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/214

190 the antelope is sculptured, thus clearly indicating the particular Jain hierarch the figure represents; over the trefoil ornament round the head are cut on each side two rows of three naked figures each.

Five hundred feet off are two tanks, touching each other, known as the Jorá-Pokhar; on the banks lies a mutilated bas-relief representing a man on an elephant, possibly meant for Indra on Airâvata; near it lies some stones and the amalaka of a temple, showing that the figure once belonged to a temple on the spot. This figure appears to point to the existence of Brahmanical temples also in the place. In the bed of the small tank to the south of the village lies the side part of a doorway adorned with plain lines.

Some other temples appear to have existed close to the Jain temple, noticed above; these were probably under a large bar tree close to the karan tree; nondescript fragments are collected at its roots and daubed with vermilion.

To south-east of this village at Atma are said to be two pieces of sculpture, one of a lion.

The village and the neighbourhood generally are said to have been covered with jangal till lately.  

A mile and a half north-west of this, and about three from Sápharan, is the large village of Suissá. Here, under a bar or bat tree, are collected numerous statues, found, it is said, in the jangal when the place was cleared, but chiefly in a spot 100 yards off, which is, and must long have been, a burialplace of the Bhumij or aborigines; this cemetery is full of tombs, consisting of rude slabs of stone raised from 1 to 4 feet above the ground on four rude, longish blocks of stone, which serve for pillars; people say that when digging for fresh tombs they often come upon the slabs of old tombs now buried; and from the profusion of tombs in all stages of freshness and decay there can be no doubt it has long been a chosen cemetery for the aborigines, the Bhumij or Bhumyas.

The sculptures collected under the tree are Jain and Brahmanical; the principal are known by the names below:—

Monsá, a naked Jain figure with the snake symbol.

Siva, a naked Jain figure with the bull symbol.

Siva, a votive chaitya with four naked figures on the four sides, evidently Jain.

