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/59

Rh village. The masjid is a plain hail with flat dabbed roof supported by Hindu pillars. The pillars are of many kinds, and set up without the slightest regard to symmetry or beauty. Most of them are of a coarse kind of granite, but a few are of sandstone. The hall is quite open in front; no arched or front wall appears to have ever existed. It, in short, resembles the masjids built of Hindu materials at Mahobá.

In front of the masjid is a court-yard paved with Hindu pillars, architraves, and other Hindu remains, presenting an appearance of such utter disregard to regularity or arrangement of any kind as is unrivalled in the history even of Muhammadan vandalism.

The side walls of the masjid are prolonged to enclose this court-yard, and a small narrow entrance in the east face of this wall leads through a small chamber to a still narrower and smaller entrance which gives access to the court-yard and masjid. The entrances are so small, especially the inner one, that one has almost to creep in on all-fours.

Close to and outside the masjid is the dargah, remarkable only for its general ugliness. An inscribed stone is in this dargah.

At the north-west end of the village are a few Hindu temples; one contains a fine image of an eighteen-armed female in black basalt. Close to these is an old ruined brick tomb, a square surmounted by a dome; it is very picturesque.

Close to these is a great mound nearly 45 feet high, and another longish one 30 or 35 feet high; the high one is clearly the ruins of a temple, as I traced a portion of the straight walls of the temple; both are crowned by Muliammadan tombs. The path leading from the Sangin Masjid to the Hindu shrines passes over undulating ground; the undulations are not natural, lint are the remains of buildings; these undulations cover a space of nearly half a mile in length by about 500 feet in width.

There can be no doubt that Tillâra was at one time a great place, and excavations carried on here would, I doubt not, yield rich results, judging from such remains as can now be seen above ground. See also J. A. S. for 1872, paper by Mr. Broadley.

 

From Telâḍaka Hwen Thsang proceeded in the direction of his previous bearing 90 li (15 miles) lo a lofty mountain, from the summit of which Buddha had contemplated the