183 
1883.] Rajendralala Mitra— On the Temples of Deoghar. 
In Captain Sherwill’s ‘ Survey Report on Birbhum’ it is stated that 
“ all the temples hut three are dedicated to Mahadeo ; the remaining three 
are dedicated to Gauri Parvati, his wife,” and this has been quoted in Dr. 
Hunter’s ‘Statistical Account of Bengal,’ Vol. XIV, p. 324. The details 
above given will show that such is not the case. 
The road leading from the northern gate of the great temple passes 
along the western edge of a large lake, called S'ivaganga. The lake measures 
about 900 x 600 feet, having, in November, when 1 saw it, about 13 feet 
of water. The water is of a greenish colour, and held to he impure, 
though largely used for bathing purposes. The lake forms part of a large 
tract of low-land or ravine, the western portion of which has been cut off 
by a heavy embankment, on the top of which runs the road aforesaid. This 
embankment must have been put up by Maharaja Mana Sinha, the great 
general of Akbar, who came to this place on his way to Orissa, as I find his 
name is associated with the western portion, which is called Mamsarovara. 
This portion has silted up greatly, and, except during the rains, remains dry. 
It is connected in a roundabout way with the lake by a small rivulet 
named Karmanasd, which is described to be the spot where Ravana eased 
himself, and its connection with the lake makes the water thereof impure. 
The drainage of this portion is discharged into the Yamunajor which runs 
at some distance to the west. 
To the north of the hollow aforesaid there is a small spot of low land 
which forms the cremation ground of the town. And to the north of 
it and of the lake stands the forest which forms the northern boundary of 
the town. 
To the south-west of the temple courtyard, on the south side of the 
main road, there are two small temples with a terrace in front, six feet 
high, and set off on the upper edge with a trefoiled moulding. On the top 
of this occurs a stone structure which has been thus described by Captain 
Sherwill, in his ‘ Survey Report on Birbhum’: “ At the western entrance to 
the town of Deoghar is a masonry platform about 6 feet in height, and 20 
feet square, supporting three huge monoliths of contorted gneiss rock of 
great beauty; two are vertical, and the third is laid upon the heads of the 
two uprights as a horizontal beam. These massive stones are 12 feet in 
length, each weighing upwards of seven tons ; they are quadrilateral, each 
face being 2 feet 6 inches, or 10 feet round each stone.” (These measurements 
are wrong. The uprights are 12 feet high, having each face 1' 6” 
broad, or 6 feet in the round. The cross piece is 13 feet long, and T 9" inches 
broad on each side. The weight must be propotionately reduced.) “The hori¬ 
zontal beam is retained in its place by mortise and tenon. By whom, or when, 
these ponderous stones were erected, no one knows. There is a faint at¬ 
tempt at sculpture at each end of the Yertical faces of the horizontal beam, 
