The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.89

v2.c17.89

**Nat Mandir :—**Immediately to the west of the refectory and abutting it is the Nāt Mandir or Dancing Hall, whence the divinity of the Tower is entertained with music, singing and dancing It is of a somewhat later date than the last, having been erected by the queen of Sālini Keśarī, who reigned from A.D. 1099 to 1104. Its ground-plot is a square of 52 feet a side. It has a berm 2 feet broad and 3 feet high on its north side, and a corresponding one on the south side, but none on the east or the west. The front of the berm is carved, as that of the berm of the Bhoga Maṇḍapa, but the designs are different. Instead of panels filled with animal and human forms, it is covered with effigies of temples, each having a human figure seated in its middle, very like what is seen in Buddhist votive *caityas*, and the broad band on the top is replaced by a series of plain mouldings. The walls from the berm to cornice of the building are 20 feet high, and pierced by three doorways, except on the east side whence there is only one door leading to the Bhoga Maṇḍapa. The central doorway is 14 feet high, and the side ones 10 feet. The outer face of the walls is set off with a series of polygonal pilasters as shown in the annexed lithograph (XXXIII). The doors are modern, and most shabbily put together. On the west side the central one, however, is an old one, made of sandal-wood panels, most delicately carved, and strengthened and decorated with brass bosses, (*ante* I, p. [36]). The cornice of the building is flat, and three feet deep. The roof is sloping, and formed of four tiers, (each edged with a series of lancet-headed acrotarias), and terminating at the top in small square flat plot surrounded by Saracenic battlements. The roof is supported in the middle by four square pillars, and several iron beams. In the interior face, the room has no ornaments of any kind, except a rich framing of chlorite round the central doorway on the west side. The design of this beautiful piece of work is the counterpart of that Koṇārak gateway, of which a photograph is annexed (Plate LVII). On the left jamb of this door there are two inscriptions, one in Uriya and the other in Sanskrit; but neither of these affords any information regarding the age of the building. On the eastern wall there are two niches, one of which contains an image of the androgynous Harapārvatī.