The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.213.3

v2.c17.s1.213.3

Of him who circumambulates the tree and then worships it, Hari remits all the sins committed in the course of a hundred generations. At the foot of this tree there is an image of Maṅgalā, the giver of prosperity to gods, and whoever beholds her and offers har adoration emancipates himself from all delusion’. Close by it is an open pillared choultry called Mukti-maṇḍapa, the hall of [**116**] salvation, where Paṇḍits and and professors daily assemble to expound the Śāstras and lecture to the faithful (No. 16). It is a rectangular building, 38 feet square, with a plain high plinth and a pyramidal roof supported on 16 massive chlorite pillars, those of the inner range being of one pattern, and those of the outer of another. (See Vol. I, Plate VI, figs. 10*a* and 10*b*). It is said to have been erected by Pratāparudra Deva in A.D. 1525, but it would be no great presumption to suppose that it is the representative of the Vihāra Hall which the Buddhists must have had in the place. Its roof was renewed about the middle of last century by Śrīdhara Paṭnāyaka in the reign of Vīrakiśora Deva. A little beyond it is a small tank called Rohiṇī Kuṇḍa (No. 26), a dip in which metamorphosed the crow in the legend into Viṣṇu (ante, p. [101]).