394 An Account of the Temple of Triveni near Hugli. [May, 



defied till now the ravages of time. There is something Egyptian in 

 the appearance of the doors, the sides inclining a little inwards towards 

 the top, but this has been caused I think by a displacement of the 

 stone-work. Each side is formed of one stone about 9 feet high, with 

 a serpentine anaglyph running down the centre. From the first room 

 a window looks out towards the river, on the outside of which there is 

 a little ornamental engraving very light and chaste. A Mahomedan 

 tomb desecrates one of the rooms, the inscription on which presents a 

 passage in the history of the temple. Separated from the Court at a 

 little distance is another Ruin of the original Temple of a different 

 character. Here as in the other the hand of the invader and destroyer 

 has been at work, and the demolition and displacement of the original 

 masonry, the subsequent patchwork, and the superadded dome, are 

 evidences of the ruthless and fanatical spirit, which marked in every 

 clime and through every era, ere the power of the Crescent waned, its 

 desolating course. The original Peelpye pillars in this temple are 

 standing, and some of the stones in the outer walls have the appearance 

 of an earlier date. On one of them is an inscription in Devanagree, 

 which could not be decyphered. Mr. Marshman thinks this temple 

 was built about 300 years ago by a Raja of Orissa, Mukund Deb. It 

 is with great diffidence I would venture to dissent from so good an 

 authority, but there are facts which go far to show, as well as the 

 appearance of the ruins, that its erection must have been at a much 

 anterior date. I have alluded to an inscription upon a Mahomedan 

 tomb. In this tomb was buried Zafir Khan, called by the Hindus 

 Darap Khan, and the inscription which I annex with the translation, 

 gives the date Hijeerah 713, or A. D. 1297. 



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" By the order of the titled, beneficent, most worthy, bestowing good 

 rewards, the protector of the Mahomedan faith, the most famous among men, 



