C Notes on Assam Temple Ruins. [No. 1. 



door, and two standing figures, each a foot high, on the uprights. 

 In front of this building there is an open porch, of the same dimen- 

 sions as the shrine itself, having, like it, a pyramidal roof supported 

 on four columns. These columns are octagon, the shafts 3% feet 

 in length and 15 inches in diameter ; the bases are also octagon, 

 the surbase 20 inches in diameter. The shaft is capped by a circu- 

 lar slab of the same diameter as the base, the projection being hood- 

 shaped ; over this, the capital — four volutes, springing from a circle 

 of 15 inches in diameter, supporting a cross-shaped abacus. The 

 inner limbs of the abacus support the architraves ; on the outer 

 bracket-shaped projections,cut in the architrave, limbs rest and giving 

 support to the protruding cornice, which completes the entablature, 

 and forms the first step of the pyramidal roof. The interior of this 

 roof has somewhat the appearance of a dome. On the four archi- 

 traves, eight neatly cut stones lie horizontally, over-lapping the 

 corners of the square and forming an octagon ; over-lapping this 

 octagon, another layer of slabs forms a circle, and three more 

 such courses form as many more concentric circles, each projecting 

 four inches beyond the one below it. The upper circle is capped 

 by a deeply cut, eight-petalled podmo or lotus, 2^ feet in diameter, 

 which forms the interior ornament of the top of the dome. 



The roof of the shrine is precisely the same as that of the porch, 

 The whole structure, including a solid basement or platform of stone, 

 which raises it 2£ feet above the surface of the ground, is 14 feet 

 in height. 



The removal of a heap of stones in front of this edifice, disclosed 

 the foundation of another shrine, that appears to have been sur- 

 mounted by a circular or octagon temple. This covered a crypt, 

 sunk 3| feet below the surface, neatly faced with cut stone and 

 having at the bottom, bedded in a circular slab or yoni, a Mahadeva, 

 in the form of a Linga. To the south of these shrines, and origin- 

 ally I believe contained within the same enclosure, there is a third 

 temple, in a very dilapidated state; a massive building of solid 

 masonry, 12 feet square, exclusive of projecting base, with a circular 

 roof on the same principle as that already described, formed the 

 vestibule of the shrine. This was surmounted by a dome springing 

 from an octagon-shaped base four sides plain and four broken into 



