68 Major Gill — On Heuiadprniti Temples in W. Berar. [Feb. 



Maukar. 

 Mahkar is nearly 28 miles west of Sirpiir. The temple is on the low 



spur of a hill, projecting from the lower or 

 Vide photographs 1st Series, wegt gide of the t ftnd nearl almogt t 



6,7, 8, and 9 : 2ud Series, 37 and 38. , J 



the level of the Pen Ganga River ; it con- 

 sists of a square court 21 feet 10 inches on each side, descended to by two 

 steps on each face, and is surrounded by a triple colonnade, consisting of 60 

 pillars in all, with 32 pilasters against the outer wall, one opposite to each 

 row of columns. The entrance is by a small door in the east face. Inclu- 

 ding the colonnades the length is 73 feet 1 inches, and the breadth 72 feet 

 Vide photograph No. 38. 9| inches. The columns in their general 



style resemble those in most of the oldest temples all over British India, 

 and are almost copies of those that still remain of the very oldest of the 

 Jaina temples in Guzerat. The base and lower third or two-fifths of the 

 shaft is square ; on each side there rises from the plinth to the level of the 

 upper side of the base a triangular facet, and this ornament is repeated in 

 front of the double cincture and fillets that terminate the square portion of 

 the shaft. The next member is a deep octangular band carved with leaves 

 above which the pillar may be regarded as circular, rusticated by a square 

 block and a thin octangular fillet carved with geometrical patterns. Above 

 the block the shaft is cut into scotias and torusas interrupted by triangular 

 facets on four sides. The capitals are thin with a narrow squai-e fascine 

 over a circular fillet and cyma recta, separated from the shaft by a torus. 

 The capital is surmounted by a sur-capital of the quadruple-bracket sort so 

 common in the Jaina temples at Girnar and elsewhere. The style and con- 

 struction of the roof also is identical with the oldest Guzerat temples, and 

 was doubtless connected historically with the style of the same western 

 buildings through the Chalukya dynasty of Devagiri, now Dowlatabad. The 

 columns are nearly equidistant, varying from six feet five inches to seven 

 feet one inch ; they do not exceed eight feet in height, and are so arranged 

 that every four form a square of nearly one, and from capital to capital 

 large slabs of stones are laid to support the roof. From centre to centre of 

 these others are placed covering in the corners, and leaving a small square 

 in the centre, the corners of which are again enclosed as before, leaving a still 

 smaller square which is shut in by one large slab usually ornamented by a 

 rosette in centre. Over this three or four feet of debris complete the roof. 



In this building no cement of any kind has been used, as indeed lime 

 was never employed by the Hindus before the Mahomedan invasion ; the 

 stones are cut so as exactly to fit one upon another. 



Lona'r. 

 At Lonar, nearly 12 miles south of Mahkur, there are several Hemad-. 

 pauti temples and tanks, also a Hindu temple which has evidently been 



