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/153

Rh  any paved approach to it. The outer fort had two gates, each reached by a long, easy, paved approach; the easiest and largest is in about the middle of the south long wall; the other leads down from the peak at the east end; in both these ascents, as well as on numerous stones within the fort, and on the steps or paved approach leading from the fort to the citadel, are numerous detached inscriptions of one or two words, and almost all in the shell characters; some of these are evidently derived from the old Gupta characters, as the disguise of flourish is not in all cases sufficient to mask the characters. I found twenty-two of these curious detached records, among which one was clearly in old Gupta characters curiously flourished: in one of the inscriptions the word Dharmma occurs, but the mere occurrence of the single word Dharmma is not enough to justify its being considered Buddhist. The other remains on the hill consist of a remarkably large and fine well, very deep, built of brick, and evidently very old, a smaller one similar to it, and several lingams, both in the fort and in the citadel: there are no traces of any Buddhist statues or other Buddhist remains. The temples that enshrined the lingams were of stone and of brick, and have long ago disappeared entirely.

There are remains of extensive buildings in the citadel; but what they were it is impossible now to tell without extensive excavations; one was most probably a large Saivic temple.

Below the hill, near the pass to the west, is a stone known as Vagheswari Sthan; the stone is a large black slab; it is inscribed, the inscription consisting of four lines in mediæval characters; it opens with Swaste Pratâpa Râmânuya; the mention of Râmânuj fixes a superior limit to its age.  

Kherhi, or Purani Kherhi, has been noticed by Buchanan, who also notices the caves at Bhâgalpur. As there is nothing of interest about these caves, I need say nothing about them. There are, of course, wonderful stories of their extent and ramifications, but all except one that I examined were small, and the one I could not examine was probably similar to, or a little longer than, the others.

The remains of dargâhs, masjids, and temples in and about Bhâgalpur and over these caves are all modern and of no interest.

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