1848.] Essay on the Avian Order of Architecture. 287 



of them. It is, however, probable, that the upper portion of the pyra- 

 mid was again subdivided by another band of denticulated moulding, 

 which would have completely relieved its bald appearance. And this 

 seems the more likely to have been the case, as the lower portion of the 

 roof is only one third of the height of the pyramid. Each portion 

 would then have possessed its own ornament : the upper one being 

 crowed by the melon-like fruit, common to all the Kashmirian buildings. 

 The total height of the temple, if the usual proportion of two breadths 

 was observed, must have been 36 feet. 



8. — The interior is now filled with water ; but I presume that the 

 temple was originally only surrounded by it ; and that the villagers, tak- 

 ing advantage of its low situation, must have closed the drains, which 

 formerly carried off the surplus water, so as to create a pond for the 

 irrigation of their fields. In November the floor of the temple was 

 fourteen inches below the surface of the water. Now the very existence 

 of a floor proves, in my opinion, that the interior of the temple was 

 formerly dry, and that the water must have been kept below that level 

 by drains. Indeed two of these drains leading towards the river are 

 still in existence. The access to the temple was, probably, arranged in 

 the same manner, as the crossings of the reservoirs in the Shalimar 

 garden ; by large blocks of stone, placed at intervals in the water, car- 

 rying a roadway of long slabs from the outer edge of the water to the 

 entrance of the temple. 



9. — In the interior arrangement, see Plate XXI., it is remarkable that 

 the southern doorway differs from the others ; but with what object I 

 am unable to say. The usual, I believe the invariable practice of the 

 Hindu architects, was to place the entrance of a temple either to the 

 eastward or to the westward ; so that the enshrined image should daily 

 receive the beams of the sun, either in the morning or in the evening. 

 Such in fact is the arrangement of all the other temples in Kashmir ; 

 and I am, therefore, puzzled to say what could have been the object of 

 the present variation. It is true that with four open doorways the 

 interior would have been illumined, both by the rising and by the setting 

 sun : but it appears to me, that the enshrined image must have been 

 placed to the northward, and immediately in front of the doorway on 

 that side ; for I found the iron mortices, which received the door pins, 

 still quite perfect. This side must, therefore, have been closed by a door, 



