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/206

182 of Jhaldia itself know nothing about the wonderful petrified cow, which the people in the vicinity of Pachet insist exists there.  

Six miles south of Pachet is a group of bare, rocky hills known as the Khelai Chandi hills; a fair is held here annually on the full moon of the month of Paush, and many people collect there; the object of worship there is a local goddess named Khelai Chandi Devi, who is supposed to live on the hills, but to be invisible; she is said to be eight-armed; at midnight she descends the hill, goes to the sacred tank, washes herself, and returns; hence nothing impure is thrown into it, nor do the people presume to bathe in it themselves; vows are made, and the suppliant vows to dig up with his hands (without any tools) a certain quantity of earth from the bed of the tank and carry it up beyond the tank embankment on his head, in case his (or her) wish is fulfilled; and on the mêla day thousands may be seen with tiny baskets scraping up mud from the bed of the tank and carrying it up the embankments; a small temple (modern) stands at the foot of the hill near the tank; it enshrines a white stone sculpture with hands folded in the attitude of prayer; two lions are sculptured on the pedestal; there is no inscription; the temple faces the hill; this statue is worshipped in place of the invisible goddess Khelai Chandi.  

About four miles before reaching Puralya, on the road from Barâkar, is the large village of Chhorrá; here are some ruins of old temples; two temples, partially ruined, still exist, and the stones of numerous others are to be seen used up in the huts of the village; some of the temples were Jain or Buddhist, as numerous votive chaityas with mutilated figures, either of Buddha or of one of the Jain hierarchs, lie in the village, but the greater number were, judging from the remains of sculpture lying about, Brahmanical, and principally Vaishnavic.  

In Puralya, the head-quarters of the district of Mânbhum, are some old remains; about half a mile to the east of the city, on a high open plateau, are the remnants of two temples: one of these must have been large, and the other close to it was 