19'3 ON ORISSA PROPER 



general style, bespeak clearly a Hindu origin. Tiie Mohammedan ov- 



Marhatta governors added a round bastion at the N. W. angle, and con- 

 structed the great arched gateway in the eastern face, which alterations are 

 alluded to in a Persian inscription, giving for the date of the repairs and 

 additions, according to the rules of the Abjed,* the fourth year of the reign 

 if Ahmed Shah or A. D. 1750. The fort has double walls built of stone, the 

 inner of which enclose a rectangular area measuring 2150 by 1800 feet. 

 The entrance lies through a grand gateway on the east, flanked by two lofty 

 square towers, having the sides inclining inwards, from the base to the sum- 

 mit. A noble ditch faced with masonry surrounds the whole, measuring in 

 the broadest part two hundred and twenty feet across. From the centre 

 of the fort rises a huge square bastion or cavalier supporting a flag staff. 

 This feature, combined with the loftiness of the battlements on the river nice, 

 give to the edifice an imposing, castellated appearance, so much so that the 

 whole when seen from the opposite bank of the Mahanadi, presented to 

 the imagination of Mr. La Motte, who travelled through the province in 

 1767 A. D. some resemblance to the west side of Windsor Castle. No 

 traces of the famous palace of Raja Mukand Deo nine stories in height, 

 mentioned in the Ayiu Acberi, are to be found within the walls of fort 

 Barabati, but the fragments of sculptured cornices, &c. which have been 

 dug up at different times, and more especially a massive candelabra, or 

 pillar furnished with branches for holding lights, formed of the fine grey in- 

 durated chlorite or pot stone, are probably the remains of *»me large and 

 splendid edifice. 



The only Mohammedan monuments worthy of notice at the capital, are 

 a small neat mosque built by Ikram Khan, a governor during Arangzeb's 

 reign, towards the centre of the town, and the Kadam Rasool, an antique 

 looking edifice standing in the midst of a fine garden, which contains certain 

 reliques of the prophet commissioned from Mecca by the Newab Nazim 

 Shujaa ud Din Khan, or his son Mahommed Taki Khan, the latter of 



* The lines are as follows: fl±* f$*yvt »W/j Ux£ £>>J ^a-^aj uiJlAJ 



