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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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suddenly stop one and demand a turn to the right or left, or even prohibit one's

further advance. In spite of all its sanctity, Nirmand is poor in inscriptions and other written records. People showed me the copper plate grant of the 7th century by king Samudra-söna which has been published by Dr. Fleet,' and a very obliterated inscription on a rock in front of the Dharmasálá. We took an impression, but were not quite successful. The script seems to be a late type of Sáradá. As the names of Samudrasöna's father, grandfather and great-grandfather, which occur on the copper plate, have not yet been discovered in the Bansaulis of Kula or Bashahr, I hoped to find them among the ancestors of the present Thákur of Nirmand. This man, however, did not possess a family record of any kind.

Proof of the great age of Nirmand is the fact that all the principal temples are of

the bill type. They are built of layers of rubble masonry, alternating with beams of cedar wood. The roofs are sloping and slightly concave on either side of the central beam and laid with slates or wooden shingles. None of these buildings seem to be of a very great age. But, as they were always repaired in the same style, the temples of Nirmand of two or three thousand years ago probably did not look different from these extant.

This refers only to the chief temples. By the side of most of them, we find numerous

stone temples of the silchara type. (Plate III). They are, however, never in prominent positions. This style of architecture has been fully described by Fergusson.2 It was introduced into Nirmand probably between the 7th and 11th century and many specimens may go back to those times, although there are no written records. The many tablets with religious sculptures which are scattered all over the place in great numbers, may also date from those times. It appears that the original cult of Nirmand was entirely Sivaist. Most of the temples are dedicated to Siva or Kali, or to deities of a similar type. Perhaps about the saine time when Vishnuism became powerful in Chambá (tenth or eleventh century), this form of worship was also introduced in Nirmand, without, however, doing much harm to Sivaism.

Originally the town consisted, it is said, of five main streets with a great temple in each of them. Cholera and small-pox have decimated the population, and the town has become very much reduced in size. Its situation is sublime, on a high practically level plateau with a magnificent view of apparently endless mountain ridges.

I made the following notes on the principal buildings. The Ambiká temple (Plate

II, a) is below the village, and a flight of 184 steps leads up towards it, and continues from the back of the temple towards the village. This temple is said to be the oldest in the place, and Ambiká (probably a form of KMI) is the chief deity of Nirmand. According to Pindi Lai, the Dévi image is in a standing posture and about two feet

high. Her face is black, and her clothes covered with gold. Whoever approaches her (only Brahmans are allowed to do so) has to take off his trousers. In this temple is kept the copper-plate grant of King Samudra-séna of the 7th century mentioned above

I Gupta Inscriptions, p. 286.

2 gístor,zt of Indian and Eastern Architecture, Vol. I, p. 322.