1870.] " Antiquities of the Cuttack Hills. 169 



Amaravati. This Hill is now known as the Chatia Hill from its 

 proximity to the village of that name on the Trnnk Road to Cut- 

 tack. Its ancient name was "Amaravati Kataka," and I am 

 disposed to think that this was one of the Katakas, or fortified 

 places of the Ganga Vansa kings of Orissa, to which Mr. Sterling 

 assigns no locality. On the eastern foot of the hill there are the 

 remains of an old fort, the broad and extensive rampart of which, 

 made of the laterite. of the hills, forms the most prominent 

 feature of the ruins. The stone wall is 4 feet deep, and the people 

 say it ran one cos square. Within the rampart there is a high 

 platform, accessible by a flight of steps. The wall over it, made 

 entirely of stone, is broken. A number of broken pillars and capitals 

 was also observed, but the place on which the inner apartment 

 stood, is covered with such thick jungle and thorny brambles that I 

 could not form a conjecture as to the plan of the edifice. On ano- 

 ther platform, I observed the images of two goddesses (Indrani) 

 cut in alto relievo out of two blocks of slate-stone ; they are remark- 

 able for their elegance and beauty. 



The people in the neighbourhood informed me that before the con- 

 struction of the Cuttack Trunk Eoad, the ramparts were in a much 

 better condition than in what they now are : the Vandals of the Pub- 

 lic Works Department having demolished them for the sake of the 

 stone, with which they metalled the road. Nor was their conduct 

 in this case singular, for, whether at Jajapur, Chatia, or Cuttack, 

 they have everywhere proved equally destructive, and what 

 escaped the ravages of time and of Muhammadan bigotry for cen- 

 turies, have yielded to their sacrilegious hands. This is much to 

 be regretted, the more so as it appears altogether inconsistent 

 with that enlightened spirit in which Government has called the 

 attention of its servants to the collection of facts and traditions" 

 which may tend to throw light on the past history of the country ; 

 any how such conduct, on the part of any class of its officers, 

 however unintentional, cannot be too highly reprehended. 



There is a spacious and magnificent tank, covering about 20 acres, 



within half a mile of Amaravati Kataka. The people call it Nilu 



Pukhar, evidently a corruption of Nilaya PusMarini or " tank with 



a dwelling;" for in the centre of this tank, there are the ruins of 



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