The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.23

v2.c18.23

The trenches referred to above are not continuous ; they have been filled up in most places ; and the land on the western and the northern sides have been ploughed up and brought under cultivation ; I could not, therefore, measure the length of the enclosure. The breadth was, as far as I could make out, between 500 and 550 feet, and the length must have been about 750 feet. According to Abul Fazl this enclosure was pierced on three sides by gateways ; but the images of horses, tigers and elephants, said to have been placed by these gateways, and still extant, lying by the three doorways of the porch of the temple, and their pedestals are still traceable there. It is not at all likely that those who pulled down the gateways took the trouble to remove the images a great way off only to cast them on the ground. It is to be presumed, therefore, that the sites of the statues were the sides of the doors of the porch ; for I suspect the reporter of Abul Fazl confounded the outer gateways with the three doorways of the porch. The principal gateway was doubtless placed on the eastern side, right in front of the temple. It was most probably covered over by a pyramidal structure like what we see at Bhuvaneśvara and Puri ; but there is nothing to show whether this was repeated on the other sides or not. The Bhuvaneśvara enclosure has propylon on the east side, a small doorway each on the north and the south sides, but none on the west, and the same arrangement at one time obtained in the inner enclosing wall of the Puri temple, but its outer courtyard now has pyramidal propylons of uniform make on all the four sides ; it is difficult to determine, therefore, how many gateways there were at Koṇārak. There might have been three as stated by Abul Fazl ; but there are no traces of them now to be seen. The mistake made by Abul Fazl regarding the position of the statues has led Mr. Stirling to another. He is of opinion that ‘within this ( outer enclosure ) was a second enclosure having three entrances called Aśva or horse, the Hasti or elephant and the Siṁha or lion gate, from the colossal figures of those animals which surmounted the several side posts. The horses and elephants on the north and south, have long since been precipitated from their bases, but the lions or rather griffins still retain the attitude and position assigned to them by Abul Fazl, except that they are standing, instead of sitting, on the bodies of elephants, and have one paw lifted in the act of striking’⁶. Now as the positions of the figures was close by, almost abutting, the entrances of the Audience Hall, there could not have been a second enclosure. The difficulty of removing the statues, urged with regard to the outer enclosure, applies equally to an inner one.