The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.325.5

v1.c10.325.5

and the other, "a stately barge with a long arching prow carved to represent the head and fore paws (winged) of a lion with the beak of a hawk, and the stern shaped like the tail of a fish curved upwards". Such fanciful prows, it would seem, were common enough in former times, for the *Yuktikalpataru* names the heads of lions, buffaloes, serpents, elephants, tigers, birds, frogs and men, as the most appropriate for figure-heads of boats.¹⁷⁸ "Boats not unlike the Sāñcī specimen in design", says Mr. Fergusson "may still be seen opposite the *ghāṭs* at Benares on festal occasions, or on the lakes at Oudypore, or whenever a Hindu palace has a lake attached to it".¹⁷⁴ Both the Sāñcī boats, however, appear amidst lotuses, which in this country never grow in the running water of rivers, and are obv अनुप्रयोग osly not intended for the ocean. At Amarāvatī too there are no ships, and at Bhuvaneśvara, no marine or boat scene has come to notice. Considering that the place is situated so near the sea, the total absence of such scenes argues that, at the time, the Hindus had all but entirely retired from the sea. At Puri, the Bhoga Maṇḍapa of the Great Temple represents a boat, but it is evidently intended for a river. (Woodcut No. 52).