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/84

60 Fergusson, that its "external form" belongs to the 14th century, must, notwithstanding his high authority, be unhesitatingly set aside.

Reverting now to the Konch temple, I have remarked that the statues lying about are all Brahmanical; these, besides the lingam inside and the statues of Haragauri, which are not scarce, consist of the Ashta Saktis, and the Das avatàrs. Buddha avatâr is represented by a standing figure holding a staff diagonally across; the Kâlki avatâr is represented by a man and woman beside a horse, the man with his arm round the woman; the fish incarnation is represented by a fish standing vertically on its tail; the tortoise incarnation bears a close resemblance to the Saivic emblem of the argha and lingam, with the sole addition of a couple of human figures on the sides holding a string which is wound round the lingam, which does duty for Mount Mandar. It is needless here to point more than cursorily to the unmistakable Phallic features of these two Vaishnavic sculptures.

The temple, I conclude from the lingam inside, apparently undisturbed, and from the other Saivic statues, to have been Saivic; the existence of Vaishnavic statues is no objection, as it is not uncommon to see temples where all three—Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva—are sculptured, but of whom one alone is considered pre-eminent and assigned the place of honour.

There lie outside several pillars of granite, of which four are entire ones, five pilasters, and some fragments; besides these, the remains of eight pillars in the shape of eight capitals are now ranged along the steps leading up to the temple. The four pillars I take to represent the four central pillars of the maha mandapa; there must have been more than five pilasters, but only five now exist. The pillars are of granite, very short and massive, and evidently very old. They taper somewhat, being 1 foot 4 inches square at the base and 1 foot 2 inches at top; the total height of the shaft, including the lowest plain square portion, is 5 feet 6 inches, so that they are llttle more than only 4 diameters in height. They must have stood on bases, but none are now to be seen; the capitals were plain and massive, with little drops at the four corners; the capitals were not cruciform, though a cruciform capital may have surmounted the square one,