The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.201.4

v2.c17.s1.201.4

D., during which the Sun Temple was erected. It is unquestionable, however, that the pillar at Yājapur formed an ornament of the temple of Varāha at Caṇḍeśvara, built by Pratāparudra Deva between 1504 to 1532 A. D., and its appurtenance consequently must at first sight appear to be of the same age. But even as in the case of the Sun Pillar, the date of the building before which it now stands has no relation to it, so might be the case with the Yājapur monument. The Indian name of these columns is *jayastambha* or 'pillar of victory,' and their character is everywhere memorial or monumental, and as such, they abound everywhere in India. The Jains utilised them as lamp-posts by putting lamps on the top on ceremonial occasions, whence the Jain name Dīpadāna; but ordinarily they are purely monumental. Of the peculiar type of column now under notice, there are several in Orissa, notably one at Kendrāpārā,⁴⁵ and it would be by no means too much to assume that the Yājapur pillar had existed from before, and only utilised by Pratāparudra, though for such an assumption there are no other data besides its garlanded collar which is the counterpart of Aśoka columns.