Photo 1002/1(5)

Inscription: Numbered '8.B' in the negative

Genre: Architectural Photography

View of the shikara, in a decayed and ruinous state.

Described in 'List of Ancient Monuments in Bengal. Revised and corrected up to 31st August 1895' (Calcutta, 1896), pp. 18-19:

'This is a tall temple, solidly built of bricks, each measuring 12”x8½”. Thirty-three courses of these bricks make up 7 feet of height for the basement. The temple is remarkably solid and was originally carved with ornamental plaster work. The dimension of the sanctum inside is only 12 feet square.

The great height and the material, brick, need a greater thickness than stone. The roof of the cell begins to contract by overlapping courses at a height of 18 feet; the overlaps are at first of six courses each, then after four such overlaps there are five overlaps of five courses each, after which the overlaps are of four, and subsequently of three and of two courses each. The entrance is of the usual style of overlapping openings; it is 6 feet 1 inch wide; the overlaps are one of six courses, two of five courses each, seven of four courses each, five of three courses each, and of two courses; there being altogether sixty-one courses disposed in 16 overlaps on each side to the point where the two sides of the triangle approach to within 4 inches of each other, the overlaps being, therefore, of 2 inches each almost exactly. The temple stands on a high plinth, now a shapeless mound; it does not appear, from the absence of the dividing sill in the opening, that the temple had any mandapa in front, and the façade is indeed complete as it is, there being no part or line where the walls of any chamber or structure in front could touch the present façade without hiding some ornament, or falling upon some moulding or ornamental sculpture: the long platform, therefore, in front of the temple (now a terrace of earth and rubbish) must have been meant for open-air gatherings, as is common to this day, especially in melas or fairs, or for a subordinate temple facing the main one.

The temple is ascribed to Salivahan; it was covered with plaster, and richly and profusely ornamented. The plaster, from its ornamentation corresponding in all parts with the cut-brick ornamentation below, is considered to have formed part of the original design, and not, as is too often the case, added afterwards.'

The list further notes that the temple was then unoccupied and under no custodian. It remarks on its present state: ‘The top of the temple has disappeared long ago and is now a shapeless mass of ruin, on which young trees are allowed to take root and flourish undisturbed.’

See also J. D. Beglar, 'Report of a tour through the Bengal provinces...' (A.S.I. Vol. VIII, Calcutta, 1878), pp. 200-1.