Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c41.s3.14

v3.c41.s3.14

to some one imbued with similar taste to visit, and merely add, he will find there an inscription in a kund or fountain dedicated to the Sun. The distance, however, seven hundred coss (kos sath so), whether from Indrapuri or Abhaner, to Girnar, even admitting them to be gao coss, would be too much. I believe this would make it eight hundred miles, and certainly, as the crow flies, it is not seven hundred. Interwoven with the story there is much about Raja Chambha, prince of Jajnagar, a city of great antiquity in Orissa, and containing some of the finest specimens of sculpture I ever saw. There is also mention of a Raja Saer (qu. Sahir or Siharas of Aror) of Parman. In 1804, I passed through Jajnagar, after the conquest of the province of Cuttack, with my regiment. At Jajnagar, my earliest friend, the late Captain Bellet Sealy, employed his pencil for several days with the sculptured remains. These drawings were sent to the authorities at Calcutta: perhaps this notice may rescue from oblivion the remains of Jajnagar, and of my deceased friend’s talent, for Captain Bellet Sealy was an ornament equally to private life and to his profession. He fell a victim to the fever contracted in the Nepal war. The ruins of Abhaner are on the Banganga, three coss east of Lalsont. [The speculations in this note are of no value. For the town of Jajpur in Cuttack, see a full account by Sir W. Hunter, Orissa, i. 265 f.; IGI, xiv. 10 f.]