OR CUTTA.CK. 333 



oned by the author of the Ayin Acberi. Why they occupy, so uniformly, 

 a position over the door- way of every temple in Orissa, sacred to whatever 

 deity, I have never been able to learn. 



The walls of the interior are, as usual with Hindu temples, entirely plain 

 and devoid of ornament, but each of the projecting steps in the square py- 

 ramidal roof, has been furiously rounded, and formed into a sort of cornice, 



which gives a slight finish to that part of the building. 



From the fragment remaining of the great tower, it would seem to have 

 been covered with rich and varied sculptured ornament, in the style of 

 the Bhubaneswer temple. Like all edifices of the kind, too, it had evidently 

 an inner false roof, of pyramidal shape, formed of the inverted stairs used 

 by the old architects of the province, as a substitute for the arch. 



The Birjai or Parbati khetr, comprizes the country which stretches for Birj a ; khetr. 

 five cos around the village of Jajipur (Yajyapura) on the banks of the By- 

 tarini, as a centre. The sanctity of the place is, as usual, founded on a va- 

 riety of fanciful notions and wild traditions, which it would be tedious to 

 detail at any length. In the first place, its name, the " City of Sacrifice," is 

 derived from the circumstance of Brahma having performed here, in ancient 

 days, the great sacrifice called the Das Aswamed'h, at the ghat so called, 

 to which all the gods and goddesses were invited. Amongst others, Gangaji 

 was prevailed on to attend, and has since flowed through the district in the 

 sacred form of the Bytarini, which, descending to the infernal regions by 

 an opening near Jajipur, becomes there the Styx of the Hindu Tartarus. 

 At this same sacrifice, a particularly holy form of Durga, or Parvati, 

 sprung up from the altar on which the burnt-offering was laid, and adopted 

 the title of Birja, whence the name of the khetr; from her, again, issued the 

 eight Chandis, or representatives of the Sacti of Mahadeva ; and their ap- 

 pearance was followed by that of the eight Sambhus, or lords of the Linga, 

 who with their dependent lingas amounting in all to no less than a crore, 



