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/184

160 Tradition ascribes the temples here, and indeed in the vicinity generally, to one Maheswar Raja. This Raja is said to have been of the same caste as the Ghatwâls of this day of Katrás.  

Bilonja is a small, but important and rising, village, about two miles south of the ruins of Chechgaongarh; here are two modern temples, not yet finished, and several old statues; among these, one is a naked Jain statue, one is of a two-armed female, some others are of no interest. These statues are said to have been obtained partly from the ruins of Chechgaongarh, and partly from the ruins of a large temple once existing to the east of, and just outside, the village of Bilonja. This temple is said to have been very large and complete, and to have been known as the Nava Ratna, from having nine pinnacles. Out of its ruins the modern temples are avowedly built; of it no trace but a low mound now remains. Close to it is another large mound, about 400 feet long by 100 feet wide; it is known as the garh or fort; below it, and to the north of it, is a large tank.

In the village are some plain pillars of the form of those at Hasra, near Bishanpur Tandwa, or Kawá Dol.

The temples now being built are to Durga and to Damodara. Durga is worshipped by the people here for the sake of getting children, and Damodara (a form of Vishnu) to obtain mokhsha. As the people of these parts are mostly of the Kol and Sântal families, it appears that the meaning now attached to Damodara by the Brahmans, viz., a form of Vishnu, is not the original meaning under which Damodara was worshipped; I rather consider that it was the river itself that was worshipped, for it is well known that the Sântals do not consider the spirits of their ancestors as at rest till their bones have been thrown into the great river. The word mokhsha, too, appears a relic of Buddhist or Jaina doctrines.

Half a mile north-east of Bilonja is a tank, with some statues on its banks; the place is known as Kalyánithan; there are numerous cut stones and statues of Ganeça and of the eight-armed Devi slaying the buffalo, which are worshipped. There evidently once stood on the banks of this tank one or two Saivic temples.  

One mile north-east of Bilonja, in the Tugri village, are numerous cut stones, used as foundations of huts, several of them sculptured. 