The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c18.80

v2.c18.80

The monument was built on the foundation of a Hindu temple and with its materials. Babu Chandrasekhara Banurji says that 'the site was the steryobate of a Mukti Maṇḍapa attached to a temple'. The temple, however, has left no trace and the divinity to whom it was dedicated is unknown. Leaning against the wall of the cenotaph three statues were noticed by Mr. Stirling. They have since been removed to the compound of the subdivisional court, where they now are. They represent the three goddesses Varāhī, Indrāṇī and Câmuṇḍā. They are made of coarse sandstone and each about 8 feet high. Drawings from photographs of these occur in Plates XXXIX and LXI and their descriptions occur on pages [140-141]. There were doubtless five others to complete the eight Primitive Mothers; but the Muhammadans broke them down and made them (so runs the tradition) into balls and shots for their guns or cast them into the bed of the Vaitaraṇī river. The three existing images had been thrown down from their platform and were found by Mr. Stirling 'with their feet uppermost and half buried in a mass of rubbish'.