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/159

Rh unfinished, as the rock below the head is cut into preparatory steps for completing the sculpture; the extent of these preparatory steps being just such as would suffice to take in a figure corresponding in size to the gigantic head already cut; even this head is not finished; it is only roughly cut, and the lines and angles have not yet been rounded off; the head is now known as Madhu, and is said to represent the demon whose death at Vishnu's hands obtained for him his title of Madhusudana.

Close to this sculpture is a cleft high up in the face of the rock and approached by a ladder; this cleft communicates with a small basin to be described further on, and contains water; it is approached by a wooden ladder, up which even my Hindu servant was not permitted to ascend; this is the famous Akâs Ganga, and is perhaps the holiest spot in the whole hill. It is said that the volume of water in this cleft never enlarges or diminishes, but this must be untrue, as I could see traces on the rocky face below the cleft, which proved to at the water overflowed at times, and it is evidently connected with the external basin to be presently noticed.

Close to the holy Akâs Ganga is sculptured on the rock a representation of the Vaman avátar of Vishnu.

Of the two ridges which inclose the basin, the western one has already been noticed as having had four temples, three near the south-west end of the basin; the eastern ridge also had temples, the largest being at the north-east end. Beyond this point, this eastern ridge again divides into two, of which the west face of the west, or the left one, has already been noticed as containing the cleft of the Akâs Ganga and the great face of Madhu; the two ridges necessarily inclose a small basin; this basin is triangular, one of whose angles is in the direction of the cleft known as Akâs Ganga; the water in the basin is remarkably transparent, and one can see that at the bottom of the basin, but especially at the corner on the west, lie cut-stones that once belonged to temples. So far as I could judge, the level of the water of the Akâs Ganga and of the basin is the same; and I have no doubt that the two communicate by a hole at the angle, which, whether accidentally or designedly, is encumbered with cut-stone from ruined temples.

The ascent is along the right, or eastern one of the two ridges just noticed. On it, close to this place, are the ruins of a small temple occupying the north-east end of the