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/129

Rh some kind of structure M; the stones are quite rough; perhaps it is only the quarry whence materials for the temples were obtained. The mounds appear to be the ruins of temples, built, not of stone, but of brick picked with stone. A and B are two mounds, A being the largest in the place. On A lie some plain granite pillars of the size and form shown in plate XVI. C D E are long low mounds which, having been lately excavated for bricks, are shown to have consisted of cells or rooms 10 × 8, evidently the remains of the cloisters of the great monastery at A. I could not find a single entire brick, but from the fragments it is evident that the bricks were more than 10 inches long and more than 6 inches wide. From these mounds have been exhumed numerous statues, of large size and in excellent preservation; they have been carried off to the adjacent village of Bishanpur Tandwa, about a mile to the south by a little west from this place. The whole of the ruins here appear to be of Buddhist monasteries and temples; there are no traces of any Brahmanical temples here.

The ground all over to the west of the hills is for some distance strewn with brickbats, but I could see no distinct mounds marking the sites of any structures outside the valley.

There are two tanks, one a large one between this place and Bishanpur.  

Of the statues at Bishanpur carried off from this valley, the principal ones are a fine statue of Buddha of large size seated, and two smaller ones, one of Padma Pâni, as shown by the lotus symbol, and the other with a symbol which looks like a stem of Indian-corn.

These three statues are among the finest in Magadha and well deserving of preservation; they are in black basalt, and the execution and design are both good.

On a small bas-relief representing a figure seated cross-legged in Buddha fashion is inscribed Ye Dharmma Râsi Maha Kasyapa; this statue is clearly therefore one, of the venerable president of the first synod, and is the only one I have seen or heard of, of one of Buddha's disciples. The existence of this statue is a proof that in the later days of Buddhism the great disciples of Buddha may have come in for a share of the devotions of the Buddhist congregation.

