1855.] Notes on Assam Temple Ruins. 5 



These have succeeded stone temples, the debris of which, embracing 

 •the usual proportion of columns, friezes, &c lie scattered about. 



Near the Oomauand there is another mass of rock called Ooboo- 

 see. This the river sweeps over when full, but in the dry season, 

 there is a considerable group of rocks exposed, and upon them are 

 carved representations of most of the principal Hindoo deities. I 

 noticed Yishnoo, Siva and Nandi, and a female figure, seated 

 cross-legged iu a devotional attitude, with a conical cap. 



Guarding a little flight of steps, there is an image of Gunesh, and 

 the steps lead, I think, to the top of one of the rocks on which, cut 

 in the living stone, there is a Siva and Yoni. Here too are indica- 

 tions of an attempt to lay the foundations of a temple, beds for the 

 stones cut in the rock with holes for rivets. 



So complete was the overthrow of the order of religious edifices 

 we are considering, that, in many instances it is not easy to find 

 one stone on another, as laid by those who originally constructed 

 them. The fragments of the old temple are often degraded into the 

 formation of steps, trodden on by the votaries of the new ; but how- 

 ever found, there is sufficient analogy between them, to enable us to 

 form some idea of the positions they were intended to hold, and to 

 refer all the buildings they composed to one style of architecture, of 

 which there appear to have been different phases, from plain to 

 decorated. 



In forming our ideas of these temples we are greatly aided by the 

 discovery of one, which, from its secluded position, escaped the 

 destroyer's hand, and which, though small, is very nearly perfect, 

 and merits especial notice. 



This is one of a group of temples in south Kamrup, 30 miles S. "W. 

 of Gowhatty. It consists of a shrine seven feet square, plainly but 

 massively built of well cut blocks of granite, with a pyramidal roof, 

 supported by horizontally placed slabs, bearing on its summit a 

 heavy non-descript ornament which originally supported an urn. 



The building contains a stone pedestal, on which there is at pre- 

 sent, on a detached slab, a figure of Durga, in high relief, but she, 

 this figure at least, does not appear to have always been the goddess 

 of the shrine. There is but one aperture, a doorway, with lintel 

 and uprights of carved stone, having a figure of Gunesh over the 



