Indian Antiquary Vol 05

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 13

JANUARY, 1876.]
still conceals probably a third of the exterior. The upper part of the central dome appears also to have suffered, and to have been rebuilt at a time when the restorers were unable to emulate the skill of the original decorators, but probably previous to the re-discovery mentioned above, as they used no mortar, though modern piety has 'pointed' their work with chunam, and covered the ruins of the spire with a coat of plaster, surmounted by three absurd little gilt pinnacles, which make the whole oddly resemble a huge wedding-cake.§ The plan is in some respects peculiar; we find the normal mandap and shrine, set like two broken squares touching at angles, but it has a porch and door behind the linga-shrine,-a thing I never saw anywhere else,l-and the two side porches of the mandap appear never to have been used as entrances, nor even as shrines. They are supported on short pillars, and must have been partly open to the light, but are surrounded by a continuous parapet, which seems to have been surmounted by a dwarf wooden or stone railing about fifteen inches high, judging from the mortice holes in the stone-work, and the peculiar bases of the pillars which rest upon the parapet, and are quarter-shares of a truncated pyramid inverted, with only the outer sides ornamented. Unfortunately, the front porch has been restored, by some pious blockhead, in the Saracenic style of a handsome modern temple in the village, so that it is not available for purposes of comparison. More than that, the Vandal threw away the ruins of the old porch, on one of which was a long Sanskrit inscription, observed, but not copied, by Dr. Gibson twentyfive years ago. After long search I found that the fragment on which it was had been turned face up under a nimb-tree, and used as a seat by the idlers of the village, who had with their barbarous hinder parts obliterated the inscription (never very deep or clear cut) beyond all hope of transcription or estampage, though it is possible that a competent Sanskrit scholar, with time and the stone itself before him, might decipher a few words. I believe Bhâu Dâji got a rubbing when it was in not quite so bad a state, and perhaps this has been read; if not, what might have furnished a key to the history
NOTES ON THE AHMADNAGAR COLLECTORATE.
§ A relief on a small ancient grave-stone south of the temple seems to represent a Dravidian roof,-perhaps copied from this or some neighbouring building.
Possibly this was originally the shrine, and that now
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of the now dumb ruins of this class in Ahmadn agar has probably been irrecoverably lost, for the stone is much too heavy to move, and scholars are as plenty in Aikolê as lawyers are said to be in heaven. Those of the town professed to be much puzzled over an inscription on the threshold of the shrine, which a little scrubbing revealed as modern Marathi, and bad at that, recording the name of a kulkarni who engraved it there in the hope of acquiring post mortem spiritual benefit from the feet of the worshippers, who must step or kneel upon it to adore the linga.
The carving of the temple resembles to a certain extent that of the Kokam thân and Kumbhârî temples, but is enlivened much more than either with small standing figures of various Hindu divinities. The hansa, or sacred goose, appears both on the rear porch and on the central pillars. Almost all the figures appear to have been wilfully defaced. The best parts are the four great architraves forming the first course of the central dome of the mandap. Two of these are adorned with battle-pieces; the third with a representation of Vishnu lying upon the folds of the great serpent. Right and left of him the "naked Nâgå folk"-quaint figures, half-human half-snake-squat upon their curled tails, and outside of them common mortals. Opposite this is a spirited representation of the churning of the ocean by the gods and demons to obtain the Amrita. The great Nâ ga's long body is curled in a round turn upon the top of the mountain Mandhår,-shaped something like the finial of a temple spire. Three or four comparatively large figures represent the gods, who have just let go, one only retaining hold of the snake's head, against their turn comes to haul again; while a lot of little Asuras are running off with the tail with a stamp-and-go motion that reminds one irresistibly of sailors at a bawser
"With a yeo-heave oh! and a rumbelow, And a heave! my mariners all! oh!" The great snake, through it all, with his head just sufficiently raised to look about him, maintains an air of the most solemn indifference. The architraves of the other domes are ornamented with a pattern of blade-like leaves, occupied by the linga ita ante-chamber; its pillars resemble those of the central dome, not those of the surviving lateral porches or transepts.
T Vide Ind. Ant. vol. IV. plate facing p. 5, fig. 4.