date is that given by Abu’l Fazl. After describing the temple, and ascribing it to Raja Narsingh Deo, in A. D. 1241, with an amount of detail and degree of circumstantiality which has deceived every one, he quietly adds that it is said ‘ to be a work of 730 years’ antiquity.’ In other words, it was erected in A. D. 850 or A. D. 873, according to the date we assume for the composition of the Ayeen Akbery. If there were a king of that name among the Rois faine'ants of the Kesari line, this would suffice; but no such name is found in the lists. This, however, is not final ; for in an inscription on the Brahmaneswar temple, the queen, who built it, mentions the names of her husband, Udyalaka, and six of his ancestors; but neither he nor any of them are to be found in the lists except the first, J anmcjaya, and it is doubtful whether even he was a Kesari king or the hero of the ‘Mahabharata.’ In all this uncertainty we have really nothing to guide us but the architecture, and its testimony is so distinct that it does not appear to me doubtful that this temple really belongs to the latter half of the 9th century.” §
The architectural argument in this extract I have already discussed in connexion with the Temple of I’uri (ante; pp. 117 ff). It is not of a character to justify the rejection of the Temple Records, which are for the period unquestionably contemporary, and therefore not open to doubt, and the only way to solve the difficulty appears to me to be the assumption that the informant of Abu’l Fazl confounded the date of the original temple which was erected when Konarak was appropriated to Hindu worship with the large temple subsequently erected by the Gangetic king, in rivalry with the builder of the Puri edifice. I have already shown that the details given by Abu’l Fazl are obviously incorrect, and an error of the kind I suggest was just what was most likely to happen. Under any circumstance I am not prepared to reject the positive statement of contemporary annals, and the testimony of the legend on the seal, on the authority of Abu’l F azl, or on architectural deductions founded on insufficient data and moulded by preconceived theories.
Of the minor places of sanctity noticed in the Kapila Safihita none is now traceable ; even the sacred fig-tree has totally disappeared, and none has been planted to supply its place. Close by, and to the south of, the temple, under a mango tope, a math has been erected, and is now kept in a neat and tidy state; but it is scarcely a hundred years old, and deserves no notice.
The last of the four emblems of Vishnu, is represented by Yajapur. It was there that Vishnu dropped his club, whence its name Gada' Kshetra. It is said that on the left bank of the Vaitarani river in front of the Wapur' town, Brahma celebrated the horse-sacrifice ten times over, and the place thereupon obtained the name of Yajfiapum, or “the city of sacrifices.” This is an adaptation of a story which is related in connection with one of the ghats of Benares, which is called Das'as’vamedha Ghat, and it is in perfect keeping with the opinion expressed above regarding the attempt made to reproduce Benares in all its details in Orissa. In course of the sacrifices aforesaid there sprang from the flaming altar, an embodiment of the divine mother Durga in the form of Viraja, the immaculate, and in honour of her the place is called Vz'raja' Kshetra. Again, the great Titan Gaya, when laid prostrate before Vishnu, stretched so far and wide, that while his head rested at~Gaya, his navel was located at Yajapur, and its memory is preserved in the name of the place Na'bhi Kshetra. A well or natural fountain, still existing, is pointed out as the centre of the navel ; and here s’raddhas are performed by Hindu pilgrims, and the funeral cake is thrown into the pit of the well. Again, it is said, that as Yayati Kes'ari, in his march southwards, first established his metropolis at Yajapur, he must have built the city and named it after himself Yayatipura, which now survives in the abbreviated form of Yajapur. This derivation, however, is questionable. Under the phonetic rules of the Prakrita language, Yayati would not change into Yaja; whereas Yaj, the radical of Yajfia, even in Sanskrit yields the noun Yaja or Yaga, ‘ a sacrifice,’ and thence Yéjapur is an obvious and legitimate derivation.
