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/97

Rh The entrance or doorway to the sanctum is of stone; the doorway to the chamber above the sanctum appears, however, to have been an arched opening without a doorway or lintels of stone. The third chamber is now quite inaccessible.

The mandapa in front of the sanctum had a true vaulted roof; it is not now possible to tell whether the four curves springing from the four sides met in a point or in a ridge. Looking at it from the light derived from other temples, I am in favour of their having met in a point. One fact is beyond dispute, that it was not a tunnel vault, as bits of the corner curves of intersection of the four arches exist to this day.

The chamber over this, built, as Hwen Thsang tells us, subsequently, had last a tunnel vault of the Barmese pattern, but whether this vault was the one seen by Hwen Thsang, or whether the one seen by him had since been replaced by the later Barmese when they repaired it, I am unable to determine. Of this vault enough alone exists to show that it was of the Barmese pattern; the bricks used are thinner also than the usual run.

This chamber is clearly an after-thought, and the marks of its having been added subsequently are numerous and convincing.

Most of the figures of Buddha that now adorn the niches in the temple appear to me to be later restorations. To this conclusion I am led by observing that, in two niches of the central line over the front opening of the temple, the statues are not of brick plastered over, but of stone.

Externally, I note that all projections and corners not protected by stone facings are laid in cement, the body of the temple being built of bricks set in mud, even the arches being in the case of the old ones set in mud.

Under the Bo tree is a small statue resembling the too common statues known as "Hara Gauri." This statue has four lines of inscription on its pedestal in Barmese characters.

Within the sanctum a square portion immediately round the lingam is slabbed in a way different to the rest of the floor; this portion begins immediately in front of the Singhâsan, and measures 13 feet long and 5 feet 7 inches wide.

I here close my notice of Buddha Gaya. For further information, I refer to papers by various people in the Journal, Asiatic Society; the Asiatic Researches, &c.; and to General Cunningham’s reports.