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/189

Rh through weakening, by saltpetre or the weather, of the lowest courses; it is, therefore, merely a sort of envelope to the lower portion of the temple, which is, howeyer, by this means completely hidden from view, and it is, therefore, impossible to ascertain the forms of the mouldings of the lower part of the temple without removing it,—a proceeding not to be attempted, as the temple has jealous pujaris in attendance. From an examination of the line of junction of the temple and its outer casing or plinth, it is seen that the lower part of the original temple had become very insecure from the removal or disintegration of the lower courses of bricks; this examination made in front, further shows that the temple did not consist originally of only a cell, but that it had a mandapa in front besides, of which now no traces remain, a huge pipar tree having monopolised the ground which the mandapa once occupied; the plinth or casing is of brick set in mortar, the temple itself being as stated, of brick set in mud.

The entrance to the lower portion now existing is, as usual, cut up into two portions,—a lower rectangular doorway proper, and an upper pentagonal illuminating window, by a stone door-frame inserted in the opening; the upper portion, when it begins narrowing, does so by the usual expedient of overlapping courses; there is no trace of any arching whatever:—unlike the temples at Buddha Gáyá, and at Konch, the cell has but one roof, being the tall pyramidal roof formed by the tower itself; this is as it should be, for, as I have shown, the inner vaulted roofs of the temples at Buddha Gáyá and at Konch were put in afterwards, and, in the former case, for a special purpose.

The temple enshrines a ten-armed female statue.

The temple was at one time plastered throughout, but the peeling off of the plaster in most places, while it is intact in others, shows that it was put on afterwards; the temple appears to have originally had no coat of plaster, for the bricks forming the facing all round are carefully smoothed, cut and sculptured; and so minutely was the carving done, that a space 1 inch square shows sculptured two tiny bells, their ropes, and the twist of the several strands of the ropes clearly made out,—so that, nothing need have been added in the way of sculpture, in an external coat of plaster; but what conclusively proves the later date of the plaster coat is the circumstance that the sculptured figures, executed in the plaster coat, do not correspond to the underlying