I have elsewhere shown that the story of Gayasura is an allegorical representation of the spread of Buddhism in India, and that Gaya and Y‘ajapur represented the chief seats of that religion.* I have also shown above (p. 58) that the revival of Hinduism commenced from the north, and gradually spread towards the south, and that Yayéti Kes'ari, coming from Bihér, found the city of Yéjapur conveniently situated to form the base of his operations in the south, and so made it his capital for a time. He did not build it, but took it as he found it, and it was then a place of considerable importance. The story of Gayasura’s navel leaves no room for doubt on the subject. Situated close to Dantapura, the locale of the sacred toothrelic, it was probably in existence when Buddhism first spread in Orissa; at any rate it certainly was a sufficiently important seat of Buddhism when the Gayasura story was get up in the 4th or the 5th century, to be called the navel of that religion, and its relics are not wanting even to this day. Yayati, as a Hindu revivalist, first assailed it, and brought it under subjugation. From that time to the middle of the 16th century, it flourished as one of the seven metropolises of Orissa, and was enriched by numerous costly edifices by the architecture-loving sovereigns of that country. But even as the Hindus had expelled the Buddhists from the town, and converted their sanctuaries into Hindu places of worship, so did the M uhammadans, a thousand years after, expel the Hindus, and build monuments in honour of their faith with the materials of Hindu temples. Kalapahar, the redoubtable champion of Islam and uncompromising iconoclast, assailed Orissa in the year 1558, and, after the great battle fought before Yajapurfl' when the independence of the Uriyas finally succumbed to his sword, swept away every vestige of Hinduism that fell in his way. Temples were demolished and dismantled ; idols defaced, or pounded down, or cast into the river; and the accumulated treasures of art of a thousand years were lost for ever. So complete was the havoc committed that, with the exception of a solitary monumental pillar and a few broken stones, there is nothing left now to convey a fair idea of what Y'ajapur contained in the days of its glory.
Of the few remains which still exist, notices have already been published by several writers ,1 I shall, therefore, here attempt only a summary.
The oldest monument extant. at Yajapur, is the Das’as’vamedha Ghat, on the right bank of the Vaitarani. It is the site, according to some, of Brahma’s horse-sacrifices, and according to others that of the same rite celebrated by Yayati Kes’ari. The latter would be the most probable supposition; but the Temple Records are entirely silent on the subject. Anyhow the worn-out appearance of the stone steps of which the ghat is formed affords unquestionable evidence of its age, and obviously it is undisguised by any modern addition. It was originally flanked by a substantial revetment on each side, but it is now very much dilapidated and barely traceable. The revetments were provided with ornamented stumps for fastening boats, and remains of these are still recognizable. These show that the river, which is now abed of sand, once flowed flush with the revetment, and boats could, and did, come close to the Ghat.
‘1' Buddha Gaya, pp. 10 f. runs thus :—~“ Even now (in 1595) when two generations have passed away
1' Babu Chandras’ekhara Bannrji, in his interesting account of Yajapur, since that bloody day, people hear at night voices coming from the battle(Jowr. As. 800., XL, p. 152,) says :-—“ The battle was fought at a place called field, and cries, ‘ Give,’ ‘ take,’ ‘ kill,’ ‘ strike ;’ and several years ago, in 1588, Gahvara Tikri, about four miles to the north-east of Yajapur. There is a when, on my journey from Labor to Fatehpfir Sikri, I had occasion to pass large tank in the field, which is pointed out an the spot near which the Afghan over the field, I heard the very voices with my own cars, and my companions army was encamped. The place is still dreaded. It is believed that whole fancied that an army was rushing onwards. \Ve committed ourselves to God, armies are now lying sunk in the adjacent marshes, where they still beat their and passed on.”—Jownal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XL, p. 159. drums and blow their trumpets at dead of night.” Mr. Blochmann quotes 1 Stirling, Asiatic Researches, XV. Chandras'ekhara Banurji, Journal a passage from Badaoni with reference to the battle-field of Panipnt to show Asiatic Society, XL. Hunter, Orissa, I. Smeaton, Calcutta Gazette for that the belief in the posthumous war-cry is not confined to the Uriyés. It August 1869.
Proceeding straight from the Ghat to the south of the town there is a broad street, and at the end of it stands a temple Vimjfl Temple. dedicated to Virajé, the “ immaculate” goddess, who is said to have sprung from the fire altar
of Brahma, when that divinity performed his horse-sacrifices. The temple is of the usual Orissan style; it has a. porch in front, and is situated in the midst of alarge compound surrounded by a high wall and studded with trees. At the eastern side of the compound there is a good sized propylon. This gateway and the temple itself bear masses of well-executed sculptures of an ancient date; they have, however, been so masked and modernised by additions and alterations, that they have entirely lost all antiquarian interest. In the courtyard of this temple occurs the well or vat called Gayanabhi, or the navel of the demon Gaye.
