Report of a Tour through the Bengal Provinces/Alwara and Darika
ALWARA.
At Alwara, a short distance to the north-east, are the ruins of a large Buddhist temple; part of the architrave and door jambs exist, and on the former is sculptured Buddha seated; it is a draped figure; the place is now known as Mahadevasthan, and a small rounded stone partially buried is the object of worship.
There are along the banks of the river between Alwara and Chechgaongarh a few mounds, evidently the ruins of temples.
Annual fairs are held at Bilonja, at Alwara, and at Chechgaongarh, on the full moon of Vaisakha, on the Sangkranta of Chait, and on the Barani festival, respectively.
DARIKA.
Three miles south-west of the ruins at Chechgaongarh is the village of Darika, or Dandika, with several tanks and a few ruins: the principal ruin there is outside the village on a small mound; it is that of a large temple; the cell is still entire internally, but the roof has long ago gone, as also the mouldings outside; the architrave over the entrance is a plain roughish slab, and is apparently not the original one; the door jambs are ornamented with plain, but deep, lines; the ruins of the mahamandapa lie scattered in front. Among the fragments of sculpture is a four-armed goddess, with a high head-dress, holding a sword and trident in two hands, two others being mutilated; she has large earrings. There is also the fragment of a lion, which appears to have projected out into the air from the tower roof, as in the temples at Barâkar.
The tower roof of the temple was surmounted by an urn, the fragment of one of the minor pinnacles shews this: the temple was built of cut stone without any cement, the stones carefully set so as to break joint; the ornamentation consisted exclusively of plain square, or angular mouldings, as there is not a single curved moulding in the ruins: the pillars which supported the roof of the mahamandapa were plain octagonal, somewhat like the octagonal pillars at Baijnâth.
Half a mile to the east of Chandra is a square pillar, carved at the end into the fore part of an elephant, and having a lingam carved on one side; the latter, evidently after its original purpose had been forgotten, and it had become a pillar; it is set up apparently as a boundary mark; it is interesting, as it is clearly a stone from the basement of a richly sculptured temple, where it was inserted in a horizontal position, with the end projecting out of the face of the building and cut into the shape of the forepart of an elephant, as in the examples at Khajurâha; the temple, therefore, to which it belonged must have had at least a row of boldly projecting elephants' heads as one of the ornamental lines of the basement. I could, however, neither see nor hear of any temple in the vicinity from which the stone could have been brought.
At the first village beyond Chandan Kyári is a statue of one of the Jain heriarchs in black basalt; he is represented seated cross-legged in the usual fashion, and on his pedestal is the bull symbol. It is on the banks of a large, now dry, tank, near the old road from Midnapùr to Benares, which passes through Chás and Párá.