National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

In front of Ambikā's temple there is an ancient stone figure buried in the ground up
to the shoulders.

The Kōṭhī is a large building of the hill type, with stags' and antelopes' horns fixed
over the door. Old sculptures are inserted in the walls, for instance, a head on a stand
adored by two kneeling figures (Plate I, b). This may have been suggested by the well-
known Buddhist sculptures of relics with two worshippers. The head is probably that
of Śiva, as we find it on so many temples at Nirmaṇḍ, carved above the entrance. On
the right corner of the house, there is a very rude figure of Hanumān riding on a rather
diminutive horse. Inside, there are stone figures of Kālī, and a bronze figure of
Paraśurāma. The latter is exhibited only every twelfth year when two naked men have
to carry it out of its prison. When the image is brought back to the temple, a glass,
filled with water, is placed in front of it. This is not removed until twelve years have
elapsed, and the water is found as fresh as it was originally. In front of the Kōṭhī
is a large round stone seat with sculptures on its circumference, for instance, makaras
swallowing men (?). An apparently modern cave is in the vicinity.

The Dharmaśālā we were not allowed to enter. It is a court formed by houses of
the ordinary hill type situated in the middle of the village. On a rock in front there
is an inscription in a late type of Śāradā characters much obliterated.

The temple of Chaṇḍī Devī is close to the wells from which the people fetch their
drinking water. There are several small water tanks of dressed stones below it, and a
great number of sculptured slabs are inserted in the masonry of the tank (Plate II, b).
Stone figures of Nandī are also conspicuous. One of the sculptures, a head with three
faces, is said to look like Paraśurāma in the Kōṭhī.

The temple of Śiva situated above the village, is said to contain a liṅgam. Over
the door is a sculptured head and a figure of Gaṇeśa. In front of it, there are water
tanks with stone reliefs and a figure of Nandī.

The temple of Śiva and the Pāṇḍavas is situated in the middle of the village.
It was shown only to Pindi Lal who says that it contains many images in little
niches.

The Ṭhākur's temple found in the middle of the village is small and neat, but in bad
preservation. The interior was shown to Pindi Lal only, in whose opinion the image
was the finest sculpture in the place. Unfortunately he could not photograph it. It
represents a man and a woman seated, and another woman lying on the ground. There
is an elaborate halo round the three figures.

The doors of all the houses of the goldsmiths are distinguished by well-carved
door-posts of stone with the figure of Gaṇeśa in the centre.

In conclusion I may say that we did not find any traces of Buddhism at Nirmaṇḍ.

From Nirmaṇḍ we marched to Rāmpur, the capital of the Bashahr State, beauti-
fully situated on the left bank of the Satluj. The descent was steep, but the road
well shaded by luxuriant vegetation. The Hindu temples of the city with their very
primitive, though not ancient, sculptures did not appear of any interest. Rāmpur is the
first place on the road up the Satluj valley where Lamaist buildings may be seen. The