The only other monument in the town is the cenotaph of Sayyad ’Ali Bukhari, a Pathén saint of some renown, who
accompanied Kalapahar. “ It is said that after the battle at J ajpur he accompanied his chief
Cenotaph of Sayyad Bukhari. . i ' to Katak, where he displayed great valour in the siege of Fort Barobati ; but when its garrison was about to yield, his head was severed by the sword of the enemy. His headless trunk, however, gave spur to his horse which carried him straight to Yajpur. Here he prayed and was sanctified, like the king of France at the gate of heaven :~—‘ And then he set up such a headless howl, that all the saints came out and took him in.’ ’Ali Bulihari was then buried on the high terrace where his tomb still stands, his horse being buried in a separate grave beside him. It is also said that his head was interred in Katak, perhaps in the tomb which stands under the pipal tree in the centre of the Fort.“
The monument was built on the foundation of a Hindu temple, and with its materials. Babu Ohandras'ekhara Banurji says that “ the site was the steryobate of a Mukti M andapa attached to a temple.” The temple, however, has left no trace, and the divinity to whom it was dedicated is unknown. Leaning against the wall of the cenotaph three statues were noticed by Mr. Stirling. They have since been removed to the compound of the subdivisional court, where they now are. They represent the three goddesses Viirahi, Indrani and Ohémunda. They are made of coarse sandstone, and each about 8 feet high. Drawings from photographs of these occur in Plates XXXIX and LXI, and their descriptions occur on pages 140—141. There were doubtless five others to complete the eight Primitive Mothers ; but the Muhammadans broke them down, and made them (so runs the tradition) into balls and shots for their guns, or cast them into the bed of the Vaitarani river. The three existing images had been thrown down from their platform, and were found by Mr. Stirling “with their feet uppermost and half buried in a mass of rubbish.”
On the other side of the river opposite the Das'ésvamedha Ghat, there is amodern room, which was built by a cloth
Modem temPIeE. merchant about a hundred years ago, and in it are deposited at great number of more or less mutilated sculptures of ancient date, picked up from different parts of the town and its neighbourhood. Among them there is a set of seven images representing the Matris. They are of small size; but in their details exact counterparts of those at Puri, and of the three noticed above. There should have been eight in all, but one is missing.
-Within a mile of the town there is a place called Gaurimg Deori, and there are “ two stone buildings of the old solid style, a stone gate with a pointed arch, and a small tank,” all dedicated to Govindji, but of no antiquarian interest.
In the village of Chandes'vara about a mile from Yajapur, there is a monolyth standing amidst some jungle, and close by a but. It is called Sablm' Stambba; it measures 36' 10”, the shaft being 29 feetChandes'vara column. , _ _ - _ .
As far as the shaft is concerned, 1t is the exact counterpart of the Sun pillar at Purl, a polygon 0f 16 sides, most beautifully and truly out. But its base and capital are different. The column is of chlorite, but the base, as now seen, is of gneiss, rough and unfinished, showing holes, whereby was attached an outer layer of chlorite slabs. What the shape of the outer layer was cannot be guessed ; but looking to the arrangement of the core—a series of four steps—it must have been totally difierent from the elegant and highly artistic base of the Puri pillar. Babu Chandras’ekhara Banurji says
that “there was at the foot an inscription on a slab which a Sannyési destroyed in the hope of obtaining the treasure which he
supposed was hidden behind it.”“t Mr. Stirling evidently refers to that, when he says “ that on one of the pillars an inscrip-
tion has been discovered, which is said to be of the same character exactly as that on the brow of the Khandagiri cavern
of Khurda.”1' The inscription, however is lost, and no deduction can be founded on it. The holes in the base have suggested
the idea that they have been made by order of Kalapahér to tie ropes to knock the column down, and that trains of
elephants had been set to effect the demolition. This is simply a romantic fable. Obviously no attempt of the kind was
ever made, for had it been made it would have for certain proved successful. The Pathans were giants in architecture,
and to them the knocking down of a chlorite pillar of 16 inches’ diameter would have been a mere child’s play.
tion has been discovered, which is said to be of the same character exactly as that on the brow of the Khandagiri cavern
of Khurda.”1' The inscription, however is lost, and no deduction can be founded on it. The holes in the base have suggested
the idea that they have been made by order of Kalapahér to tie ropes to knock the column down, and that trains of
elephants had been set to effect the demolition. This is simply a romantic fable. Obviously no attempt of the kind was
ever made, for had it been made it would have for certain proved successful. The Pathans were giants in architecture,
and to them the knocking down of a chlorite pillar of 16 inches’ diameter would have been a mere child’s play.
