1871.] 
155 
Antiquities of Jajpur in Orisa. 
to cross on their way to heaven, invests the place with additional 
sanctity, and pilgrims are made to perform certain ceremonies on 
its bank as a preparation for the journey to the hall of Aruti. 
Jajpur is, farther, supposed to rest on the navel of the giant who 
has his head at Gaya and his foot at a spot in Baja-mandri. Within 
the compound of the Biraja Temples there is a well, known as the 
Gaya ndbhi , which is supposed to reach the navel of the giant, and 
into it pilgrims are required to throw pindu or rice balls, to 
deliver their ancestors from the consequences of sin. The Kshetra 
Purana also describes Jajpur as a triangular plane of the form of a 
(bullock) cart, having the temples of Siva, Uttares'vara, Killalotare- 
s'vara and Barunes'vara standing on the three angles, I suppose, to 
serve as boundary pillars. 
The boundary already given to Jajpur as a place of pilgrimage 
comprises an area of several square miles, extending on both sides 
of the Baitaranf. Within this area the ruins of the ancient town 
lie buried, affording to the antiquarian a rich field for research. 
The spade is hardly applied to the earth without hitting the 
relic of some ancient building or figure. Broken capitals and pil¬ 
lars and figures of mutilated gods and goddesses are scattered in 
all directions, being in some places worshipped as the village deities 
or ‘ Grama Debatas.’ Most of these have suffered either from the 
general wreck of time, or fanaticism. A few that have partly 
survived may be separately mentioned. 
One of the most remarkable specimens of ancient Hindu sculp¬ 
ture, which I have seen, is the broken image of the Smasdna 
Kali, forming one of the group which adorned the JBhajana man - 
dapa already alluded to. The figure is altogether eight feet high, 
sitting on a corpse, and cut in a massive block of chlorite. It is not 
actually a skeleton figure, as some have supposed, but the shrivelled 
skin barely covers the bony frame within, leaving the arteries and 
veins visible. Its crab-shaped eyes sunk in the socket, its high cheek¬ 
bones on a level with its nose, its stretched mouth through which 
one or two canine teeth peep out, give to its flat face an expres¬ 
sion of hideousness, which is greatly enhanced by the projecting 
rib-bones and dry breasts over which the nerves run down in profu¬ 
sion to the abdomen, which is withered and sunk to the spine. To 
