1848.] Description of the Antiquities at K/ilinjar. 179 



1600, and thereabout, but on the left of the cave (outside) near a small 

 Ling in relief is a date of 3 \l°°. On the right of the cave as 

 you face it, there is a small recess under a projection of the rock, on 

 which are some poorly executed male and female figures ; close to Sita- 

 sej is Sitakund, which is I think a natural reservoir, or at all events 

 very little enlarged. It is a pool of clear water on a small cavity under 

 shelving rocks, and is reached by two or three steps from the rampart. 

 On the rock over the kund is a sitting figure about 2 feet high resting 

 on one hand, and near it what seems to be a fish in a basket. (2 7) The 

 water of this kund is much prized for bathing. 



Beyond this point the rampart for a few yards is broken, and you 

 ascend the hill a little in order to past round the gap, immediately on 

 the other side of which is the mouth of the curious descent to Patal 

 Ganga.(28) This a large cavern full of water, about 40 feet by 20 

 or 25 ; it is situated between 40 and 50 feet below the top of the hill, 

 and the only access to it is by winding steps cut in the solid rock 

 leading from the rampart almost perpendicularly down to the water, 

 like a well in fact. The cave is rough and irregular, and probably in 

 great measure natural, but the descent has evidently been carried through 

 the rock, as the marks of the chisel pervade it throughout. (29) The 

 entrance to the descent is under a large mass of rock which abuts on 

 the rampart and the steps wind down very abruptly. They are very 

 irregular, some being three feet and others not one foot high, About half 

 way down there are two gaps on the left, through which a view is obtain- 

 ed of the bottom of the hill and the distant plain. (30) In the steps and 



(27) Vide PI. VII. fig. 4. The brahmans call this a Chaukidar. Over the right 

 shoulder of this figure is an illegible inscription, and over the basket some more much 

 obliterated characters with the date ^y°» 



(28) I fancy this name merely refers to the dark and subterraneous nature of the 

 place. There is an account of Ganga having once descended into Patal to rescue the 

 60,000 sons of King Sagara, but I do not see any affinity to that beyond in the place in 

 question. 



(29) It seems probable that this descent was formed down the course of some natural 

 cleft or fissure, which was enlarged or built up as required ; the position of the cave con- 

 taining the water could not otherwise have been ascertained, as there are no traces of it 

 visible from the outside below. 



(30) The winding descent has been here excavated so near the face of the hill that ap- 

 parently the mere screen left has given way and formed this gate. A rough wall of stones 

 has been built close in the passage at the lowest gap, and the whole has evidently at 



2 A 