The capital of the column is of the lat type. The collar has festoons of beaded garlands hanging from lions’ heads ; and
over it occurs a double lotus, and on it a tile with a cyma over it, having three ecuchant lions on one side. There was probably
an animal of some kind on the centre of the top ; but it has been knocked down and lost. A very good drawing of the pillar (taken
from a photograph) occurs in the ‘ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society’ for 1872, and Mr. Fergusson has published a woodcut
of it in his ‘ History of Indian and Eastern Architecture’ (p. 433). Describing the pillar, Mr. Fergusson says, “ its proportions
are beautiful, and its details in excellent taste; but the mouldings of the base, which are those on which the Hindus were
accustomed to lavish the utmost care, have been destroyed. Originally it is said to have supported a figure of Garuda, the
Vahana of Vishnu—and a figure is pointed out as the identical one. It may be so, and if it is the case, the pillar is of the
12th or 13th century.” My opinion of its date is different (see ante, p. 113).
over it occurs a double lotus, and on it a tile with a cyma over it, having three ecuchant lions on one side. There was probably
an animal of some kind on the centre of the top ; but it has been knocked down and lost. A very good drawing of the pillar (taken
from a photograph) occurs in the ‘ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society’ for 1872, and Mr. Fergusson has published a woodcut
of it in his ‘ History of Indian and Eastern Architecture’ (p. 433). Describing the pillar, Mr. Fergusson says, “ its proportions
are beautiful, and its details in excellent taste; but the mouldings of the base, which are those on which the Hindus were
accustomed to lavish the utmost care, have been destroyed. Originally it is said to have supported a figure of Garuda, the
Vahana of Vishnu—and a figure is pointed out as the identical one. It may be so, and if it is the case, the pillar is of the
12th or 13th century.” My opinion of its date is different (see ante, p. 113).
The figure of Garuda referred to above occurs in a thékurbari about a mile and a half away from the column. Sir John B. Phear has published a drawing of it, taken from a photograph. In commenting on it, he remarks : “If you place the two photos side by side, it will be evident to you that the base, or platform, on which the Garuda now stands, never could have been a part of, or an addition to, the existing capital of the column: it is itself a capital, with appropriate mouldings, not a copy of, though closely resembling, the capital of the column. It is even open to doubt whether the Garuda itself ever could have formed the termination of the lat, for the image appears to be too small to be capable of being seen with effect at the elevation of 37 feet, to which the lat rises”: This disposes of the question of the 15.; being a Vaishnavite monument, and with it must fall the theory about its age, founded up0n its Vaishnavite character.
At a mile and a half to the west of Yajapur, in a field, occurs a colossal figure which, when first noticed, appeared half-
SIénta Médhava' buried under earth. Sir John Phear had the place dug round the exposed portion, and found the
other half buried at a little distance. The two portions put together have been photographed,
and a drawing thereof published in the ‘ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society’ for 1872, Plate III. The upper portion from
the crown of the head to a little below the navel, measures 9’ 1%”, and the lower from the pubis to near the ancle 7 ’ 11” :
the feet are lost. The measurements would give a total of about seventeen feet six inches for the entire figure. The figure is
now called S’anta Madhava, a name of Krishna, but in reality it is an image of Padmapani, the well-known Bodhisattva, hold-
ing by the left hand a lotus-stalk, and bearing an image of Buddha on his head. It affords the most conclusive evidence of
Yajapur having been a place of importance among the Buddhists before the bulk of its people became Hindu, and, of at
least a good portion, of the sculptures and architectural ruins now found there being of the Buddhist period.
