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

architecture, at least in regard to its roof. It is said to be only about twenty-five years
old. In the courtyard, we found cremation tablets with figures of Avalōkitēśvara
represented with four arms and a lotus, and Mi-ukhrugs-pa (Akshōbya). Although they
were also said to be of recent date, the mould from which they were cast must be
decidedly old. It was possibly brought here from Kanam monastery, which claims to be
old. The tablets were furnished with Tibetan inscriptions, but these were so indistinct
that nothing could be read. It was just possible to see that the characters employed
were Tibetan.

Above the village of Rarang, on the road, there is an old hut which is known as the
most ancient mandir of Rarang. (Plate VII, b.) It is rectangular, and has a slanting
roof. The door beams are furnished with wood carvings. On the lintel, the figure of
an elephant carrying a human being can be distinguished. This is possibly a representa-
tion of Indra. Of particular interest is the gable-roof which ends in the carving of a
ram's head, and thus reminds us strongly of the dēvatā-huts in the Manchad valley
(Lahul). In its general appearance also, this mandir resembles the dēvatā-huts of the
Manchad valley and goes to prove that the religion of the Kanāwaris was similar to that of
the Manchad people, who are closely related to them by lingual and ethnic characteristics.
As this hut is practically the last specimen of Indian hill architecture on the road (not
taking into account a 'gate of blessing' at Poo, which is furnished with a roof in Kanā-
wari style), it will be well to review all the observations we have made with regard to
this architecture. Under hill architecture are comprised all the structures which are
composed of rubble masonry and beams of cedar wood. Of an entirely different charac-
ter are the structures of the Tibetans, which consist of sun-dried bricks. The former have
slanting, and the latter flat roofs. On the frontier between the Tibetaa and Kanāwari
peoples there are also some intermediate forms. There are houses built of rubble masonry
with flat roofs, for instance the temple at Rogi, and houses built of sun-burnt bricks with
a slanting roof, for instance the temple at Rarang.

The most elementary form of hill architecture is represented by the ancient mandir
of Rarang, which consists of a one-roomed house with a rectangular ground-plan and a
slanting roof. Later on, the roof assumed a concave appearance, and was often supported
by a covered verandah. This type of house is much in evidence as the ordinary
peasant's dwelling on the Satluj up to the Wangtu bridge, and the Nirmand temples are
of this type. It was then modified in the following way. The ground plan was made
square and the walls were raised. This is the type of the Kulū castle towers which were
introduced even into Lahul, and of the shrine of the old mandir at Urni. A beautiful
combination of this rectangular house and square tower is found in the ancient palace of
Sarāhan. The Kanāwari gates of blessing have another extraordinary feature in addi-
tion to the concave roof, in that they have also the front and back walls widening out
towards the gable beam. Thus the walls are further apart at the top than they are at
ground level.

On the square ground plan was developed also the pyramid type of roof with four
slanting sides. This we find in its simplest form in the modern temple of Urni, and in