1855.] Notes on Assam Temple JRuins. 9 



Its modern votaries have, to conceal mutilation, given it a pair of 

 silver goggle-eyes, and a hooked, gilt or silvered nose, and the form 

 is concealed from view by cloths and chaplets of flowers : but 

 remove these, and there is no doubt of the image having been 

 intended for the " ruler of all, the propitious, the asylum of clemency, 

 the all-wise, the lotus-eyed, the comprehensive Buddha." 



The shrine is all of stone, octagon in the plan, 30 feet in diame- 

 ter, with a pyramidal roof; but it will appear from the disarrange- 

 ment of many of the mouldings and cornices, and awkward position 

 of several bas-reliefs, that the upper portion of the temple has 

 been re-constructed from the old materials, without much precision 

 of arrangement. 



The base, to about six feet in height above the plinth, is decidedly 

 ancient, and is the best proportioned and handsomest part of the 

 building. On* a moulding of about two feet above the plinth a 

 row of caparisoned elephants in high relief encircles the building, 

 and appears to support it. The elephants are all facing outwards, 

 stand each 16 inches in height, and are finely designed and executed ; 

 another moulding or frieze immediately above the elephants, appa- 

 rently intended to represent the interlacing of reeds, is also of 

 tasteful design and admirable execution. 



The interior is a crypt, 14 feet square, into which you descend 

 by a flight of stone steps. It contains the image and its pedestal. 

 The door-case of the entrance to this shrine, is formed of four blocks 

 of granite, and is ten feet high by five feet wide : a lotus over the 

 door in the centre of the lintel, is the only ornament. The door 

 opens into an anteroom, also of stone, ten feet by ten feet, having 

 in niches of four feet square, stone screens, one on each side with 

 apertures for the admission of light and air, cut in the form of lotus 

 flowers. 



Beyond the auteroom is a large vaulted vestibule measuring 40 

 feet by 20, built of brick and supported by massive pillars of the 

 same material. " Thisf room forms no part of the original building. 

 It is said to have been constructed by JN~oro Narayn, the Koch 

 king of Kamroop, in A. D. 1550. He found the temple entirely 

 deserted and almost lost in impenetrable jungle. Not only did he 

 * Plate III. f From Mr. Robinson's MS. 



C 



