886 Note on Somndth. [Oct. 



mercy of the chief priest, stating that, although he had ventured to 

 express a doubt, it was merely because he desired conviction. The 

 priest tells him he is a man of sense and judgment, and shall be con- 

 vinced that this idol is superior to all others, and deserving of adoration. 

 If he will abide in worship all night, he promises him to see the idol 

 raise its arm in the morning in adoration. Sadi consents, and gives an 

 amusing account of the inconvenience he experienced from the pressure 

 of the unwashed, unsavory crowd. Just before sunrise, the image, at 

 the sounding of a bell, raises its arm, to the delight of the worshipping 

 thousands. Sadi assures the chief priest of his perfect convicton, flat- 

 ters him and obtains his intimacy, till, finding an opportunity when the 

 temple is empty, he gets behind the image, and there discovers a servitor 

 concealed, with the rope in his hand for raising the idol's arm. The man 

 runs, and Sadi follows, trips him up and throws him into a well : 

 then, to make quite sure, he drops heavy stones upon him, feeling 

 that his own life would assuredly be sacrificed, if his discovery were 

 known, and quaintly remarking <j^j>J^ ^^ rA^ *<~V* i' ^ " ^ eaa * 

 men tell no more tales." He then hurries away from Somndth, and 

 returns to "Persia through Hindustan, by a route of great danger 

 and difficulty, the troubles of which he says he shall remember to his 

 dying day. 



Such is the story, and it shows the temple to have been restored, as 

 a place of Hindu worship, after its destruction by Mahmud, and to 

 have remained as such, with something like its former renown, for 

 200 years after that conquest. It is evident, however, from its present 

 appearance, that it has since yielded to other spoilers, and has even been 

 converted at one time into a musjid. The minarets on each side of the 

 principal entrance, are evidently Muhammadan, and the interior arches 

 observable in the sketch No. LI. are also no part of the original Hin- 

 du fabric ; but must have been erected at a much later date, to support 

 the magnificent roof described by Lieut. Postans, in lieu of the fifty- 

 six pillars adorned by fifty-six rajas, which were stripped, if not broken, 

 by the destroyer of the 11th century. 



The pundits say, that there is nothing in the vedas, puranas and 

 other brahmanical text-books to illustrate the origin and history of the 

 Somndth temple. Its situation on the shore of the Indian ocean, and the 

 corresponding temple of the sun in Katak, known as the Black Pagoda, 

 and situated on a like promontory washed by the waves of the eastern 

 sea in the Bay of Bengal, will not fail to strike the reader. And Aso- 

 ka's selection of rocks on the high road to each, for the promulgation 

 of his edicts, would seem to indicate, that both enjoyed in his day a cor- 