SIénta Médhava' buried under earth. Sir John Phear had the place dug round the exposed portion, and found the
other half buried at a little distance. The two portions put together have been photographed,
and a drawing thereof published in the ‘ Proceedings of the Asiatic Society’ for 1872, Plate III. The upper portion from
the crown of the head to a little below the navel, measures 9’ 1%”, and the lower from the pubis to near the ancle 7 ’ 11” :
the feet are lost. The measurements would give a total of about seventeen feet six inches for the entire figure. The figure is
now called S’anta Madhava, a name of Krishna, but in reality it is an image of Padmapani, the well-known Bodhisattva, hold-
ing by the left hand a lotus-stalk, and bearing an image of Buddha on his head. It affords the most conclusive evidence of
Yajapur having been a place of importance among the Buddhists before the bulk of its people became Hindu, and, of at
least a good portion, of the sculptures and architectural ruins now found there being of the Buddhist period.
The next ancient relic of any importance now existing near Yajapur is a tumulus in a small village called Narapada,
’ two and a half miles to the south-east of the town. It is popularly described to be the ruins
Palace of Narapada. _
’ two and a half miles to the south-east of the town. It is popularly described to be the ruins
Palace of Narapada. _
of the palace which Yayati Kes'ari had built here for his accommodation. It has, however,
never been dug into, and its true character is unknown. For aught we know it might turn out to be the remains of a
Buddhist tops.
never been dug into, and its true character is unknown. For aught we know it might turn out to be the remains of a
Buddhist tops.
The only other ancient relic in the neighbourhood of Yajapur is a bridge in the village of Titulamal. It is exactly
of the same type as the A’tharanala bridge at Puri ; but it is not so large, having only eleven arches, instead of eighteen.
Forty-two miles to the south-west of Balasore, in lat. 20° 19’, long. 86° 30’, there is a small village called Kopart, and
Kopéri. by it, on a level plain surrounded on three sides by low rocky hills, there are some ruins
“ which exhibit the traces of an ancient Buddhist temple and Vihara or monastery with a
pleasure-ground or grove intervening. The Buddhist temple appears to have been destroyed, and its materials used to
erect a Brahmanical temple, dedicated to S‘iva, whose emblems in a later style of art, some in fact comparatively modern,
Forty-two miles to the south-west of Balasore, in lat. 20° 19’, long. 86° 30’, there is a small village called Kopart, and
Kopéri. by it, on a level plain surrounded on three sides by low rocky hills, there are some ruins
“ which exhibit the traces of an ancient Buddhist temple and Vihara or monastery with a
pleasure-ground or grove intervening. The Buddhist temple appears to have been destroyed, and its materials used to
erect a Brahmanical temple, dedicated to S‘iva, whose emblems in a later style of art, some in fact comparatively modern,
are found in abundance.Ӥ The ruins have been described by Mr. Beames under three heads: 1st, the earlier building,
* Journal As. Soc. XL, p. 156.
1' Asiatic Researches, XV, p. 335.
1' Asiatic Researches, XV, p. 335.
1 Proceedings As. Soc. for1872, p. 32.
§ Journal As. Soc. XL, p. 248.
§ Journal As. Soc. XL, p. 248.
2nd, an oblong platform, and 3rd, a narrow hall. With regard to the first, he says, “it consists of a confused mass of laterite hewn stones of very great size, "" ‘l‘ a square of about 38 feet in length on each side. In what seems to have been the centre, is a huge square mass of laterite like an altar, about four feet high, and at each corner a small niche in one of which was an image of Maya Devi. * * One of the other niches has been removed to a distance of about half a mile, and set up on the edge of a tank, probably for purposes of Brahmanical worship ; the other two niches are overgrown with trees. * * * This building I suppose to have been the original Buddhist temple, and the altar, probably, sustained an image of Buddha of gigantic size, the mutilated remains of which have been set up in the village temple, and are now worshipped as Baladeva.” The image of Méyadevi was shown to me, and I read on the back of it the Buddhist creed inscribed in the Kutila character. This would give the date to be the 10th century or a little before; but Mr. Beames thinks it highly probable that the image was dedicated long after the erection of the temple. Anyhow the Buddhist character of the ruins cannot be doubted. The tank is large, and noted for retaining its water all round the year, though it is hewn in stone, and only 6 feet deep.
The second is an oblong platform of hewn stone, with the capitals of some large pillars lying on and around it. There are also on it a lingam, and images of Durga, Nandi, and Bhavani, by some called Lakshmi.
“ The third is the best preserved portion of the whole. It is a long narrow hall with a sort of propylaeum on the eastern side ; it is surrounded by pillars, most of which are still standing, though battered and worn by rain so much that their original design is almost untraceable. It can be seen, however, that they were octagonal, with a capital consisting of a double round-headed fillet.” Close by, at the foot of the hills, there are a large mud fort, and several cave temples dedicated to Bhairava and Basukf, from which images and statues of Durga, Narasifiha, and other goddesses and gods have been brought to adorn the village shrine.
