DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.614#0209
168 BENAKES, PAST AND PEESEKTT.
and Amrit Eao ; but it is uncertain by whom the
original well was built. In a niche on the stairs is a
disk of the sun, which is so much worn, that it was with
some difficulty that, by the fading' light of the waning
day, I could distinguish the carving upon it. This sacred
object is worshipped on the day devoted to the sun,
that' is, our Sunday. On a platform, about half-way
down, is a figure of the god Ganes, in a standing posture,
which gives a very ludicrous appearance to his protu-
berant abdomen, and his elephant-head. By his side
is a mutilated figure, — not, I am satisfied, of Hindu
origin,—with a head-dress rising to an apex, having a
knob standing out in front. The temples are bound by a
fillet; and around the neck is a double necklace fastened
by a clasp. Several other sculptures on the walls of the
south stairs arrested my attention, as being very different
from modern works of Hindu art, both in design and in
execution. They are partly bass-reliefs of figures cut on
separate stones and inserted into the walls. They must,
therefore, have been brought from some other building,
of a date anterior to the erection of the walls now con-
taining them. The temple of Bhadreswar stands„on
the south side of the wall, and displays a large emblem
of Siva.
and Amrit Eao ; but it is uncertain by whom the
original well was built. In a niche on the stairs is a
disk of the sun, which is so much worn, that it was with
some difficulty that, by the fading' light of the waning
day, I could distinguish the carving upon it. This sacred
object is worshipped on the day devoted to the sun,
that' is, our Sunday. On a platform, about half-way
down, is a figure of the god Ganes, in a standing posture,
which gives a very ludicrous appearance to his protu-
berant abdomen, and his elephant-head. By his side
is a mutilated figure, — not, I am satisfied, of Hindu
origin,—with a head-dress rising to an apex, having a
knob standing out in front. The temples are bound by a
fillet; and around the neck is a double necklace fastened
by a clasp. Several other sculptures on the walls of the
south stairs arrested my attention, as being very different
from modern works of Hindu art, both in design and in
execution. They are partly bass-reliefs of figures cut on
separate stones and inserted into the walls. They must,
therefore, have been brought from some other building,
of a date anterior to the erection of the walls now con-
taining them. The temple of Bhadreswar stands„on
the south side of the wall, and displays a large emblem
of Siva.