136 Remains of Greek Sculpture in Potowar. [Feb. 



pilasters of Grecian order, surmounted with Persian capitals ; and 

 between them is a trefoil arch containing the obelisk of Shiva and 

 surmounted by a Gothic gable. And the architraves are supported 

 upon Grecian pilasters, and on either side of the recess of the false door 

 are curvilinear entablatures filled with figures in Roman or Grecian 

 armour, and upon the frieze are rows of alternate sphinx and warrior, 

 and every cornice is Grecian, though often barbarously perverted, 

 and as we gaze upon the fabric, we call to mind those wretched ginger- 

 bread temples in Bengal, in which Grecian pillars and cornices have 

 been mixed up with Saracenic domes and minarets and obelisks peculiar 

 to India. The work is in red freestone, but so obliterated by the ele- 

 ments and so defaced by Muhammadan hands, that much is left to con- 

 jecture: every head of every figure having been lopped away. In 

 many places the sandstone is dissolved into a mass of red, ochrous sand. 

 My first idea was, that I gazed upon a Buddhist temple built from the 

 fragments of a Grecian fane. But more attentive consideration dispelled 

 this impression. The details (the obelisks excepted) being all Grecian, 

 though sadly lapsed into barbarity. The entablatures of the facade 

 strangely resemble those ugly rigmaroles which disfigure Italian 

 Churches. 



The building consists of a Propylon eastward and the Sekon just 

 described, of which the only door faces the east. The facade on this 

 side resembles that in the sketch, with a slight difference. The cell is 

 a lofty, nearly square apartment of sandstone, cemented with lime, but 

 not plastered. The roof is vaulted, but open at summit, having either 

 been so constructed or since broken through to admit a passage, for 

 above it is a modern cell built by a Muhammedan devotee. The sand- 

 stone within is in perfect preservation. The interior of the cell is wholly 

 undecorated ; but the inner walls north and south of the Propylon are 

 decorated with singular piles of sculpture resembling the exterior facade 

 of the Sekon. They seem to me to offer a key to so much of the style 

 as is not Grecian — the abrupt slope of the upper gable and the mitigated 

 slope of the eaves, presenting a correct outline of a Chinese or Tibetan 

 temple, such as in the mountains we see constructed of timber. The 

 whole seems to me the work of this Grecian colony after its subduction 

 by Scythia, — their own taste being constrained by edict to conform to the 

 general outline of their conqueror's temples. 



