THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

34

cupied many hours every day in cutting a path through the thick tangle of underwood. The most accessible and fortunately also the most interesting of the forts is that which I have marked as the “Mud fort” on the map, at the north-west angle of the Räibaniyań vil

lage. This fort is in shape an irregular penta gon, having the following dimensions :Eastern wall ......... 1,650 ......... 1,650

Northern

North-western....... ... South-western ......... Southern ...............

English yards. ,

880 (about) 1,550 (about) 880

There seems to be some sort of order even in

the irregularity as the eastern and northern

walls are the same length, so also the north

[FEB. 2, 1872.

remains of a small indigo factory which was con

ducted by a European for some years, but has now long ago been abandoned. The natives have a tradition that the north

western corner contained the palace of the Rājā, and this is partially confirmed by the greater height and strength of the works in that corner, and by the numerous remains of buildings still traceable. The principal of these I have called the “keep” on the map, as the natives assert

that it was the highest and strongest part of the fort. It is a strong square tower of which about 20 feet only now remain ; the stones are care

fully hewn and placed together, but without any traces of cement or mortar. A simple

The north and south

but graceful style of ornament is effected by

western, however, are so covered with jungle

a straight moulding running round the middle of each course, above which the top

western

and southern.

that it is impossible to arrive at more than an approximate measurement.

Though called the ‘Mud fort, the walls of this fort are not really of mud. The peasants of the neighbouring villages have made breaches through the walls in some places to enable them to get at their rice-fields in the inside, and in entering the fort by one of these breaches a sort of section is obtained which reveals the nature of the construction. The follow

ing section will explain how the wall is made. The centre or heart consists of layers of stone

AB, Base of the Wall.

C, Moat.

DD, Earth.

of each stone is sloped inwards with a small

pine-apple shaped projection in the centre. The effect of this arrange ment cannot be fully seen

owing to the jungle, but when perfectly visible, the broken

light and shade produced by it must have lent a peculiar grace and elegance to the otherwise massive and sombre building. In spite of the native idea of its being a keep or citadel, I am disposed to think this building must have

been a Shiva-temple, as the architecture is pre cisely similar to the other ancient temples to that idol in other parts of Orissa, and the dimensions of the building, which is not more than 100 feet square, are too small for the purposes of a citadel. On the top, half hidden by trees, are the capitals

gradually diminishing to a point, and this is covered and entirely hidden with about four feet of earth closely rammed. The breadth at the

of some pillars of the dark ash-coloured stone

base from A to B is by measurement 112 feet,

a well or tank—similar to the square enclosure

and the height we guessed to be about 50 feet. The wall is surrounded by a deep and broad moat, and a slight but continuous ridge, evident ly artificial, runs parallel to the moat on its outer edge. Outside all this again, at a distance in some places of as much as half a mile, runs a mallá which by a little dexterous cutting and deepening has been made into a very

round the linga-stone in Shiva-temples: so that I imagine the stone walls must have formed a lofty platform surmounted by an open hall sur rounded by pillars, in the centre of which was the

known as munganí patthar or chlorite: none of the columns however remain.

In the centre is

linga in its sunken square enclosure. The capi tals, though massive, are quite plain and without ornament.

At the foot of this building on the south side is a curious little hollow where the trees and

efficacious outer moat lined here and there with a wall of laterite.

jungle are perhaps more dense than in any other

The interior of the fort is a large plain covered with debris of stone buildings, tanks, and patches of jungle ; a considerable portion of it is

Jaychand's jungle. Who Jaychand was nobody knows. In the heart of this jungle, approached

now cultivated, and near the south wall is the

by a narrow winding path, is a small platform

part. This is called the Jay chan di B an or