To the south of Yajapur, at a distance of about a mile, the low range of hills, more or less detached, which forms the £88“, Hing- Eastern Ghats, bears the name of A’ssia alias A’lti hills. It runs in a south-easterly direction in
the ’A'lamgir estate of Pargunnah A'lti, throwing out spurs towards the west and the east. Near the centre of the range, lower than the surrounding heights, there is an open space, which communicates with the plains towards the east. This passage forms, as it were, the key to the fortified places on the peaks. The range is accessible from the village of Bar-chana on the Trunk Road, and is about 27 miles to the north-east of Cuttack.“ The ancient Hindu name of this range is Chatuspz'flza, Uriyii, Oltdryiulz’, ‘the hill of four seats’ or shrines, so called because four of its peaks are the most prominent. The names of these four peaks are, l, Mundaka, 2, Udayagiri, 3, Achala-basanta, 4, Barodihi. The first of the four peaks owes its name to the circumstance of the rite of ordeal by rice (mandaj having been performed Mundaka Hm. there, but it is now known by the name of ’A'lamgir Hill. It is the highest of the four, being 2,500 ' ' feet above the level of the surrounding country. On its crest stands a mosque, built by Shujauddin Muhammad, in the Hijra year 1132 = A. D. 1719-20. The monument is of no pretension, measuring only 29’ X 19' X 9' 4". It is covered in, not by a dome as stated by Babu Chandras’ekhara Banurji, but by two arching roofs terminating in a ridge with a kalasa at each end. This arrangement is very like that of an ordinary but, only the roofs are more arched near their spring than what obtains in thatched roofs. The frieze over the doorway of the mosque is of chlorite, and on it are inscribed three couplets in Persian, which supply the name of the dedicator and the date.1' “ The mosque faces the east, and in front there is a platform surrounded by a thick wall with a gate. Towards the west, high and rough rocks overlook the building. But to its north, a high terrace has been raised for the reception of darveshes and pilgrims.” The structure is, on the whole, very common-place, if not mean, but it commands the benefit of a legend which endows it with a high measure of sanctity. According to the story as related to Babu Chandras'ekhara Banurji—when Muhammad was once travelling in mid air on his miraculous throne, the time for prayer appeared, and he descended on the top of the hill to attend to his religious duty. Finding no water ready at hand to perform the necessary ablutions before prayer, he struck the earth with his wand, and a bubbling fountain immediately sprung up. Thus was the hill made most sacred. Mr. Beames was informed that it was Solomon, and not Muhammad, who had descended on the hill. Certain it is that the story of the miraculous carpet is connected with the elder prophet, and Mr. Beames’ informant was more plausible. But as the story is, in either case, a myth it is of no importance, particularly as it did not serve to raise the place to any consequence until the 17th century, when a Darvesh took possession of it, and daily recited his call to prayer from its stupendous eminence. The army of Shuja-uddin, when marching to Cuttack, was encamped in the neighbourhood, heard the call, and the prince, on his return from his successful expedition, caused the mosque to be built.
* Journal, As. Soc. B. XXXIX, p. 158. 1' Journal, As. Soc. B. XLIV, p. 21.
The fountain occurs on the south side—a small shallow hole, about 10 feet by 8' by 3'. The story is that it was perennial before, but it dried up because a soldier of Shuja-uddin outraged near it the modesty of a female pilgrim to the shrine.
Udayagiri or ‘ the sunrise hill’ is so called because it is the point in all Orissa, on which the sunlight first becomes visible in the morning. It is a well-wooded conical mound with three spurs, and forms the most eastern peak of the range. Beyond it, to the east, is the River Kaliya, and thence a flat, sandy plain stretches as far as the sea. The Uriyas believe that the. sea formerly laved the foot of the hill.‘ The foot is now a sloping, bare, laterite plain, and on its edge, says Babu Chandras’ekhara Banurji, “ it is caught by a colossal image of Buddha half covered in jungle, and a portion buried under the earth. It is fully nine feet in height, the length from the knee to the head being seven feet.” The figure is cut in high relief on a single slab of rough chlorite, holding a large lotus in the left hand: the nose and right hand are mutilated. The ears, arms, wrists and breast are decorated with ornaments, and the cloth round the waist is fastened with three chains answering to the gate of the present day, worn tight like a belt.”1' Mr. Beames also calls this image “ a statue of Buddha upwards of 8 feet high.” He adds a profile of its bust, which has been reproduced in Plate LIX. On this profile there is a small figure of a Buddha on the head of the image, which neither of my authorities has noticed. From it and from the ornaments and the lotus in the left hand it is obvious that the image is of Padmapani, the renowned Bodhisattva, and not of Buddha himself.
