174 
Rajendralala Mitra— On the Temples of Deoghar. [No. 2, 
smell, and is esteemed as highly sacred. Every pilgrim is expected to 
taste a few drops of it, and to carry away a phial full of it. I was 
informed that the water is bailed out of it from time to time, to prevent 
its becoming tainted by the putrefaction of the vegetable matter mixed 
with it. When I tasted it, I did not notice any foetid odour. 
The presiding divinity of the temple is the Jyotirlinga or Vaidyanatha 
of the story cited above. It is of a cylindrical form, five inches in diameter, 
and rising about four inches from the centre of a large slab of basalt 
shaped like a yoni and pointing towards the north. Fixed firmly as it is 
in this slab, it is not possible to ascertain how much of the lingam is buried 
under ground. The top is broken, and has an uneven surface,one side being a 
little higher than the other side. The fracture is attributed by the 
Hindu legend to the assault of Ravana, and by the Santal legend to that 
of the forester Byju ; probably the real cause has to be looked for in the fana¬ 
ticism of some iconoclastic Muslim. Daily pouring of water and milk by 
hundreds of pilgrims and repeated wipings after every offering, have 
smoothed the surface and made it even glistening, but the in*egular frac¬ 
ture is prominently perceptible. 
The cell is exceedingly dark, and, entering it after circumambulating 
the temple in the glare of the midday sun, one can see nothing in it; and 
two ghi-fed lamps are all that are held up to help the faithful in beholding 
the emblem of the divinity : one of them is kept burning all day. With the 
feeble light of the lamps, and after repeated washings, I noticed the lingam 
to be of a dull amber colour, mottled with black specks. The original colour 
was doubtless grey, but the washings with milk and frequent smearing 
with sandal-paste have given it a yellowish tinge, and the specks suggested 
to me the idea of the stone being granite. The cell contains no furniture 
of any kind, and the walls are bare and unplastered. One block of basalt 
on the top of the doorway, I was told, contained an inscription. But 
going up to it by a ladder and holding two torches by its side, I found the 
supposed writing to be mere chisel marks. 
The lobby in front of the cell is, like the cell itself, paved with flags 
of basalt, but it contains nothing in the way of furniture or fixtures. 
There is, however, a small inscription on the left side of the entrance to 
the cell. This will be noticed lower down. 
The second porch has, as shown in the woodcut, in front a row of pillars 
spanned by blocks of basalt. On the right side there is a sandstone image 
of a bull, which is by some dignified with the name of S'rijuta or ‘his 
excellency.’ Near it there are some small bovine images, and bells bang 
under the ceiling. Every pilgrim, entering by the front door, has to pull the 
bell-rope to announce to the divinity the approach of a devotee. In most 
cases the priests do the needful in behalf of the pilgrims. This rule is 
strictly enforced at the temple of Visvesvara at Benares. 
