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Report on Bastar. [No. 11, new seriis. 



Dhuntewarrah to inspect the Tannah and guard, as well as 

 the temple of Dhimteshwaree, which has not before been visited by 

 any European. Dhuntewarrah is situated in a dense jungle about 

 00 miles S. W. from Jugdulpore, at the confluence of the Sunk- 

 nee and Dunknee, tributaries of the Indrawutty, and is said to be 

 nearly in the centre of the dependency. The village contains 

 about 50 houses principally occupied by persons connected with 

 the temple, which is the chief object to be noticed in connection 

 with the village and to which it owes its origin. There is nothing 

 imposing in the appearance of the temple, which is a low terraced- 

 roofed building, thatched over, about 50 yards long with walls 

 partly of stone and mud, and partly of brick and chunam, the 

 shrine of the the goddess being at one end. There is another tem- 

 ple along side, of the same description but smaller, containing also 

 a goddess, and a third in front of the original temple, but under 

 the same roof, containing a representation of Bhyro Deo. As before 

 mentioned, Dhunteswarree came from Wurrungul with the first 

 Rajah of Bustar, Aumun Deo, who built the original temple with 

 a small shallow well for sacrificial purposes about 18 yards in 

 front of it : a room was added to this by Poorooshottum Deo, the 

 fourth Rajah ; a further addition enclosing the place of sacrific 6 

 was made by Drikpul Deo the eleventh Rajah, and lastly the small 

 temple by Bhyro Deo the fourteenth Rajah. A plan of the temple 

 has been annexed, the dimensions of which have been estimated by 

 the eye. Dhunteswarree is said to be an incarnation in the form of 

 Droupuddy the wife of the five sons of Pandoo, and is represented as 

 a black female standing, one foot being on the ground and the other 

 on the back of a Lion, with six arms ; three on the right side hold- 

 ing a shell (shunka) a sword (khudga) and a three-pronged spear 

 (trisool) and three on the left holding a bell (ghunta) a rope 

 (pashya) and the third grasping the hair of a giant whose form 

 has sprung from the neck of a buffaloe which has just been de- 

 capitated. A representation of the Idol which is about 4| feet 

 high has been made and is attached. The goddess in the smaller 

 temple of which no further mention will be necessary represents 

 " Kalee" and receiving also the name of " Peddummah." It has 

 ten arms, and differs in no meterial respect from the ordinary re- 

 presentation of this goddess. The Idol was brought from Bar- 



