708 The Hodesum (improperly called Kolehan) . [No. 103. 



Still further southward, about eight miles, and two miles beyond 

 Rorwan, these remains occur in greater number, and better preserva- 

 tion, and the road leading to them is replete with debris of the most 

 melancholy and dreary nature, rank grass waving over tanks, some 

 of great magnitude, which lie on every side. Thickets and briars 

 matting over richly carved ghauts and temples ; old avenues and plan- 

 tations whose symmetry can now scarcely be detected amidst over- 

 whelming jungle, offer a vivid picture of what these deserted tracts 

 once were ; and the mind instinctively pictures to itself a once opulent 

 and prosperous people, whose forgotten dust rests perhaps within the 

 funereal shades of these ancient forests, as their fates and fortunes, alike 

 unknown, lie buried in the Elapsed vastness of time ! 



The temples at Kiching are still resorted to by pilgrims from 

 the south, and kept in tolerable repair. There are two of them, 

 but only one made use of in offering sacrifices, &c ; it is in an 

 unfinished state, the materials for the dome lying on the ground 

 round about, as if they had been hastily abandoned. A narrow path 

 winds up to the temple now in use, through dense thickets and 

 forest trees, among which lie, thickly scattered, portions of elabo- 

 rate sculpture, idols, and alto-relievo figures of men in armour on 

 horseback, nauchnees, jugglers, servants, &c. &c. These two temples 

 ere part of a circle of sixty similar ones (according to the Deoree, 

 or high priest of the place) which with sixty corresponding tanks are 

 placed two miles a part, in a circle of forty miles in diameter. Of 

 these, the temples at Kiching and some others at Odeypoor, on the 

 banks of the Byturnee, are alone visited. A Superstitious dread 

 deters access to the others, and in truth they are buried in such awful 

 wilds, as naturally to excite the fears of such a credulous race. 

 The tank at Kiching lies to the north of the temple, and appeared 

 to-be about 300 yards long, and sixty or seventy in breadth ; it is said 

 to be of masonry, but I did not examine it. 



In the vast saul forest which spreads over the boundary of the 

 Kolehan and Baumunghattee, and about twelve miles from the 

 nearest village, are two extraordinary pools of water, evidently 

 artificial, called the '^ Soormee and Doormee." The former is about 

 300, the latter 200 yards long, dug in a perfectly straight line, 

 and separated by a bund or causeway, so that they appear to have 



