74 Description of a Hindoo temple converted into a Mosque. [No. 1, 



outer wall ; so that each serai is formed of three such doorways 

 as iu the sketch, and the flat wall for the fourth side. The perspec- 

 tive view down the cloister in the inside, shewing some twenty of 

 these arches is very impressive, owing to the massiveness of the 

 work. Each opening is about 10 feet high. A very few of the 

 ornamental pillars are rounded, and the (apparent hut not real) key- 

 stone in each serai has a lotus with a pendant pistil. These are the 

 only curved lines in the building. All the rest is severely straight. 

 The South-western corner of the enclosure is a good deal ruined, 

 shewing the huge stones to have been held together in some parts 

 Avith iron clamps. At the "Western side a white stone is let into the 

 wall, bearing a Uriya inscription, which I could not decipher or get 

 deciphered at the time, though it is legible enough where not defaced. 

 The villagers declare it was purposely defaced by a certain officer of 

 Government, who has, however, denied the charge on enquiry. The 

 week and month are legible, but unfortunately the year has been 

 defaced. The villagers can give no conception as to the date, which 

 must be inferred from the stones. 



In the centre stood one of the ordinary tall many fluted Hindu 

 temples, consisting only of a spire over the Ling, and a small room in 

 front of it. The sketch given of the temple at Chandrarekka (Ante 

 Vol. XXXV. pt. I. p. 185,) would have suited this one also. The temple, 

 except the foundations, has been entirely destroyed by the " Moghals" 

 as the villagers call the Muhammedans here. It has gone to make the 

 platform of the Mosque which now stands at the Western end of the 

 oblong. Where the Ling used to stand, a well has been sunk by a 

 j)ious or treasure-seeking Brahmin, who gave out that the Ling had 

 retired there. He failed to recover it, and carved instead two com- 

 mon idols on two slabs of stone, which lie in one of the cloisters, 

 receiving very precarious worship from the people. 



The Mosque itself is built of new small stones. There is nothing 

 noteworthy about it except the unusual smallness of the entrances, 

 generally so handsome in Muhammadan buildings. Though in the 

 form of a pointed arch, they are only cut out of the wall, as it were. 

 Inside, however, is a good specimen of a true arch, crowning an almost 

 complete laminated arch. The sketch of it, given below, is perhaps 

 worth inspection. The little entrance at the end (as well as another 



