SS-2 ON ORISSA PROPER 



it should be observed that the whole have suffered materially, from the cor- 

 rosion or decomposition of the stone, of which the building is chiefly com- 

 posed, viz. the coarse red granite of the province, which is singularly liable 

 to decay, from exposure to the weather. 



The skill and labor of the best artists, seem to have been reserved for the 

 finely polished slabs of chlorite, which line and decorate the outer faces of 

 the door- ways. The whole of the sculpture on these figures, comprizing 

 men and animals, foliage, and arabesque patterns, is executed with a de- 

 gree of taste, propriety, and freedom, which would stand a comparison with 

 some of our best specimens of Gothic architectural ornament. The work- 

 manship remains, too, as perfect, as if it had just come from under the chis- 

 sel of the sculptor, owing to the extreme hardness and durability of the 

 stone. A triangular niche, over each door-way, was once filled with a figure 

 cut in alto relievo, emblematic of the deity of the place, being that of a youth 

 an a sitting posture, holding in each hand a stalk of the true Lotus or JNe- 

 lumbium speciosum, the expanded flowers of which are turned towards 

 him. Each architrave has, as usual, the Nava Gratia, or nine brahminical 

 planets, very finely sculptured in alto relievo. Five of them are well pro- 

 portioned figures of men, with mild and pleasing countenances, crowned 

 with high pointed caps and seated cross-legged on the Padma/Nelumbium 

 speciosum), engaged in religious meditation — one hand bears a vessel of 

 water, and the fingers of the other are counting over the beads of a rosary, 

 which hangs suspended. The form of the planet which presides over 

 Thursday, (Vrihaspati or Jupiter,) is distinguished from the others by a 

 flowing majestic beard. Friday, or Venus, is a youthful female, with a plump 

 well rounded figure. Ketn, the descending node, is a triton whose body 

 ends in the tail of a fish or dragon ; and Rabid, or the ascending node, a 

 monster, all head and shoulders, with a grinning grotesque countenance, 

 frizly hair dressed like a full blown wig, and one immense canine tooth pro- 

 jecting from the upper jaw; in one hand he holds a hatchet, and in the other 

 a fragment of the moon. These are doubtless the "sun and stars" nientj- 



