SURVEY OF THE GANGES, ' ' 517 



Hindu place of worship. It is built with gable ends, and covered in with 

 a sloping roof of plates of copper. The doors were not opened, when we 

 went to visit it in the evening, and we were consequently obliged to re- 

 turn without seeing the interior of it. In the upper part of the town is a 

 large square, where the pilgrims who halt here put up for the night. To 

 the right of it, is a stone cistern, with two brazen spouts, whence water 

 keeps constantly flowing into a bason below. It is constructed for the 

 convenience of the town's people, and supplied by the stream from the 

 mountatin. Close to it, extending along another face of the square, is a 

 collection of temples, which bear the marks of great antiquity. They 

 are raised on a terrace, about ten feet high, and in the center of the 

 area, stands the principal one, sacred to Vishnu. It is surrounded by 

 a wall, about thirty feet square: at each angle, and in the center of each 

 face, are inferior temples, containing different deities. Several of them 

 were destroyed, and thrown down by the earthquake | and most of them 

 are in a very tottering condition. Those which suffered the least, and 

 have the images perfect, are the temples of Vishnu, Gane's'a, Su'rya 

 or the sun, and the Nau-de'vi. Of these, the statues representing the 

 two former are carved in a very superior style of workmanship. The 

 first is an image cut in black stone, about seven feet high, supported by 

 four female figures standing on a flat pedestal. The figure of Gane's'a 

 is about two feet high, well carved and polished. The temple of Nau- 

 De'vi has been lately repaired, and .is covered in with a square copper 

 roof. It contains the images of Bhava'ni under nine different forms, 

 but the whole of them were so plastered with grease, that no part of the 

 figures were visible ; and although the doors were opened, purposely 

 for our inspection, the stench tliat issued from tlie place was so offen- 

 sive, as to stifle all farther curiosity. 



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