Page:Report of a Tour Through the Bengal Provinces of Patna, Gaya, Mongir and Bhagalpur; The Santal Parganas, Manbhum, Singhbhum and Birbhum; Bankura, Raniganj, Bardwan and Hughli in 1872-73.djvu/158

134 one, leading to one of the minor peaks to the west of, and considerably lower than, the main peak; on this last are two temples, one large and one small.

There is necessarily inclosed between these two branches of the ridge and the main range of hills, which at its eastern end culminates in the Mandar peak, a hollow basin which has no outlet, but it is remarkable that though it has no outlet, there is no water in it.

A short way up is another large inscription to right of and touching the steps; it is in late Gupta characters, but very roughly cut, so much so that is was found impracticable to take impressions; but two eye-copies were made by me by hand under varying aspects of light. Near it, a little way higher, is a female figure sculptured on the rock. A short way further, the ridge again divides into two, which inclose a deep, narrow basin containing dirty water; the basin has steps on its south banks, which is raised artificially, and helps to keep in a large volume of water and at a higher level than the unaided height of the ridge alone would. On the sides the rock shelves down to the bottom, which is considerably below the crests of the inclosing ridges. The embankment appears to have been built, or perhaps only repaired, with stones from the ruins of temples that once stood here; the temples had mouldings not very bold, but quite deep enough to make them rank among the temples which were built before the Muhammadan conquest.

It appears to me that there stood four temples on the western ridge of this basin, one by itself, and three in a group; these last appear to have been at the south-west corner of the present embanked basin; the solitary one was on the same side, but higher up. In style the temples appear to have been like the Mânbhum ones.

The two ridges inclosing the basin meet higher up. Between their point of meeting and the north edge of the basin, is a tolerably level piece of ground, on which stand the huts of some jogis; this piece of ground is naturally inclosed on three sides by the ridges. To the west the ridge slopes gently down to it, but on the north and east there is an abrupt descent. On the north side is a cave, partly natural and partly artificial. I was not permitted to approach it, but it is said to enshrine a statue of Narasingha; on the east (i.e.) on the west face of the rocky wall which bounds this low bit of level ground on the east, is cut a gigantic human head; the sculpture is evidently