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/188

164 these are clearly due to subsequent repair; in the front portion, not only does the plain portion not fit the ornamental part behind, but there is used, besides stones of various kinds, brick also, to fill in odd spaces; the stone, however, is set dry without any mortar, and this leads me to assign to the repair some antiquity; certainly the repair was not executed within the memory of any living man, nor does tradition say anything about it. I conclude, therefore, as the repair is evidently post-Muhammadan, though of an early period, that it was executed during the time that Mân Singh, as Akbar’s General, exercised supreme authority in these parts.

The temple enshrines a statue of fine black stone; it is of Lakshmi, and is two-armed; two elephants are sculptured as holding garlands over her head; she has lost her nose, but is otherwise in excellent preservation, and rivals the fine sculptures of Lakhisarai and its neighbourhood; there is a silly legend to account for the loss of the nose, which appears to me to have really been lost through strokes of Muhammadan axes or sabres before the Hindu General Mân Singh was sent as Chief in these parts.

A coat of plaster once covered the temple; and as the plaster could not have been put on when the temple was in good condition, from the circumstance that in some portions where the plaster still exists the stone underneath is nevertheless weather-worn, I infer that it was put on when the repairs were executed, so as to give a uniform look to the old and new portions; it has, however, long ago disappeared, being now found only in sheltered corners.

The lower portion of the temple is now buried to a depth of probably 3 feet underground.

An inscription was said to have existed in the temple, but had dropped out long ago, and remained uncared for a long time; it is, however, not to be seen now, and no one knows anything about it.

Close to it stands the brick temple; this temple is also old, perhaps older than the stone one; the bricks used measure more than 17 inches long by over 11 inches in width, and are all set in mud; they appear fairly well burnt, and well shaped, and the weather has acted less on them than on the apparently harder stone of the adjacent temple; the temple now stands apparently on a high plinth, but this plinth or basement is a later addition, made most probably to secure the temple from tumbling down,