682 Note on a pillar found in the Ganges near Pnbna. [[August, 



about four miles from this station (Pubna) ; the end of one of the 

 pillars was visible on the sand bank, and all the four were dug up very 

 close to one another, with them were found half a dozen stones, which 

 were not sculptured, nor of any particular size; the latter seem to me 

 to have been a part of the pavement or steps of the building." 



Mr. Allen further states " on referring to Rennel's old Maps, I 

 observe that at that time in the direction that the chur now is, there 

 must have been a village at some distance from the river, traces of 

 the ancient course of the Ganges are still visible about two miles and 

 a half or more off." 



On first examining the pillar it occurred to me that it had never 

 been erected, as the capital is unfinished, and that in all probability 

 it had been sunk by accident at a remote period, while being conveyed 

 to some place lower down the river. I am now inclined to think that 

 the whole may have belonged to some temple existing on the spot 

 previous to the inroad of the river. 



The pillar which is here represented is of a hard black stone, re- 

 sembling basalt, but from the long action of the water and mud, its 

 surface has become of a dirty white colour. Its height is seven feet in 

 all, thirteen inches and a half at its base, (which is square) and ten 

 inches and a half diameter at its summit which is circular ; from the base 

 to the second moulding, (three parts of its entire height) it has twelve 

 sides ; an exception to the more general rule, which requires the base 

 to be square, the second division octagonal, the third of sixteen sides, 

 and the fourth perfectly circular. 



The style of architecture is that of the twelfth or thirteenth century. 

 The workmanship is remarkably good, and the group of figures repre- 

 senting dancers and musicians though rather rudely proportioned, have 

 much life in them. On one of the sides is a lizard, and on another a 

 bee of which I cannot make out the meaning, unless they be merely 

 as guide marks to the mason for facing them properly. 



The circumstance of four only being found, confirms my opinion 

 that they have supported the roof of the " Nandi Subha" or ante-room 

 in which the " Nandi" (bull of Siva) is placed, and as the tops of the 

 pillars are only rough hewn, it is probable that they supported a wooden 

 roof such as are still common in the vicinity of Cuttack, where there 

 are some of great antiquity and of most extravagant workmanship. 



Fig. 2, represents the fragment of an elegant pillar at Kurra near 

 Allahabad, which I drew several years ago, when encamped at that 

 place. It is built into an old Mahomedan tomb of great antiquity, and 



