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/197

Rh both as of the same date, built most probably by, or in the time of, Rájá Mân Singh.

No. 9 is a small temple, facing north; a lotus is sculptured over the entrance; the temple consists of only the cell or sanctum, which enshrines a four-armed Vaishnavic statue; the roof of the temple is very heavy, being plain pyramidal in form, cut up into few and massive steps, and resembling the roof of the temple of Kalyâneswari at Devisthan; the sculpture and lines of the doorway are very shallow, and quite unlike that of the other temples described: the shallowness I take as a proof of its late age. The enshrined statue inside does not face the door, but occupies the eastern side of the cell; either, therefore, the statue has been removed, or the entrance has been changed. As there is a small niche in the west wall, it is not improbable that this niche is the present representative of the old doorway, which once existed on this side; this would make the present entrance on the north a late alteration, an inference justified by its shallow carving; the roof of the temple internally is of overlapping stones.

No. 10 is a large temple, faces west, and consists of the sanctum and its attendant portico, vestibule, mandapa, &c. The mandapa had three entrances, of which the north one is now closed; a lotus is sculptured over the outer entrance, but the object of worship inside is a lingam; the sanctum is surmounted, not by the usual graceful tower, but by an almost straight-sided spire, the native ugliness of which is heightened by its surface being cut up into seven spaces by plain projecting bands. The roof of the mahamandapa is a low pyramid, like that of the Kalyâneswari temple, or of temple No. 9, divided in three steps by bands and recessed mouldings. The temple is apparently much more modern than the other temples here, except perhaps No. 9, and may date at earliest to the same period as the additions and alterations in the other temples noticed before, but is probably still later. The spire resembles the spire of the temples at Baijnâth.

No. 11 is a small temple, facing east; Ganeça sculptured over entrance; within, are an argha without the lingam, and a statue of Aditya, the last being evidently an intruder. In material, ornamentation, and execution the temple resembles No. 1. The upper part of the tower is broken.

No. 12 resembles No. 11; it faces east, and enshrines a lingam and argha; Ganeça over entrance.