1365.] Proceedings of the Astatic Society. 67 



At the village of Paikbhirrhiah, situated about two miles to the east 

 of Poncha, a well known spot in Pergunnah Bagda, (more generally, 

 however, called Sikkerbhoom,) I found the remains of several temples, 

 three of which are now standing, but in. a very dilapidated condition. 

 Two are constructed of stone, and one only of brick, the fallen heaps, 

 on all sides, of stones, some of which bear the trace of the carver, show 

 that formerly, some eight or ten buildings in all must have been 

 erected on the spot. In a small shed close by, where the villagers do 

 poojah to it, is a colossal male figure, standing upright, with the hands 

 stretched out close to the sides. It is depicted perfectly naked, and 

 the hair is wound up into a knot on the top of the head. The 

 material it is composed of is a blackish stone, and the aims only on 

 being tapped sounded hollow. 



Dimensions as follows : — 



Total height of figure from top knot to feet... 

 Shoulder to shoulder ... 

 Ditto to end of middle finger... 



The back is sculptured as far as just below the buttocks, where the 

 legs behind form part of the pedestal. The pedestal is not raised 

 more than a foot from the ground, making the total height, from top 

 of head to bottom of pedestal, above 8 feet 6 inches. On each side of 

 the feet on the pedestal are two smaller figures, said to be Bhanjhas. 

 Sex undistinguishable. The name of the figure is Bhiram, which is 

 I fancy a synonym of Budh. An attendant brahmin is said to do poojah 

 to this idol, in which the villagers join, but no amount of questioning 

 could elicit any information as to dates,, or by whom the buildings 

 close by and this image, were constructed. They only know that some 

 god built them long before either their generation or that of the 

 oldest men in the place came into existence. This large image has 

 evidently been broken in half across the thighs and mended again, by 

 whom or when, nobody knows* In the same shed are four other 

 separate figures of apparently the same person, only much smaller. 

 They, together with the larger one, have been copiously smeared over 

 with ghee or grease of some kind. Another carving is a square 

 pedestal about 2 feet high, apparently the model of a small tern- 



Feet Inches. 



. 7 



6i 



... 2 



4f 



. 3 



9 



