as is not unfrequently the case; the pillars are ornamented by a single lotus carved on each of the faces in the lowest square portion of the pillar.
I can find no clue as to the precise date of the temple, but the massiveness of the pillars shows that it must have been built at a very early period; tradition, as noticed by Captain Kittoe, assigns it to Bhairab Indra, and says it was dedicated to Sûrya, but I could hear nothing of this at Konch itself. The following lines are all I could get in the way of tradition regarding Konch:—
"Konch base sab soch mité
Durj Raj pasend Mahámun gyán
Bed Puránan hi charchá
Tánhá punjat hai ád Bhawám,
Sáh, Saráf, haráf chhab jiwan par lan bakhám
Jatenhi Tatenhi Thun Mathun ki jánhá det
Abhay bar Sewsimbh Bhawasü"
which, as far as I can make out, means-
"Konch was established, all troubles ceased, Durj Raj chose a wise Mahámuni (as chief?), and discourse of Vedas and Purânas spread. There is worshipped Bhawâni; merchants, good men, evil men, all life (heard of) the fame; on going (there) the gift of fearlessness and virile strength is bestowed by Siva and Bhawâni."
But many of the words are obsolete, and people disagree as to their meanings.
On the other side of the village road, i. e., to the south, is a mound, the ruins of another temple; the bricks are being carted away to Tikâri; two pillars are lying on the site. This temple, and also the one previously described, are assigned to the Kol Rajas.
A few miles east of Konch on the road to Gaya is the small village of Páli. There are, to the east of the village, the remains of two or three temples; but all that now remains are the ruins level with the ground of a large Saivic temple, of which a few pillars alone are standing. The pillars are plain tall shafts with corbelled cruciform capitals; details are given in the plate.
The temple appears to have been a very large one, consisting of a sanctum enshrining a large lingam, an antarala, a maha manctapa, and probably also a mandapa and portico. The temple was built of bricks picked with stone. It stood at the north-west corner of a tank. The lingam measures 5 feet 7 inches in circumference, and is 2 feet high at the apex; the argha extends 1 foot 10 inches beyond it all round; there is
