Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/90

 [March 1, 1872.

which covered it during the rainy season, I to these comes the Salt durira—a vault some 60

feet long by 10 feet wide, which receives seven distinct streams on the west side, from the mountain above. Several of these springs enter the reservoir through “tuyeaux suspendus,” and at the south end

is a small subterranean

temple containing rude and, apparently, very modern images of the ‘Seven Rishis.’ At the east side of the Sit dwóra is

Brahma kund.

the celebrated

The temperature of the water

is about 105 deg. Fahr. It is in this that several hundred thousand persons bathe at the recur rence of every thirty-first lunation. Below this

is the Kasi tirth, which is in reality a mere outlet for the waters of the Brahma kund, which escape through it, still warm and steaming, into the Saraswati below. Climbing a distance of 276 feet to the south-west of the Mārkanda kund, one

arrives at an enormous stone platform projecting from the face of the hill. It is composed of huge masses of unhewn stone piled one upon the other, and is about 50 feet square and 28 high.

At its base there are a number of small

grottoes six or eight feet square, of which two are in the eastern and five on the northern side.

These were evidently caves or chambers of meditation, and are up to this day inhabited at times by ‘nāgas' or ‘sadhus,’ a jogi whose body is perpetually smeared with ashes, and whose wardrobe seems to consist merely of a very small waistcloth, a tattered umbrella, and a necklace of enormous beads. These beggars flock in

thousands from all parts of India to Rājgir during the great fair, and are fed by the Mahants or abbots of the monasteries of Rājgir and Rājā vali, who alone exercise the jealously-guarded right of raising their crimson standards during the month in which the gathering takes place. To return to the stone platform : It is general

failed to find it. General Cunningham, how ever, was fortunate enough to light on it during his recent visit, and I have since com pletely cleared and excavated it. It is of oval shape, and has an opening to the east. Its floor was eonsiderably below the surface, and was reached by a flight of eight or nine brick steps, several of which I uncovered almost en tire.

The chamber measured 36 feet from east

to west, and 26 from north to south. The roof (most of which has fallen in) was 18 or 20 feet high. The whole was lined, as it were, by a brick wall about 2 feet thick.

In the midst of

the rubbish which filled up the bottom of the cave I found a very perfect standing figure of Buddha in black basalt. I can, I think, satis factorily identify this cave and platform with the account of Fah-Hian and also with that

of Hwen Thsang.

Fah-Hian says—“skirting

the southern hill” (and it is to be noted that this part of Baibhār runs almost due south) “and proceeding westward 300 paces, there is a stone cell called the Pipal Care, where Buddha was accustomed to sit in deep meditation after his mid-day meal.”f

This corresponds exactly with the position of the cave in question, and this view is supported strongly by the succeeding sentence,—“going still in a westerly direction five or six li, there is a stone cave situate in the northern shade of

the mountain, and called Che-ti.”

This de

scription applies with singular accuracy

to

the Som-bhāndār Cave in the northern shade

of Mount

Baibhār, and almost exactly a

mile from the baithak of Jarāsandha.

Hwen

Thsang's account is still more striking, “A l'ouest des sources thermales, on voit la maison

en pierre du Pi-po-lo (Pippala). Jadis, l’honor able du siècle y faisait son séjour habituel. La

ly known as the Jarásandha-ka-baithak, and on

caverne profonde qui s'ouvre derrière ses murs

its summit are three Muhammadan tombs, one of which is said to be that of Rája Kamdar Khán Mai, whose life and adventures during the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries form the subject of many a rude ballad and story in Bihār, and which occupy almost the same place in the heart of the people as

était le palais des 'O-sou-lo-Asouras”f [of Jarāsandha?] Pushing 800 feet further up the mountain side, I found another platform or baithak, almost

the tales of Robin Hood and his followers do

at home. Behind this platform is a large cave. I searched for it in vain in September, but owing to the dense brushwood and jangal
 * Idem.

identical in size and shape with that of Jarā

sandha. The Rājwar call it Sitámuri, but I could discover no special legend concerning it. Leaving it and climbing up a steep ascent to the west for a distance of about 1300 feet, one

comes, quite suddenly, on a small Jaina temple built some few years ago by one Hakumat Rai.

+ Beal's Fah-Hian, Ch.,xxx. p. 117.

i Memoires, Tom. II. p. 24.