History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c46.99

v2.c46.99

The *Jagamohana* of the *Liṅgarāja* is an exceedingly interesting structure. Originally there were two windows, one to the north and another to the south of this structure, covered with huge stone bars, and the entrance lay in front. On this side two heavy pylons were constructed to bear the additional thrust. They were mutilated when Anaṅga Bhīma I added the *Nāṭamandira* in the 12th century. The facade of the *Jagamohana* was exceedingly well designed and was a beautiful and imposing sight before the addition of the *Nāṭamandira*. During the repairs to *Liṅgarāja* temple I ascended the roof of the *Nāṭamandira* and found a large projecting cave over the point where the eastern wall of the *Jagamohana* joins the rear or western wall of the *Jagamohana*. The beautiful *chaitya*-window over the roof of the *Nāṭamandira* had been ruthlessly mutilated and no attempt made to conceal the later addition. The *Jagamohana* is provided with a heavy projecting cornice like the later Chālukyan temples of the Canarese districts (Belgaum, Dharwar and North Kanara districts of Bombay, the Bellary district of the Madras Presidency and the northernmost districts of the Mysore State). According to the calculations of the late Mr. Mono Mohan Ganguly the *Jagamohana* of the *Liṅgarāja* is 89 ft. 2 ins. high. There are two openings on the sides, one of which is now a doorway and the other a window, closed with large pillars used as bars. Over each of the side openings there is a long bas relief. The doorway is on the south side and, instead of a *Navagraha* slab, we find that this bas relief and the ornamentation over this portion are exactly the same on the north. These two factors prove that originally the southern opening of the *Jagamohana* was also a window. There are tall openings on the east and the west of the *Jagamohana*, leading to the *Naṭamandira* and the *Vimāna* respectively. The window on the north is 7 ft. 5 ins. broad and the space is covered by five pillars, on each of which there were female figures as ornaments, now very much damaged. The *Naṭamandira* of the *Liṅgarāja*, as has been stated above, is a later structure like the *Jagamohana*, according to the late Mr. Ganguly. There is an inscription on the right jamb, according to which the *Naṭamandira* was built by Narasimha I and the *Bhogamaṇḍapa* by Anaṅgabhīma, who is supposed to have ruled in the middle of the 13th century and therefore must be Anaṅgabhīma II.¹ These inscriptions have not been properly edited as yet, though impressions of the whole lot were taken several times,—for the late Dr. Th. Bloch in 1906, for Dr. D. B. Spooner and for the last time by Dr. A. Banerji-Śāstri in 1925-26.