The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.198

v2.c17.s1.198

**Great Temple. Boundary wall.** We next come to the great temple itself—the 'Puri Pagoda' of mariners. It is situated at a distance of seven furlongs from the sea-shore, at the western end of the main street of the town, in Latitude 19º 48m. 17s. N. and Longitude 85º 51 m. 39 s. E. It stands on a mound about twenty feet above the level of the surrounding ground, and this has been ennobled by the high-sounding title of Nilagiri or the 'Blue Hill'. As the whole of the mound is now covered by buildings, I could not ascertain whether the eminence is due to a sand-ridge, or to the rubbish of the ancient Buddhist structure over which the present temple has been built. Looking to the globular form which sand-ridges do not usually assume, and knowing well that the Hindus, like all sensible people, are averse to build on sand, I am disposed to think that the spot was originally a high one—a natural mound—and over it stood the Vihāra Hill which had either fallen down, or was so dilapidated as to necessitate its demolition, and on the site of it the new structure was erected. The idea of sanctity was intimately associated with the spot³⁸, and advantage was taken of it by securing to the new fane the whole of that sanctity **[113]** by locating it on the same spot, and the rubish of the old one, which was obviously not carted away, served to raise the level of the ground. Seen from a prominent place, the globular character of the mound appears distinct, but the outer walls called Meghanāda Prācīra, which surrounded it, are straight and enclose a rectangular area 665 x 644 ft. The ground outside not being perfectly level, but the top of the walls being even throughout, the height of the walls varies from 20 to 24 ft., the greater part being 22 ft : their thickness is the same throughout. The walls are built of dressed laterite blocks ; they are plain on the body, but capped with Saracenic battlements (see plate LII). Aesthetically these walls are serious drawbacks on the beauty of the temple, as they completely shut out all but a portion of its top from the roads which line the four sides of it. Nor did they form a part of the original plan. The temple was erected on the top of the mound and surrounded by a low wall also on the top of the mound, so that the sloping sides of the mound were all exposed, and the beholders, standing on the road beyond the slope at a considerable distance, could see the whole of the place to great advantage. Three centuries after the erection of the temple, in the reign of Puruṣottama Deva, when foreign incursions were being apprehended, strategic considerations suggested the necessity of a stronger defensive outwork than the old wall, and the present walls were the result. From their great height and massive thickness, they were well adapted to repel invasions of cavalry and infantry unaided by siege trains. The battlements, as originally put up, were of small size ; but at about the early part of the last century the front and the southern walls, when repainted, were provided with battlements of large size, each measuring 22 inches in height. The large battlements are best seen in plates LII and LIII which show the eastern and the southern facades, and the small ones on the western and the northern walls.