Page:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, Part 2.djvu/94

662 times had recourse to such an indurable method of fastening their ibury, maey of the most elegant buildings at Agra, DeIili and elsewhere have been destroyed by this ill judged practice ; the iron after the lapee of a few years expands from corrosion and splits off large masses of the masonry. The Tdj has suffered greatly from this cause, which was discovered even before the work was half finished; copper and brass fastenings were then substituted, these have saved the dome from injury: brass clamps have however been used in other public works of antiquity in India, for several have been found in the masonry of the fort of Cuttack during its demolition for the use of the False Point lighthouse. It appears that it was formerly the practice to build the temples with the material rough wrought, and to sculpture them afterwards: this temple is one of the many instances of such a custom. Towards the top of the conical tower are several words cut on the unfinished surfaces of two of the compartments; the character is Gaur Sanskrit: the letters are clearly cut, and very large. The temple has evidently been consecrated in former years to Dz’vi’ or DURG A, Fig. I, p. 2, xxxvii. There is a legend connected with this curious place which was told me by the attendant priest or Sevaka. The story is as follows. Many years ago when the Hindu dei*es performed their miracles and deigned to appear unto a favored few, a rich merchant was coming from the western provinces in a large vessel (for in those days the Makanadi flowed narrow and deep) laden with goods of great value. The vessel on approaching the rock was about to be dashed against it, but being drawn into a whirlpool was being equally threateped with destruction: the merchant who bad an only offspring with him, invoked the goddess Dxvi’ that if she would save their lives and property he would offer up his child as a sacrifice to her bounty. The boat’ remained fixed and unhurt, when the merchant lamenting, fulfilled his vow by throwing the child into the river; it sunk, but instantly Dxvi’ in the form of a mermaid rose from the water with the child unhurt (standing on the palms of her hands) which she restored to its father, demanding as an acknowledgment that he should build and endow a temple to Siva and present it with a golden belL. This he accordingly did; however many years after a thief was tempted to swim to the sacred island and to steal the golden bell, which he was deprived of by the deity, who, as he was descending the rock, annihilated the sacrilegious mortal, and converted the bell into stone. I proceeded in a boat to see this spot where the credulous Ooriyas fancy they can discern the bell and clapper; it is a hollow place in the rock, just above the watermark of the dry season, with a nodule of quartz (of which there is a great quantity imbedded in the coarse sandstone) projecting downwards from the upper surface of the cavity; this they call the clapper; the whole surface is besmeared with red lead and oil, and offerings are constantly made there, for which purpose it is necessary to go in a boat. The reading in Nagree is thus, 4t 1Fw tr i: Journal As. Soc. No. 60 of December 1826. “The divine Lord of beauteous variety.” “The variegated ornament.”