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/213

Rh old temple here, but farther west, about ten miles, and a mile from the south banks of the Kharkhari river, on which Ichâgarh is situated, are numerous remains close to a village named Dewaltand; I did not see the place. Ichâgarh itself is said to contain some old remains, but on examination they appeared to be comparatively recent.  

Ten miles north-west from Dulmi, on a high swell, immediately on the left bank of the Subanrikhá river, is the small village of Sufaran or Sápharan; here are some low mounds, and the Ind parab is annually held here. From tradition, and from the circumstance of the Ind Festival being held here, a festival held only in places which traditionally are said to have been royal residences, there can be no doubt that the village was once a place of importance.  

Close to it, about two miles north-east, is the small village of Deoli, so named from a group of temples still standing under a superb karan tree. The temples appear to have been Jain, as in the sanctum of the largest still exists, in situ, a fine Jain figure, now known as Áruánath, and to which offerings are made and pilgrimages performed by Brahmans and other Hindus of the neighbourhood; the deity is especially invoked by females wishing to have children, and offerings are chiefly made to it by them, the conditions of the success of their prayers being that the woman is to visit the spot and creep into the sanctum to make her offerings alone at night. The temple was once a very fine and large one, and had four subordinate temples near the four corners, of which two still exist; the main temple is too far buried in, and surrounded by, rubbish for its plan to be made out without excavation, but it consisted of a sanctum, an antarala, a mahamandapa, an arddhamandapa, and probably a portico; the ruins of the tower have now so shut up the entrance, that the only means of access is by crawling through, much in the manner of snakes; the ornamentation consisted of plain straight lines of mouldings, sparingly used, and the execution, as also the material, is coarse, the last being a coarse-grained sandstone. The statue in the sanctum is three feet high; it is, as usual, on a pedestal, on which 