1874.] H. H. Godwin-Austen —On the Rums of Dimcijpur. 5 
in the Y-shaped supports of the corridor, animate objects (vide PI. VI ) are 
introduced, and the elephant, deer, dog, duck, peacock and polyplectron or 
pea pheasant can he made out ; but, worthy of remark, not a single human form 
not even a head. The lotus is evident in all the carved work, and there is a 
general primitiveness of design which is very apparent. The simple circle 
within circle, more or less elaborated, is the distinguishing type of the sculp¬ 
tured work. The only instance of carving I know on the monoliths of 
the Khasi Hills, is this simple circle with petalifonn pattern. The 
old temple at Nimaligarh has such a circle carved on the huge slab 
that once roofed the single centre chamber, but in other respects there is no 
similarity of design. The scroll patterns of Nimaligarh shew an advanced 
style of Hindu art, are very intricate and laid out with mathematical ex¬ 
actness, and the figures are nearly all men and women, most obscene in 
their character, all cut in the hard granite of the Mikir Hills. I regret that 
my time was too limited, to make a plan of this temple, which when perfect 
must have been a very striking and well proportioned edifice. Even as it 
was, for the short look at the place, I am indebted to the courtesy of the 
acting manager of the tea plantation close by, who kindly lent an elephant, 
and w 7 ent out to the ruin with me. 
The Y-shaped supports or pillars are unique, at least to me, and from 
measurements of the broken portions appear to have been longer armed 
on one side than the other, and those in the. front row a little taller than 
those at the back. This was no doubt to carry the roof in a regular slope 
outwards and to the rear. A mortice has been cut on the top surface of each 
arm, and probably carried a connecting piece from one V to the other. 
This was probably of stone, from the size of the mortice. I could not find 
any block that corresponded with such. There is no doubt that stones have 
been removed. It is perhaps questionable whether this was a temple at 
all. I am inclined to think that it was the site of a great market place 
or “ Nath,” from its position first inside the gateway, and also from the 
general appearance of the place. The covered corridor would have very much 
the appearance of the long-roofed sheds, run up in many paths during the rains 
in this part of India (where bamboo and thatching grass are plentiful and 
close at hand), the roofs slightly sloping to the back. If the temple 
were Hindu or Buddhist, we should have had the form of some deity in¬ 
troduced somewhere in the sculpture. I think it, therefore, more likely that 
this was a town of an aboriginal race (old Kaclihari P), who would have had a 
simple demon worship and no idol forms, as we find the case with races of 
this form of religion at the present day. The idea of a large bazar would 
very likely enter the minds of a large colony at Dimapur ; and the setting 
up of the stones would have been carried out at the time, as an act of pro¬ 
pitiation or of handing down the memory of its foundation to posterity ; 
