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Buchanan was one of the first to notice and document the ancient ruins on the hills; but as he mentions, he could not conveniently see the ruins probably because of the 600’ height of the hill. His account is therefore based on the sketches or drawings of the painter sent by him for the purpose. The Bengal List gives very sketchy information based on Buchanan’s account only. Neither Cunningham nor any of his assistants surveyed or explored the ruins. Bloch’s account in his reports for the years 1902 to 1904 adds some more information, which is drawn upon both by the District Gazetteer and M H Kuraishi’s List. Thereafter Panigrahi has thrown some more light on the history and architecture of the temple on the hill.
The Mundeshwari Inscription :-
There was an inscription on a stone slab at the temple, which had broken into two pieces, one of which was found in 1892, and the other in 1903 by Bloch in the course of clearance of the debris. Both the pieces are now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata. It was edited by R D Banerji in 1907 and by N Majumdar in 1920. The inscription refers to King Udayasena and to the date 30 of an unspecified era. It records erection of a matha of the god Viniteshwara and an endowment to provide for the offerings “from the store room of Sri Mandaleshwara Swami Pada of the temple of Sri Narayana”. The reference to Sri Narayana was not satisfactorily explained either by RD Banerji or by N Majumdar. According to Bloch, the inscription refers to the erection of a temple of Narayana close to the temple of Viniteshwara, thus suggesting evidence of another temple on the hill; but of the existence of such a Vaishnava temple, there seems to be no indication at present, since the carvings among the ruins are primarily, if not exclusively Shaivite in character. The donor of the record is taken to be Bhagudalana by Banerji; while Majumdar takes him as Gomibhatta, the dandanayaka. The reading of the inscription as well as the dating, are still open to question.
To be continued...