530 Lieut. Col. Francxlin's Description of the Temple of Pars' wandt^ha. 



With very great difficulty I at length reached the summit, from which the 

 view was at this time obscured by a thick haze, the result of a strong 

 south-west wind, otherwise I can have no hesitation in supposing that the 

 view would have equalled any thing ever witnessed. I tried, by means of 

 a telescope, to discover tlie mountain Ta'iur, and also Mandar, but owing 

 to the haze was disappointed ; on the plain however I could discern the 

 courses of five or six rivers which intersect this part of the Jangal-tarai. 

 The coup d'oeil upon the whole, though clouded, was magnificent. 



The summit, emphatically termed by the Jains Samet s'lkhar, comprises 

 a table-land, flanked by twenty small Jain temples, situated on the craggy 

 steeps and in different parts of the moiuitain. The temples in shape very 

 much resemble an extinguisher. In them are to be found the Vasii- 

 Pddukas, or sacred feet, similar to what are seen in the Jain temple at 

 Chdmpdnagar. 



The figure of Pars'wanat'ha is in the temple below : but on the south side 

 of the mountain, about half-way down, is a very large and handsome fiat- 

 roofed temple, containing several figures of this deity, which exhibit the 

 never-failing attributes of Pars'wanat'ha and the Jain religion, viz. the 

 crowned serpent and cross-legged figures of Jinesward, or Jina, the ruler 

 and guardian of mankind. 



