Page:Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, Part 1.djvu/506

438 " Having described the Aswastama. I wilLretum to the tank (Kosala-gang). This once superb artificial sheet of water is now partly- choked up with the accumulated mud and sand of ages, one half of it only remaining covered with water, except in the rainy season, when it is filled to its full extent of one mile and a half in length, by five fur- longs in breadth ; it was originally fed by means of a canal leading from the Dyah river to the northwest corner of it. There is an island called, n&r or Barabati or ’fort' in the centre, now in ruins.

" The canal is now choked up ; there are the remains of several small bridges near it.

" The mound round the tank, is evidently the site of a large city. There are heaps of stone, foundations, potsherds and bricks, particularly on the Dhauli or western side. This may have been the city mentioned in the inscription. With regard to the other stupas named there has been a large circular building on the summit of the Udayagiri rock.

" Bhuvaneswar is the site of a very extensive city the name of which Is lost : the present village is called after the great temple, * Ling raj, Bhuvaneswara* " There are several of the small isolated hills called Panch-pandeb asthdns in some of which there are small caves.

There is also a natural cavern in the great hill at Kurda attributed to the Pandavas, in which there is said to be a small inscription.

Note. Persons wishing to visit the Aswastama should proceed as far as Sur- daipoor, Nyabazar at the N. E. corner of the Kosala-gang on the Porree road, and then proceed directly along the edge of the tank vide map. There is also a direct path from Bhuwaneswar to Dhauli hill.

I now proceed to the two chief inscriptions, in the old Pali character, premising that the present text, which is taken from Mr. Kittoe's original pencil transcript, corrected by a second visit to the spot, will be found to differ here and there from the lithograph in PL X., which was done in a hurry.

First separate tablet at Dhauli,