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THE CITIES OF THE VALLEY

the Newars—really, two wrestlers in the service of the king, Jaya Mall and Phatta, and reported to have had the strength of ten ordinary men. Above these are two elephants with ten times the power of the foregoing, and on a stage higher in the same muscular proportion two lions, similarly two griffins, and at the top two deities, Singhini and Vyaghini, reputed the most powerful of all. Locally this temple is designated the "Bhairon," as, owing to these monstrous creatures occupying the most prominent position in its design, they are thought to be "Bhairavas" or "the Terribles." These are divinities of a secondary order in the Pantheon of the Newars, and are supposed to be the great enemies of the demons of evil, whom they trample under foot. In a sense they are the equivalents of St. George or St. Michael of Christendom. The temple itself, an ornate and imposing building erected on the uppermost of these stages, was originally intended to be a shrine for the occupation of a secret Tantric divinity, but at the present day it appears to be unoccupied. It is recorded