66*0 On the Temples and Ruins of Oomga. [July, 



the Linga are very ancient and have been covered in with brickwork. 

 Bhyrub Indra appears to have had great power in this province, and to 

 have expended much wealth in building Temples. There is one at 

 Deota Surya (the sun), and another to the same deity at Kooch near 

 Takuree, 14 miles north-west of Gya, mention of which is made by 

 Buchanan, whose notice the present inscription as well as the locality 

 appears to have escaped. It is surprising that an indefatigable inquirer 

 should have learnt or said so little of a person whose name and exploits 

 are so well known in the district. Nevertheless the name is not to be 

 found in any of the lists of dynasties published by Prinsep; hence we 

 may infer that he was some powerful usurper in the early part of the 

 15th century during the reign of the Puthan emperor Mohummed Shah 

 the Sumbat date given in 1495, A. D. 1439, in the light half of the 

 month of Vaisakh, which seems from the many inscriptions I have 

 collected to have been a favorite period of the year for dedications of 

 the kind. 



Since writing the foregoing I have been favoured, through the kind- 

 ness of a gentleman of known acquirements, Seyed Azmud Deen Hossein, 

 Deputy Collector of Behar, with the following translation of two lines of 

 the Cufic inscriptions, which I had almost despaired of being ever decy- 

 phered : they clearly allude to the event handed down by the tradition I 

 have alluded to ; a victory is recorded, but by whom still remains doubt- 

 ful. The longer inscription over the great doorway most probably con- 

 tained both the name of the conqueror and the date of conquest; we can 



only then lament the more the act of folly which has deprived us of 



.. * . * .. . i ■ < 



the information ; the next sentence «-*•*/* j%f»*. *** 4U| ^xj^aj only 



differs in the word <xij*J instead of j^\ the literal meaning of which 

 Azmud Deen gives as " By the help of God Victory is gained," though 

 perhaps some might construe it thus " By the help of God Victory is 

 nigh at hand." 



I send also a rudely executed inscription from the walls of the Sooruj 

 Mundir at Deo, which my draftsman tells me is executed in plaister ; the 

 date is Sumbut 1605 ; the Temple is said to be very -perfect ; I only 

 regret I have no leizure to prepare a drawing, which would be useful. 

 I suspect that the great inscription, plundered as before stated, must 

 have been dedicated to some deity other than " Surya" or the Sun as 



