The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.109

v2.c17.s1.109

**Kapilesvara Temple and Tank :—**The village of Kapileśvara is situated at the further end of the road. It is a thriving little place, with a population of 1,717 persons as per details given on pages [56],[57]. There are no masonry buildings in it, but the huts of the people are all well built, well raised from the ground, and in very good condition. A good many of them have their fronts white-washed, or painted in fresco with rude designs of men, elephants, monkeys and floral designs. The temple of Kapileśvara stands on the southern edge of the village. Its court-yard, 178 x 172 feet, is surrounded by a thick massive wall of laterite, 8 feet high. In the middle and a little to one side of this area is a masonry platform, 110 x 72 feet, 3 feet high and on it stands an old temple with its threefold appurtenances, the Porch, the Dancing-hall and the Refectory (Plate XLVIII). The temple is, as common everywhere else in Orissa, square in the ground plan, and tapering and cylindrical in the spire. Its base is 19 feet square and about 10 feet away from the edge of the platform, the height being 46 feet. Its material is dressed laterite, ornamented with roughly carved mouldings, bands and bas-reliefs (Plate XLV). The porch is in keeping with this structure, and both of them were evidently built at the same time, and that probably long before the completion of the Great Tower. This is evident not only from the accounts given of them in the *Śiva Purāṇa*, the *Ekāmra Purāṇa*, the *Ekāmra-candrikā*, and the *Kapila Saṃhitā*, but also from the rude primitive character of their architecture, and the the material used for them. The soft friable character of the laterite led to rapid decay, and the necessity was felt, therefore, of protecting it from time to time with coatings of chunam plaster. The Dancing Hall and the Refectory are of a much later date, and they were built expressly with a view to be plastered over ; and their ornamentation therefore does not include any carved work. The last has some fresco paintings of a modern date, and of very questionable character. The east, the north, and the west side of the court-yard are laid out into flower-beds and kitchen gardens ; but on the south side there are several small temples, kitchens and other outoffices—but none of any pretension. The main entrance to the court-yard is on this [97] side, and it is accessible by a flight of 12 steps above which it stands. Below the steps, abutting the road leading to them, there is a large tank, 220 x 164 feet, with an average depth of 16 feet. Its sides are lined with flags of sandstone; and it has an excellent ghat formed of a flight of stone steps. The tank is fed from its bottom by a perennial spring, which throws up a larger quantity of water than what can be consumed by the people, or carried off by siccage. A quantity has, therefore, to be discharged by a waste-pipe which carries it to the neighbouring fields for irrigational purposes. The water is pure and limpid, and very much prized by the people. The temple, too, being the only one of any size in this neighbourhood, is largely frequented. And with the offerings of the faithful, and the revenue derived from the lands attached to it (*ante*, p. [56]), it is more cared for, and kept in a better state of repairs than any other temple at Bhuvaneśvara, the Greet Tower not excepted.