Ascending the sloping plain, and close by a gumplui or cave temple, the traveller comes to a tank or Bépz', (baoli) cut in the rock. It is a square of 23 feet, and 28 feet deep from the surface of the plain to the level of the water; the depth of the water has not been measured. The ground round the tank has been levelled to form a terrace 94’ 6” X 38' 11". The entrance to the terrace is flanked by two monolithic pillars, and its sides are edged with a berm surmounted by a line of battlements of large blocks of dressed stone, each 3 feet high and rounded on the top. This arrangement is also repeated round the tank. Access to the tank is had by a flight of 31 steps, each 3 feet long. The rock between the lowest step and the tank has been out into an arch, and on its face there is an inscription in the Kutila type, each letter being six to eight inches long. Babu Chandras'ekhara Banurji reads this record somewhat diEerently from the version given by Mr. Beames. The principal word in it is Brajalal or Brajala, obviously the name of a person. It is repeated in another part of the well in the same way.
f‘ About fifty feet higher up in the jungle,” continues Babu Chandras’ekhara, “ there is another platform on which once stood a sanctuary of Buddha. Numbers of images of gods and goddesses, engraven on slabs of different shapes, are scattered around. A group, with heads and arms mutilated, is still worshipped by the people, who have succeeded in effacing all trace of its original character, by painting the figures with repeated layers of vermillion and turmeric.”1'_ Here occurs a small gateway of superior workmanship. The following is Mr. Beames’ description of this beautiful piece of artwork: “ It consists of two upright slabs of stone, supporting a third as lintel. The dimensions are: Height of opening 5’ 5”, breadth of ditto 2’ 3%”, thickness of stone 1' 3%". The two side jambs are divided into bands separated by grooves % of an inch wide, and inches deep. The panel or band nearest the doorway is carved with a continuous wavy creeper up which human figures are climbing in grotesque attitudes; from the excessively nitambz'm' outlines they are probably intended for females.” (In the plate published by Mr. Beanies, the figures appear to be monkeys, much like the scroll shown in Fig. 28, Plate XII, Vol. I, from the Muktes'vara temple). “The next band has a columnar type. "‘ * The pilaster of the column is adorned with intricate arabesques and lions’ heads. The next band is divided into tablets, each of which contains a beautifully carved group of a male and a female figure engaged in, what I may venture to call, flirtation of an active kind.”§ The fourth is formed of a string of large flowers. In the centre of the band on the lintel there is a figure of Buddha with, on each side, an elephant with its trunk raised over the head of the central figure. Over this band there is an oblong pediment set off with eight circular openings arranged in two rows. On each side of this pediment there is a stool, shaped like a more, and on it is a seated figure of Buddha in meditation. On the tops of the side posts there are also oblong pediments, with a bas-relief of a female figure in a flying position. The general character of this gate is similar
to that of the Konarak porch, but not nearly so well or so richly carved. The gate has been removed by Mr. Beames to Cuttack, where it has been set up in the public garden.
Udayagiri.
If a pony can be procured, it will be best to ride, but otherwise the journey may be made in a palki with eight bearers, three coolies to carry provisions, etc., and two torch-bearers. The start should be made at 3.30 A. M. As Uriyas do not understand Hindustani, much less English, an interpreter is necessary. The path at first runs N. for about 2 m., and then turns to the right and goes direct E. The whole way lies through a fine grassy plain, in which are innumerable herds of black buck, which are so tame, that even the noise of the ham'nutls, who chant a monotonous son , does not scare them away. There s iould be a relay of bearers at 10 m. from Pnri. The trees are few and far between, and there is only one but, which isnear the river Kushbhadra,
13% m. from Puri. The river is about 100 yds. broad in the rains, but in the cold season there are three streams, swift, but only 1 ft. deep. About 1 m. from the temple there are a few clumps of trees on the right, one thick enough to give shelter from the sun.
