Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 393

DECEMBER, 1873.]
LEGENDS FROM DINAJPUR.
357
romance, the inhabitants of which have been instantaneously changed into marble, but which fairy hands are ever employed upon, burning perfumes, and keeping all clean and brilliant, while fuiry voices haunt the air in these voluptaous praises of the Devas."
But apart from the poetical exaggeration of this, it is truly a wonderful-a unique placea city of temples,--for, except a few tanks, there is nothing else within the gates. Through court beyond court the visitor proceeds over smooth pavements of grey chunám, visiting temple after temple-most of them built of stone quarried near Gopanáth, but a few of marble ;-all elaborately sculptured, and some of striking proportions. And, as he passes along, the glassy-eyed images of pure white marble seem to peer out at him from hundreds of cloister cells. Such a place is surely without a match in the world : and there is a cleanliness withal about every square and passage, porch and hall, that is itself no mean source of pleasure. The silence too, except at festival seasons, is striking : now and then in the mornings you hear a bell for a few seconds, or the beating of a drum for as short a time, and on holidays chaunts from the larger temples meet your ear, but generally during the after-part of the day the only sounds are those of vast flocks of pigeons that rush about spasmodically from the roof of one temple to that of another. Parroquets and squirrels, doves and ringdoves, abound, and peacocks are occasionally met with on the outer walls.
Independently of the more general features of the scene,-as "the fashionable shrine, on which at the present day the greatest amount of wealth is lavished,”-it must command the special interest of the student of architecture, for, as our greatest authority on the history of
this science remarks,"It is now being covered with new temples and shrines which rival the old buildings not only in splendour, but in the beauty and delicacy of their details, and altogether form one of the most remarkable groups to be found anywhere-the more remarkable if we consider that the bulk of them were erected within the limits of the present century. To the philosophical student of architecture it is one of the most interesting spots on the face of the globe, inasmuch as he can there see the various processes by which Cathedrals were pro duced in the middle ages, carried on on a larger scale than anywhere else, and in a more natural manner. It is by watching the methods still followed in designing buildings in that remote locality that we become aware how it is that the uncultivated Hinda can rise in architecture to a degree of originality and perfection which has not been attained in Europe since the Middle Ages.”+
The top of the hill consists of two ridges running nearly east and west, and each about three hundred and eighty yards in length. The southern ridge is higher at the western end than the northern one, but it, in turn, is higher at the eastern extremity. Both ridges and the buildings that fill the valley between are surrounded by battlemented walls fitted for defence. The buildings on both ridges, again, are divided into separate enclosures called tuks, generally containing one principal temple, with varying numbers of smaller ones. Each of these en closures is protected by strong gates and walls, and all gates are carefully closed at sundowa. The tuks vary greatly in size, the largest of the ten covering nearly the whole of the southern summit, while one of those on the northern ridge contains only two temples. The two largest tuks, however, are subdivided by walls with gates.
LEGENDS FROM DINAJPUR.
BY G. H. DAMANT, B. C. 8.
The Story of the Touchstone. In a certain country there lived a king who king on hearing this was in a great strait, because promised that he would give every one whatever although he had formerly possessed great wealth they wished for the space of two hours. When he had given it all away, and there was now nothe family priest had finished the distribution of thing left; so he sat still, not knowing what to do. everything, he asked for a present for himself and His son, seeing him so cast down, asked what was said he should like to have a touchstone. The the cause of his anxiety. The king replied
• Forbes, Ras Mara, vol. I. pp. 7, 8. Fergamon, History of Architecture (ed. 1867), vol. II. pp. 630, 682.