m% ON OEISSA PROPER 



ed,) are composed o£ a silicious sandstone of various colour and texture, 

 and are all curiously perforated with small caves, disposed in two or three 

 irregular stories. Each of the caves is large enough to contain from one 

 to two human beings in a sitting posture. Some of them appear to be na- 

 tural cavities, slightly improved by the hand of man; others have obviously 

 been excavated altogether artificially ; and the whole are grotesquely carved 

 and embellished. In one part, a projecting mass of rock has been cut into 

 the form of a tiger's head, with the jaws widely distended, through which a 

 passage lies into a small hole at the back secured by a wooden door, — the 

 residence of a pious ascetic of the Vyshnavite sect ? The ridiculous legend 

 which the natives relate to explain the origin of these isolated hills, is, that 

 they formerly constituted a part of the Himalaya, at which time they were 

 inhabited by numerous Risliis, who dug the caves now found in them. They 

 were taken up bodily, ascetics and all, by Mahabir Hanuman, with other 

 masses of rock, to buiid the bridge of Rama, but, by some accident, were al- 

 lowed to drop in their passage through the air, vdien they alighted in their 

 present position. I am almost tempted to add, as a curious coincidence, that 

 they are the only real sandstone hills found in this part of the country ; but 

 the geology of the district has not been sufficiently explored, to warrant my 

 advancing such an assertion positively. 



The summit of the highest rock, is crowned by a neat stone temple of 

 modern construction, sacred to the worship of. Parasnath ; all around, and 

 in the neighbourhood of which, are strewed a quantity of images of the 

 Nirvanas, or naked figures worshipped by the Jain sect, executed chiefly in 

 the grey chlorite slate rock. At the back of these temples, a highly remark- 

 able terrace is shewn, called the Deo Sabfaa, or assembly of the gods, which 

 is covered with numberless antique-looking stone pillars or temples in mi- 

 niature, some standing, others lying on the ground, about two or three feet 

 long, having, on each of the four sides, a figure of the naked Jain deity rudely 

 sculptured The place is still frequented by the Jain or Parwar merchants 

 of Cuttack, w ho assemble here in numbers, once every year, to hold a fes- 

 tival of their religion. 



