1885.] 
F. S. Growse —Notes on the Fatehpur District. 
149 
small enclosure of recent construction, which bears the name of the 
eponymous hero, Asvattliama, the son of Drona, though it would seem 
rather to have been the site of an old temple of Mahadeva. Part of 
the stone sikhara has been set up as a lingam ; the gurgoyled water¬ 
spout makes a trough for a well ; and many other sculptured fragments 
are either lying about, or have been built up into walls ; all being 
apparently of the 9th or 10th century. On a small mound further to 
the south are five large figure-sculptures. All are nude ; one is stand¬ 
ing, the others are seated, cross-legged, with the usual accessories of 
lions, elephants and devotees. The hair of the head is in short close 
curls, as in statues of Buddha ; but the nudity is more a Jaini charac¬ 
teristic. The people call them the five Pandus, which is the popular name 
in all parts of India for any five sculptures of doubtful significance. 
At Hathganw the centre of the town is occupied by a considerable 
mound, the site of an old fort. Here stands a ruinous mosque, construc¬ 
ted from the wreck of two or more Hindu temples, like the better-known 
Assi Khamba at Mahaban in the Mathura district and the so-called Par- 
mal’s Palace at Mahoba. It is popularly known as the Hathi-Khana, 
or elephant stable, with reference to the legendary animal from whom 
the town is supposed to derive its name. This had been given by Raja 
Jay Chand of Kanauj to a local saint, called Parasur Rishi, with a pro¬ 
mise of a grant of all the land that the elephant walked over without 
stopping to rest. To prevent any future dispute as to the exact limit 
of its walk, it no sooner lay down than it was there and then 
turned into stone, and a fragment of the image still remains about 
two miles from the town, where an annual fair is held in its honour. 
The ruins consist of 23 pillars still standing, arranged in four aisles of 6 
columns each, with a masonry wall at the back and sides. Appa¬ 
rently there was a fifth aisle, but if so, the whole of it has disappeared. 
The temple-doorway, a handsome piece of sculpture, has been set 
up by itself as the entrance to the mosque enclosure. The date of the 
columns is not later than the 10th century ; their present arrangement 
was probably carried out by the Sultan of Jaunpur in the 15th or 16th 
century. 
In the District Gazetteer, published by the Local Government in 
1884, these interesting relics are briefly and incorrectly noticed as 
follows : “ There was a fort in the time of Raja Jay Chand, but 
only the foundations of it remain.” At Khaklireru, which since 1852 has 
been the head-quarters of a Talisili, the same authority notes with simi¬ 
lar inaccuracy, “ there was a fort here, of which only the ruins now 
remain.” A small mound by the side of the main road to Kliaga is, it is 
true, locally called the Garhi, or Fort, but it is clearly only the site of a 
