| The visitor
will at once be reminded of the terracotta plaques that are arranged in rows on the
different terraces of the huge temple at Paharpur in the Rajshahi district of Bengal. A
striking similarity is noticeable in both the places not only in the subjects depicted but
also in their arrangement and style of execution. "It has been suggested that the
sculptures belong to the Sixth or Seventh Century A.D. As, the present temple' seems to
belong to a later date, it is likely that the sculptures originally belonged to an earlier
temple and were utilized to decorate the present temple when it was built.
"The row of panels is surmounted by two or, at some
places three cornices, which are also decorated at intervals with chaitya motif, birds,
human beads etc. As one gets up by the staircase facing east, one finds oneself oil il
pradakshinapatha or circumambulation path, upon which rises a shrine show in two different
states of construction'’. |
