, 1S00.] Notes on some of the Temples of Kashmir. 93 



the crowning member, with a straight fillet above and below. Under 

 this is a dado, or plain straight face, which is a little higher than the 

 torus itself. Beneath the dado, is a quirked ovolo of bold projection 

 snrmonnted by a straight fillet, and under this is the plinth, of which 

 (as at Bhaurnajo) the lower stone projects beyond the upper one. As 

 at Payach too, there is a stone drain or water-spout, open at the top, 

 for carrying off the water used for the service of the temple. It 

 emerges from the building on the W. S. W. side, and projects slightly 

 beyond the upper basement ; the termination of the drain or spont 

 being made to represent the open mouth of a large snake or some 

 other animal. 



The temple is approached by a flight of twelve steps,* the lower 

 six being 11 feet in width, and the upper six 10 feet, enclosed between 

 sloping walls one foot in thickness. Besides the sloping walls, the 

 lower 6 steps are further supported by flanking wallst (as at Avantis- 

 wara,) nearly 6 feet high and 3 T ^- feet thick. 



The temple is enclosed by a pillared quadrangle (Plate IX.) measur- 

 ing inside 145 feet by 119 r 5 ¥ feet, the longer sides being to the W. S. W. 

 and E. N. E., containing 51 fluted columns. In the' middle of the longer 

 sides of the colonnade, and of that in rear of the temple, there is a 

 pair of large fluted pillars, 12 feet in height and 15 inches in diameter, 

 and 10 feet apart, advanced beyond the line of the peristyle a little 

 more than the corresponding pillars at Marttand. On all these columns 

 the transverse architraves, connecting them with the walls of the 

 peristyle, are still standing. The central porticoes, to which these 

 large pillars belong, are not gateways, but lead only to small chambered 

 recesses, similar to, but a little deeper than, those between the other 

 pairs of pillars. There is, however, one flank entrance to the 

 quadrangle, viz., between the third pair of pillars on the E N. E. side, 

 to the south of the central porch. This has always been, as it is now, 

 closed with a wooden door. 



The quadrangle itself originally contained 48 round fluted pillars 

 (of which all but three are still in their places) and six square parallel 

 pillars (disposed in the corners, and on each flank of the gateway) ; 

 which, together with the six pillars of the central porches and the 

 two of the gateway, made up 56 in all. None of the pillars now 



* See Photograph, No. I. + See Photograph, No. I. 



13 



