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/134

110 structures about the foot of the hill; any that existed on the west, north-west and south-west sides must have long ago been washed away by the river Sakri, which began flowing down this, its present, bed not very long ago, its original course having been far to the west about 3 miles off; the old bed is still distinctly traceable all the way to its point of separation; the channel which is now the bed of the river was a small irrigation channel, but, as I have before remarked, the universal tendency of rivers here and hereabouts is to run east of their present beds. Aheady a great portion of the waters of the Sakri goes down an irrigation channel, which was taken from its east bank about 6 miles above Wahari, near Roh, east of Nowâdah, and but for the circumstance that constant efforts are made to keep the flow within bounds, this channel would before now have become the main river; as it is, it has become 100 feet wide, while it originally was barely 8.

About two miles due north of Párvati, the Sakri, in cutting away its banks, is said to have laid open a deposit of coins; these are said to have been in an earthen pot, and were of gold; some boys, playing about, found the pot, and each ran with a handful to his parents, who, of course, lost no time in securing the prize; but so ignorant were they, that they imagined the coins to have been of brass, and sold them as such; the place was probably the site of an old monastery or stûpa; it has now been entirely cut away by the river, but the high banks there show that the site was a small eminence.

One of the statues at the foot of the hill has the usual Buddhist formula, Ye Dharmma, &c., inscribed on it in Kutila characters; the statues are all of black basalt.

Besides these Buddhist ruins, there is a small Muhammadan dargâh. Tradition says that an old Hindu fakir was once living here, when a corpse came floating down the Sakri, and the fakir dreamt that the corpse told him its name was Chán Haji, and that it wanted a decent burial in a grave to be dug on a spot near the south-east end of the hill, which he described, and as a reward, he promised the Raj (sovereignty) of the district to the fakir. The fakir did as directed, and became king afterwards. The dargâh that now stands was the one built by him. It is no way interestrng, except for some Hindu stones used in it. Chán Haji is a saint of wide celebrity in Bengal; he is known universally as Chán Saudágar, and many are the spots where