1883.] 
181 
Rajendralala Mitra —On the Temples of Deoghar. 
The story is that, on the occasion of the churning of the ocean by the 
gods and the demons, a large quantity of poison was evolved which threaten¬ 
ed immediate destruction to the churners, and to save them, S'iva quaffed 
off the lethal draught, which stuck in his throat, and caused a blue or 
black mark to be apparent on it. 
No. 13 is dedicated to Parvati, the consort of the presiding divinity 
in the great temple, and the eternal union of the two is indicated by a 
piece of cloth tied by the two ends to the pinnacles of the temples, stretch¬ 
ing from one to the other, a distance of about 70 feet. The temple is well 
built, and stands on a plinth about 8 feet high. On the centre of the cell 
there is a masonry platform on which are placed two black stone images of 
unequal size, one a four-handed standing female l'-6" high, and named Grauri, 
‘the fair one,’ the other, eight-handed, standing behind a buffalo which she is 
destroying; the latter is 14 inches in height and named Parvati, ‘ the 
mountain born.’ Both are slightly chipped in some places. They have 
apparently been brought from some old temple or other, and not made 
expressly for the fane in which they are now placed. They are held in the 
highest veneration, and offerings of sweetmeats and other articles are made 
to them in large quantities. During the three days of the Durga-puja, 
in October, upwards of a thousand kids are sacrificed to their honour 
besides several buffaloes. Vaidyanatha dislikes these offerings, and is 
averse even to look at them, and the door of his temple is therefore closely 
locked during the time the sacrifices are made. This temple was built 
by Ratnapani Ojha at the beginning of the last century. 
No. 14 belongs to Vagala Devi or Vagalamukhi. It was built by 
Ramadetta Ojha, between 1782 and 1793 A. D. The goddess is said to be 
one of the ten forms of Durga known under the common appellation of 
Mahavidya. According to some Tantras she is four-handed; according to 
others, two-handed. Her dhyana pictures her as a female of grave appearance, 
excited with wine, bright as gold, four-handed, three-eyed, amorously dis¬ 
posed, holding a short club and a lasso in her right hands, and a tongue and a 
thunderbolt in her left hands, arrayed in a yellow garb, and decorated with 
golden earrings, her breasts hard and close, and she is seated on a golden 
throne.”* Her peculiar habit is to seize her enemy by the tongue and then 
V* 
^rrr*:n;w it 
Raja Radhakanta’s Supplement to his * S'abdakalpadruma,’ p. 1258. 
