78 Description of Ancient Remains of [No. 2 



The translation of which is, " Turn your face towards the sacred 

 mosquQ. 1077 Higira," or A. D. 1659. 



The mosque is built, tradition states, from the materials of the Hindu 

 temple of Kirt Bisheshwar, and has three rows of lofty stone pillars, 

 eight in each row ; but the pillars at both extremities are not single, 

 but three-fold. The capitals are large and massive, and are cruciform 

 in shape. In the centre of each shaft, upon all the four sides, is the 

 boss ornamentation, each boss being fully a foot in diameter. The 

 pillars have a double base, a false and a true, the one consisting of the 

 lower end of the shaft, the other, the true base, of a separate stone. 

 Both are covered with carvings. Some of the architraves also bear 

 upon them the boss pattern ; but it is possible that these were 

 formerly shafts of pillars. The inner wall of the mosque is likewise 

 of stone. Viewed from behind, many of the blocks display various 

 mason marks inscribed upon them. 



From an examination of the marks or symbols, and of the archi- 

 tecture represented by the remains now briefly described, there is no 

 reason for supposing that the temple which once stood here, and 

 which was levelled to the ground by Aurungzebe, was of great 

 antiquity. The style of architecture has a Buddhist basis, yet is not 

 purely Buddhist, and the symbols are not necessarily Buddhist at all. 

 "We should be inclined to fix the date of the Hindu temple at some 

 five or six centuries ago. It must have been a place of great sanctity, 

 as many Hindus still visit the spot on pilgrimage, and instead of an 

 image (which we suppose the Mohammedans would not allow them 

 to put up) worship the spout of a fountain rising up in the centre of 

 a small tank in the court-yard of the mosque. It is not improbable 

 that the tank is the site of the old temple ; but if the temple was a 

 large one, as is likely, it must have occupied not only a considerable 

 portion of the present courtyard but also some ground in addition 

 on either side. A few persons perform their devotions in the tank 

 daily, but the grand festival is at the Shio rat mela, for one day in 

 March, when crowds throng reverently around the sacred spout, and 

 present it (or perhaps regarding it as a god, they would say him, or 

 her,) with abundant offerings, all of which, down to the last rupee, 

 are received by the Mullah of the mosque, who thinks, we suppose, 

 that if he winks at the idolatry, which in fact he cannot put down, 

 he may as well be paid handsomely for it. 



