1855.] Notes on Assam Temple Ruins. 3 



causeway, leading to the principal northern gate, is the remarkable 

 stone bridge 146 feet in length with 22 waterways, described and 

 illustrated in the Journal No. IV. of 185 1 . 



Nothing approaching to the principle of an arch enters into the 

 composition of this very extraordinary piece of architecture, the 

 object was, evidently, to construct, in stone, a bridge on the same 

 plan, as those the artificers had been accustomed to frame in wood. 

 It is stone carpentery ; we have posts, beams and planks, repre- 

 sented by columns, architraves and slabs. 



Within the fortifications there is a smaller bridge, constructed 

 on similar principles, now dismantled, and some arched stone- 

 bridges, in good preservation, and still used, belonging doubtless to 

 a more recent epoch. Of the religious edifices constructed within 

 the walls, nothing but fragments remain. The Hindus have appro- 

 priated many of the most picturesque sites, and built brick temples, 

 surrounded by the carefully dispersed stones, fragments of the old 

 Choityos. 



In some instances they have clumsily used the old materials, and 

 in others, the ancient buildings have been dismantled to a certain 

 extent only, and a superstructure placed on the old basement. 



Some of these modern temples or clusters of temples are of con- 

 siderable celebrity as holy places. 



Within the old walls of Growhatty is the temple of Kamikhya, 

 which is known wherever the Hindu religion prevails, and is resorted 

 to by pilgrims from all parts of India. It is built on a hill, known 

 as the Nil-a-chal, which rises from the banks of the Brahmaputra 

 to 750 feet in perpendicular height, and has, doubtless, from its 

 lofty, commanding and romantic position, always held a high place 

 amongst the holy places of the land ; but, from the different reno- 

 vations it has undergone, it is of little use in exemplifying the 

 ancient architecture of the valley. 



The ancient temple must have been dismantled to within a few 

 feet of the foundation, and covered as it is, by coatings of stucco 

 and white-wash, we can scarce discern the beauty and elaboration 

 of the tracery, except from fragments of detached friezes and cor-* 

 nices lying about. 



The most singular relic is a huge fiuial, a stone vase measuring 



B % 



