1848.] Essay on the Arian Order of Architecture. 285 



" This fire consumed the noble edifices planned by Vetala (an aerial 

 spirit, or Ariel) from the temple of Varddhana-swami as far as Bhikshu- 

 Mpdraka, the " asylum of mendicants" — a Buddhist building. 



Now, as this is the only temple situated in the old capital, of which I 

 can find any record, there can be very little, if any, doubt, that it is the 

 very same building which now exists. For, as it is surrounded by water, 

 it was of course quite safe amid the fire, which reduced the other lime- 

 stone buildings to mere masses of quick lime. Perhaps the same cause 

 has also preserved it down to the present day : otherwise it could scarce- 

 ly have escaped the hands of the Mahomedan spoiler. Its dangerous 

 vicinity to the capital was more than counterbalanced by its inaccessi- 

 bility. I have, however, a suspicion, that it must have been converted 

 into a Mahomedan tomb ; for both the interior and exterior figures and 

 ornaments have once been plastered over ; a practice which the Maho- 

 medan s often followed, as the cheapest and readiest way of adapting the 

 sculptured Hindu buildings to their own purpose. This was done in 

 the Hindu cloisters around the Kutt Minar at Delhi, and in all the 

 Hindu temples in the fort of Gwalior. 



4. — Baron Hugel calls the Pandrethan edifice a "Buddhist temple," 

 and states that there are some well preserved Buddhist figures in the 

 interior. But he is doubly mistaken ; for the temple was dedicated to 

 Vishnu, and the figures in the inside of it have no connexion whatever 

 with Buddhism. Trebeck swam into the interior and could discover 

 no figures of any kind : but as the whole of the ceiling was formerly 

 hidden by a coating of plaster, his statement was at that time perfectly 

 correct. The existence of the figures was first discovered in 1846 by 

 Lord Elphinstone, who informed me of the circumstance : and before I 

 visited the temple, I took the precaution of sending some men to re- 

 move the plaster, as well as a small boat for the purpose of gaining 

 access to the inside of the temple, by which means I was able to ascer- 

 tain the true character of the interior decorations. 



5. — Hugel* further states, that the piece -of water is 600 feet in 

 diameter, and that the Natives believe it to be "unfathomable." But 

 he is again doubly incorrect, for the tank is a square of not more than 

 1 25 feet wide ; and it could not have been larger in his time, as it is 

 surrounded by trees ; by chenars on the city side, and by willows on the 

 * English transl. p. 124. 



