Page:Report of a Tour Through the Bengal Provinces of Patna, Gaya, Mongir and Bhagalpur; The Santal Parganas, Manbhum, Singhbhum and Birbhum; Bankura, Raniganj, Bardwan and Hughli in 1872-73.djvu/10

x the old course of the Son, I may mention that the peculiar coarse yellow sand and the rounded Son pebbles were dug up at various and numerous spots this season by General Cunningham, shewing that the river once flowed about half a mile south of Panj Pahari, and ran parallel or nearly so to the Ganges, falling into it at Fatuha. I have, in the body of the report, indicated the course of the Son by the modern villages of Daudnagar and Tararb (about 60 miles above its present junction with the Ganges), past the villages of Rampur-Chai, Kyal, Kojhasa, Chandhos-buzurg, Bihta, into the Murhar, and then viâ Mohiuddinpur Khera and Patehpur Kalán into the Ganges at Patuha; and in addition to my argmnents in the body of the report, I can now add that, close to Mohiuddinpur Khera, there is an extensive jhil or lake, evidently the remains of the old bed, aud that excavations at Sonmayi, a village 3 miles south-east of Mohiuddinpur Khera, and 1½miles south of the great jhil, yield coarse yellow sand and pebbles precisely resembling what are well known as the Son sand and pebbles.

Sonmayi is at present an insignificant village, and enjoys no advantages of position—geographical, commercial or polltical—to render it of any importance; but that it was once an important place is evidenced by the ancient remains in it. The principal of these is a mound about 20 feet high and 150 feet long by 100 feet wide at the base. This mound is evidently the ruin of some large and important temple; it is strewn with brickbats, and near it is a pillar of greyish white stone, 9 feet high and 20 inches square. The capital and base are plain and 15 inches high each. The central portion is ornamented with a flowered band of sculpture about its centre, and by four boldly sculptured female figures round the shaft. There were formerly, an old man says, three other pillars like this one, on the mound, about 15 feet apart, of which about 15 inches were visible above the top of the mound when he was a boy; their positions, as indicated