Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 2.djvu/140

 112 NORTHERN OR INDO-ARYAN STYLE. BOOK VI. pointed out as the identical one. It may be so, and if it is the case, the pillar is of the loth or nth century. This also seems to be the age of some remarkable pieces of sculpture which were discovered some years ago on the brink of the river, where they had apparently been thrown down by Muhammadan bigotry. 1 They are in quite a different style from anything at Bhuvane^war or Kanarak, and probably more ancient than anything of the same kind at those places. Katak, according to tradition, became the capital of the country in A.D. 989-1006, when a certain Markat Ke^ari is said to have built a stone revetement to protect the site from encroachment of the river. 2 It too, however, has suffered, first from the intolerant bigotry of the Moslim, and afterwards from the stolid indifference of the British rulers, 3 so that very little remains. But for this the great palace of Makund Deo, the contemporary of Akbar, might still remain to us in such a state at least as to be intelligible. Abul FazFs description of this palace, however, has been misunderstood by the trans- lators, who have represented it as " consisting of nine storeys," instead of nine courts or enclosures. " The first enclosure was for elephants, camels, and horses; the second for artillery and military stores where also were quarters for the guards and other attendants ; the third was occupied by porters and watchmen ; the fourth was appropriated for the several artificers ; the kitchens made the fifth range ; the sixth con- tained the Raja's public apartments; the seventh was for the transaction of private business ; the eighth was where the women resided ; and the ninth was the Raja's sleeping apart- ment." " To the south," he adds, " of this palace is a very ancient Hindu temple." 4 As Orissa at the period when this was written was practically a part of Akbar's kingdom, there seems little doubt that Abul Fazl's description was furnished by some one who knew the place. Although it thus consequently happens that we have no more means of ascertaining what the civil edifices of the Indo- Aryans of Orissa were like, than we have of those of the con- temporary Dravidians, there is a group of engineering objects which throw some light on the arts of the period. As has been 1 They were of more than life size and represented three of the Matris. 2 ' Asiatic Researches,' vol. xv. p. 367. 3 Ibid. p. 335 ; Hunter's ' Orissa,' vol. lation, vol. ii. p. 13, and Jarrett's, vol. ii. p. 127. The word ashiyana "nests," was rendered "storeys." W. Bruton, who visited Katak in 1633, makes it plain that "enclosures" or "courts" are meant. ' News from the East Indies ' in Osborne's ' Collection of Voyages and Travels,' 1745, vol. ii. pp. 271-272, 275.
 * c Ayeen Akbery, ' Gladwin's trans-