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/145

Rh fort is ascribed to either Akbar or Sher Shah. It is said that after it was finished, the Emperor ordered a cannon to be taken up to the peak of the adjacent range of hills,—known generally as the Kauwakol hills—and on firing it at the fort with shot, the shot was found to fall within the fort; it was consequently abandoned as untenable! The walls are in fair order; the fort is small, built of rubble and mortar; some few buildings may probably have once stood inside, but none of any consequence, and no remains exist. Details of the fort will be found in plate; the walls are 38 feet high; the fort has four gates, one on each side; the north entrance appears to have been the principal one; it is defended by a weak outwork, which is entered at its east corner; it is apparently an after-thought. The pillars that adorn the jambs of the various gates appear to have been obtained from older Hindu structures, and several have been piled on each other to obtain the necessary height. The outer archway of the gate springs from a height of 10 feet, the inner from a height of 6 feet only; the arches are of the usual Muhammadan pointed style; the towers that adorn the fort are large, and form an important feature of the fort.

This closes my account of the antiquities of Magadha. In conclusion, I wish to offer a few remarks on General Cunningham's supposition that the Son-Bhândâr cave is the Sattapanni cave, and the inference therefrom that stone-cutting was an art known to Indians as early as Buddha's period (p. 143, Vol. III, Reports).

I believe I have been able to shew that General Cunningham has erred in considering the Son-Bhândâr cave to be the Sattapanni cave, and his argument, based on this supposition, consequently falls to the ground; but as the cave, although not the Sattapanni cave, is nevertheless one in which Fa-hian says Buddha used to meditate, the bearing of General Cunningham's argument, though based differently, would be the same as regards the knowledge of the art of stone-cutting in India.

With every deference for his experience and judgment, I cannot allow this position to pass unchallenged. I submit that, although there is no doubt Buddha used to meditate in the Son-Bhândâr cave, it by no means follows that the cave as we see it is the same as Buddha used it. I maintain it as highly probable that after Buddha's death, and probably when Asoka reigned, the original rude natural cavern was chiselled into an elegant, or at least a regularly smoothed cave. If we