758 Notice on the Antiquities of Bhopal, [Aug. 



pillars. The temple is built of red sandstone without lime, or at least 

 without any readily perceivable in the joints, for the blocks are very nice- 

 ly fitted. Every stone is an ornament in itself, a human or animal figure, 

 or a flower, or a portion of a fillet or ovolo, — but the individual beauty 

 has at the same time been rendered subordinate to the general effect. 



The Lingam with its shapely pedestal is about eight feet high, but 

 the plain cylinder has been capped with a brazen head, to make the 

 presence of the god more clear to the apprehensions of the rude and 

 the superstitious. Under the dome and facing the Lingam, is placed 

 the cumbrous recumbent Bull dedicated to the divinity. 



On a stone of the passage of the main entrance there is a long San- 

 skrit inscription, but the door opens back upon it, and as the passage 

 is not well lighted otherwise, the partial closing of the entrance makes 

 it so dark as to render the writing difficult to decipher. Many of the 

 letters have also been imperfectly cut or are now defaced, and the 

 transcript which is sent may not accurately represent the original. It is 

 such however as three or four men tolerably well versed in Sanscrit were 

 able to make of it, and it cannot be far wrong in any essential point.* 



As it has been read to me, the inscription states that Biboodh, 

 Gokul Deo, and Gheata (or Soojan, who built many temples to Shio) 

 were succeeded in the dominion of Malwa by Oodehajeet, who died in 

 1116 Sumbut (1059). After Oodehajeet the power of the Yuvvuns 

 or Mahometans prevailed for 446 years, at the end of which time 

 Chanddeo became powerful and was termed the Lord of Magadha, and 

 whose son, Lohugraee, collected stones for a temple in 1562 Sumbut, 

 (1505 A. D.) The inscription concludes with the remark that what 

 had been understood had been written, and it is hence probable that it 

 is not a contemporary record, but the work of some pilgrim, and that 

 the temple may in reality have been built by Oodehajeet about the middle 

 of the 11th century of our era. The rise of Chanddeo is synchronous 

 with the dominion of Singram Singh of Chittor, the Rana Sanka of 

 Baber, and is another corroboration of the declension of the Mahometan 

 power which took place under the Khizzers and Lodis of Delhi. 



The Toghluks in their career of conquest, visited and defaced this 

 elaborate temple of idols, and built within its precincts a simple 

 mosque to the God of Mahomet. The mosque is still standing, and 

 * This inscription has been given with translation, in Vol. IX. p. 545.— Eds. 



