The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.231

v2.c17.s1.231

The temple has an only doorway (14 ft. 4 in x 8 ft. 10 in.) opening into the porch or audience chamber. The latter is divided by square pillars into a nave and two aisles. Its nave is 38 feet long and its walls in the thickest parts 18 feet. It has four doorways, one to the west, which is common to it and the temple; one opening to the south (13 ft. 8 in. x 6 ft. 6 in.); one to the Dancing Hall (14 ft. x 7 ft.), and the last to the north, leading to a chamber which forms the strong room of the temple. It is the depository of valuables never or rarely used for the service of Jagannâtha. In this respect it serves the purposes of the *opisthodomus* of Greek temples. The spire of the temple is two storeyed and formerly the upper-storey-room was used for the deposit of valuables; but, as at Bhuvaneśvara, so here the room in course of time became the receptacle of mephitic air and could not be approached without danger; so it had to be forsaken and the room on the north side was built to supply its place. The new room is said to be about two hundred years old. There are three other rooms for the same purpose; these have been formed by partitioning off the two ends of the northern and the off-end of the southern aisles of the porch, (No. 69, *a*, *b*, and *c*). In these are deposited the jewels, clothing, silver and gold utensils and other effects which are frequently required for use. The chambers 69*b* and 69*c* are the counterparts of what occur in the Great Tower of Bhuvaneśvara and No. 73 is the representative of the little chamber formed there in the recess of the northern doorway. At the south-east corner of the porch and detached from it, there is a small chamber of modern date which serves as a tiring-room for the dancers.