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/203

Rh The four sets of artificially built walls of the fort are all of earth, and are each defended by deep and wide moats, now filled up in many places; the moats were so connected with the streams descending the sides of the hill, as to keep them always wet, and to this day they always contain some water; in most places the walls, or earthen ramparts, were also ingeniously led so as to form continuations of natural spurs of the hill itself, thus securing the maximum of defensive power with the minimum of labor in throwing them up. In the walls were numerous gates, now mostly gone, and represented by mere gaps in the walls; four gateways, however, of cut stone, in various stages of decay, still exist, and have names; they are named Ánkh Duár, Bâzâr Mahal Duár, or Desbándh Duár, Khoribári Duár, and Duár Bándh; the last is in the best state of preservation; all of them were built in much the same style, viz., the usual Muhammadan style and with true arches, though overlapping arches were also used: some of these gateways served the double purpose of gateways proper and openings for water, and the Duár Bándh still serves the purpose of allowing water to be taken in from the moat outside, when necessary for irrigating the fields within; the fort is very large, the outermost ramparts having a total length of more than five miles, while the traditional outermost defences, viz., the ridge lines round the fort, inclose a space of about 12 square miles, exclusive of the hill itself.

There are several brick remains within the fort, generally inaccessible, either from being surrounded by water or by dense jangal; they are evidently post-Muhammadan, and of no special interest. Moulded and cut brick and terra cotta sculptured tiles have been used in almost every one of them, which are all of the Lower Bengal type of architecture, viz., with curved instead of straight top lines; the curved top lines appear to me more elegant than the straight ones, and are evidently copied from the curved ridge and eave lines of thatched huts. In the Upper Provinces, where the rainfall is scanty compared to Lower Bengal, curved ridge and eaves are not so necessary as in Lower Bengal; here the rainfall is so heavy that, unless an extraordinary thickness of thatch is put on, water invariably leaks through, especially along the corner beams of a chauchálá (four-thatched). It must be clear that when an oblong or a square room is covered by four thatches meeting either in a ridge or in a point, and the thatches (cháls) have all the same inclination, the slope of the roof