The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.104

v2.c18.104

Ascending the sloping plain, and close by a gumphā or cave temple, the traveller comes to a tank or Bāpi, ( bāoli ) cut in the rock. It is a square of 23 feet, and 28 feet deep from the surface of the plain to the level of the water ; the depth of the water has not been measured. The ground round the tank has been levelled to from a terrace 94 ft 6 in. x 38 ft. 11 in. The entrance to the terrace is flanked by two monolithic pillars, and its sides are edged with a berm surmounted by a line of battlements of large blocks of dressed stone, each 3 feet high and rounded on the top. This arrangement is also repeated round the tank. Access to the tank is had by a flight of 31 steps, each 3 feet long. The rock between the lowest step and the tank has been cut into arch, and on its face there is an inscription in the Kuṭila type, each letter being six to eight inches long. Babu Chandrasekhara Banurji reads this record somewhat differently from the version given by Mr. Beames. The principal word in it is Brajalāl or Brajalā, obviously the name of a person. It is repeated in another part of the well in the same way.