At first sight the Black Pagoda is disappointing. It has on the N. side a heap of ruins, 45 ft. high and about 70 ft. long, sloping down at a steep angle. This was the tower that contained the idol. In front of it is the J agamohan, or porch, now the only part standing, and much ruined internally. It has a square base of 90 ft., is built of red laterite, and is called black on account of the deep shadow it casts.
The whole roof is excessively beautiful, and covered with elaborate carvings, and Mr. Fergusson says of it that there is no roof in India where the same play of light and shade is obtained, with an equal amount of richness and constructive propriety, nor one that sits so gracefully on the base that supports it. The traveller who has seen the Hindu temples of Northern and Western India will not be prepared to find iron employed in such structures. In Orissa, however, this has been the case. Fergusson says of this building: “Internally the chamber is singularly plain, but presents some constructive peculiarities worthy of attention. On the floor it is about 40 ft. sq., and the walls rise plain to about the same height. Here it begins to bracket inwards, till it contracts to about 20 ft., where it was ceiled with a flat stone roof, supported by wroughtiron beams. . . . showinga knowledge of the properties and strength of the material that is remarkable in a people who are now so utterly incapable of forging such masses. . . . The employment of these beams here is a mystery. They were not wanted for strength, as the building is still firm after they have fallen, and so expensive a false ceiling was not wanted architecturally to roof so plain a chamber. It seems to be only another instance of that
rofusion of labour which the Hindus oved to lavish on the temples of their gods ” (Hist. of Arch. p. 428). The entrance of the temple is on the E. side. The interior of the hall is filled to the height of 8 ft. with- huge stones, which have fallen from the roof or sides. Most of them have holes in them, showing that they have been clamped with iron. E. of the E. door are two stone lions, with strongly marked manes, and one paw lifted up: they rest on the backs of elephants, which are smaller in size. The height of the entrance, which has no door, is 161} ft. .The roof of the entrance is supported by two rafters of iron and four of stone. In front of the entrance, amongst the stones, lies a bar of iron 23 ft. long, and 111} in. thick and broad.
The sides of the entrance are ornamented with eight rows of patterns, very finely executed. The temple was dedicated to the Sun, which divinity is said to have here cured Sambu, son of Krishna, of a leprosy of twelve years’ standing. As the E. door was guarded by lions, so that to the S. was by horses trampling down armed men, who from their tusk-like teeth, crisped hair, and Kulcri knives and shields, are evidently intended for aborigines. The N. door had elephants before it. These and the horses remain, but cast down at a distance from where they stood. The W. door is closed by the vast heap of ruins, of the great tower.
To the S. of the Jagamohan is a very large banyan tree, under which is a good place for the traveller to take his meal ; and near the great tree is a. grove of palms and smaller trees, and a garden with a math, or devotee’s residence ; also a square temple,without any idol in it. Milk and eggs can be procured at or near this place, where a tent might be pitched. Stirling fixes the date of the Black Pagoda in the , year 1241, but Mr. Fergusson attributes it to the latter half of the 9th century. When he visited Konarak in 1837 a portion of the Great Tower was still standing. He is of opinion that the destruction of the temple was owing, not to earthquakes, or man’s violence, but to the nature of the soil, which was not solid enough to bear so enormous
a structure. He has probably assigned the true cause for the fall of the building, but as we know that the Marathas carried off large portions of it, it is more than possible that man assisted very signally in the destruction. Over the E. entrance used to be a chlorite slab, on which the emblems of the days of the week, with the ascending and descending nodes, were carved. Some English antiquaries attempted to remove it to the Museum at Calcutta, but after dragging it 200 yds., gave up the attempt, though the Indian builders, after excavating the block in the Hill States, and carving it, had carried it 80 m. across swamps and unbridged rivers to Konarak. It lies now about 200 yds. to the E. of the Great Tree, and is 20 ft. 2 in. long, 4 ft. deep, and 4 ft. 10 in. broad. It is sadly disfigured with oil and red paint, with which the Hindus have bedaubed it. At the Jagamohan itself, the traveller should notice the spirit with which the horses at the S. face are carved, and also the device on one of the shields, of two climbing lizards. The sea, about 2 n1. off, is not visible from Konarak.]
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