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/221

Rh At the east end of the village are two temples, one curiously enveloped in the roots of a bar tree; a few fragments of mouldings lying about show very bold outlines, but the greater portion of the mouldings are shallow; all these temples appear to have been built of the materials of older ones, and, from their shallow ornamentation, I ascribe them to the period of Mân Singh, Akbar’s Viceroy.  

Budhhpur is a small village on the left bank of the Kasai river, opposite Madhuárdi and a little below Bangrám, about seven miles south of Pákbirrá; here are numerous ancient remains, the principal of which is a large temple, with its full complement of mandapas, &c., but without the original sanctum, in place of which a modern brick and plaster erection enshrines the object of worship, a huge lingam. The temple is placed on a high plinth, on the topmost point of a low hillock; the temple forms the chief of a group of four subordinate temples, at the four corners, of which two still exist in a ruined condition; of the other two, the foundations alone remain; the whole was enclosed by a low wall, ornamented with projecting pilasters, cornice and footings.

In plan, the temple resembles other temples of the kind, with some petty variations, the principal of which is that at the two sides of the entrance into the antarala are two recesses, like the recesses at the sides of the westernmost temple at Barâkar. The windows in the projecting ends of the transept are closed by plain square-holed lattices cut in the same sandstone of which the temple is built; the windows being projecting, the three open sides of each are thus closed. The entrance into the antarala is similar to the entrance into the temple at Buddha Gáyá, being formed of overlapping courses of stones. The ornamentation externally consists of lines of mouldings of a plain kind, sparingly used; the mouldings resemble those of the temples at Barâkar. The pinnacle that surmounted the original tower roof of the sanctum lies neglected on the ground; it is an urn-shaped vessel, supported by four cobras with expanded hoods and forked tongues, and is graceful in outline and design; there can, I believe, be no doubt that it was, as it now is, a Saivic temple.

Close to it, are the remains of no less than five other temples, all smaller, and none standing. Besides the stones 