662 Kittoes illustrations of Cuttach sculpture. [July, 



times had recourse to such an indurable method of fastening their ma- 

 sonry, many of the most elegant buildings at Agra, Dehli and elsewhere 

 have been destroyed by this ill judged practice ; the iron after the lapse 

 of a few years expands from corrosion and splits off large masses of the 

 masonry. 



The Taj has suffered greatly from this cause, which was discovered 

 even before the work was half finished ; copper and brass fastenings were 

 then substituted, these have saved the dome from injury : brass clamps 

 have however been used in other public works of antiquity in India, for 

 several have been found in the masonry of the fort of CuttacJc during its 

 demolition for the use of the False Point lighthouse. 



It appears that it was formerly the practice to build the temples with 

 the material rough wrought, and to sculpture them afterwards : this tem- 

 ple is one of the many instances of such a custom. 



Towards the top of the conical tower are several words cut on the 

 unfinished surfaces of two of the compartments ; the character is Gaur 

 Sanskrit : the letters are clearly cut, and very large*. 



The temple has evidently been consecrated in former years to 

 DeVi' or Durga, Fig. 1, p. 2, xxxvii. There is a legend connected with 

 this curious place which was told me by the attendant priest or Sevaka. 



The story is as follows. Many years ago when the Hindu deities 

 performed their miracles and deigned to appear unto a favored few, a 

 rich merchant was coming from the western provinces in a large 

 vessel (for in those days the Mahanadi flowed narrow and deep) laden 

 with goods of great value. The vessel on approaching the rock was about 

 to be dashed against it, but being drawn into a whirlpool was being 

 equally threatened with destruction : the merchant who had an only 

 offspring with him, invoked the goddess Devi^ that if she would save 

 their lives and property he would offer up his child as a sacrifice to her 

 bounty. The boat remained fixed and unhurt, when the merchant 

 lamenting, fulfilled his vow by throwing the child into the river ; it sunk,, 

 but instantly Devi > in the form of a mermaid rose from the water with 

 the child unhurt (standing on the palms of her hands) which she restored 

 to its father, demanding as an acknowledgment that he should build and 

 endow a temple to Siva and present it with a golden bell. This he ac- 

 cordingly did ; however many years after a thief was tempted to swim 

 to the sacred island and to steal the golden bell, which he was deprived 

 of by the deity, who, as he was descending the rock, annihilated the 

 sacrilegious mortal, and converted the bell into stone. I proceeded in a 

 boat to see this spot where the credulous Ooriyas fancy they can dis- 

 cern the bell and clapper ; it is a hollow place in the rock, just above the 

 watermark of the dry season, with a nodule of quartz (of which there 

 is a great quantity imbedded in the coarse sandstone) projecting down- 

 wards from the upper surface of the cavity ; this they call the clapper ; 

 the whole surface is besmeared with red lead and oil, and offerings are 

 constantly made there, for which purpose it is necessary to go in a boat* 



* The reading in Nagree fe thus, ^t faN^ ^T^r:, ^1 faf^ WW> vide 

 Journal As. Soc. No. 60 of December 1826. "The divine Lord of beauteous 

 variety." " The variegated ornament." 



