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 FEB. 2, 1872.]

51

MANDARA HILL.

studies and pursuits suited to his age, began to pray to Vishnu night and day. The king be came highly incensed, and finding it impossible to shake his son's belief, or make him forsake his devotion, ordered him to be put to death. But though Prahlāda, (for so the son was named) was successively hurled to the earth from the summit of a high hill, put upon a flam ing pile, thrown into the sea with weights fas. tened round his neck, and trampled under the feet of an elephant, yet he escaped uninjured 7

The three caves above mentioned are situated on the left of the S h an k h a ku m d a and on

the eastern bank of the S i t à ku m da, while the way to the summit lies just over the right margin of these two springs. Beyond S h a n kh aku I) (la, it runs for a considerable distance

over a slightly inclined plane till it reaches the base of a conical ridge of rock which leads to the summit. By the side of this road, about ten feet above the S h an k h a ku m (la, there is

an empty temple, now the abode of bats and

The monarch then asked his son how he had

mice, in which Shiva is said to have resided

survived such fearful perils, to which Prahlāda answered that Vishnu had preserved his life. “But where is your Vishnu ?,” demanded the king in a rage. “He is,” replied the son, “pre sent everywhere.” “Is he present in that im pervious and solid body,” asked Hiranyaka ship a, pointing with his finger to a large crys tal globe that stood before him. “Yes, father”

during his self-imposed exile from B an are s. Probably the original image having been reduc ed to dust by K & 1 & p a h 4 r, was not replaced

replied Prahlāda. “He must be there, since He is omnipresent and nothing can exist with out Him.” Scarcely were these words uttered when Hir any a k as i pa’s scimitar descended like a thunderbolt and broke the crystal into a thousand fragments; but at the same instant, a terrific figure, with the head and fore-claws of a lion and under part of a man, issued out of the broken crystal, and throwing H i r u n y a ka sip a over his thigh, tore him into pieces. This took place at the twilight. He was killed in this manner, because by the blessing of Shiva, he was not to die by the hands of god or demigod, of man or beast, in the water or in the sky, during the glare of day or during the shades of night.

by another, owing at first to the frequent incur sions of the Muhammadans, and afterwards

to the removal of M ad h us tid an a ’s image to B a us i.

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Far to the right, separated by a waterway through which the rains falling on the summit find their way to the foot of the hill, is the temple of the Jain s already mentioned. From Shiva's temple up to the base of the conical ridge, there is nothing else to arrest the atten tion.

Thence to the summit, the ascent is very

difficult owing to the rugged and uneven rock, loose and disjointed stones, abrupt precipices, and thick jungle that obstruct the way. On the highest summit of the hill, stands a very old temple of stone, said to have been built by R 4 m a. It contains only the footprints of V is h nu, thereby indicating that he still holds the hill over the headless giant, with the weight of the universe embodied in his divine frame.

COL. FRANCRLIN’S ACCOUNT OF MANDARA HILL.

(From his “Inquiry concerning the Site of Ancient Palibothra," Part II., pp. 13-26 and 72-78.) approach to it a singular appearance, it consisting of a range of five distinct hills rising one above the other, till they are terminated by the summit of Mandara, which is of an oval form, and very much

(November 22, 1814.) Moved at 20 minutes past 7, quitted the Chandan, and proceeded on into the interior, to visit Mandara hill E. by N., Chan dan river W.......... Passed the village of Beliya, which stands on elevated ground, the surrounding scenery beautiful and fertile, the cottages of the inhabitants very neatly and compactly built, in patches detached from cach other : Mandara hill N., passed several talaws (or large tanks of water): Masudan Math, a Hindu place of worship, N. At 5 minutes past 9, reached the village of Bausi near Mandara, at a spacious taláv with high banks. Mandara hill N. Berbari hill S., Malido SE. Dis tance 8 miles 5 furlongs.

steps, each step being 14 feet in length by 13 in breadth. Near this flight of steps are great quanti

(November 23.) Halted and visited Mandara

ties of broken stones of different dimensions, muti

hill.

The south side of tihs hill presents on the

resembles the Gola at Patna ; the summit is sur mounted by a stone math whither the idols that are seen in the plain below, at a math of the same name, are carried at the annual pujas, two in each year, to be worshipped in the temple. At the south foot of the hill is a spacious taláv,

called by the natives Pouphur [Pápharni], the descent to which is by a stone staircase of seven

lated idols, fragments of pillars, and other ir