Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/92

 74

TII E INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

five paces to the north of the path.

Its details

[MARCH 1, 1872.

vingt-dix-neuf grands Arhats formerent la col

resemble very much those of the great temple

lection des trois Recueils sacres.

below, but a figure of Buddha still occupies the centre, and the foundations of a court-yard can

cette maison, on voit encore d’ancients fonde

still be traced.

cet édifice, &c.”

Proceeding still westwards for nearly half a

mile, the highest peak of the hill is gained, where is an enormous tope, covered with brushwood, and crowned with a Jaina temple.

The view

from the top is magnificent, especially towards the valley, the whole of which Baibhār com mands.

ments.

En face de

Le roi Ajatashatru avait fait construire

The cave appears to have been formerly ap proached from the south by a staircase or slop ing path, which has now almost entirely disap peared, and to have been faced by a broad platform nearly 100 feet square. This space was occupied by an extensive hall, the rafters supporting the roof of which rested in cavities

Descending the almost precipitous southern | face of the mountain, I arrived at the Son

in the rock that still exist.

bhāndār cave, which is situated in the “northern

cave has a naked surface of rock, as smooth and even as if built of brick. It is 44 feet in length

shade” of the hill, as nearly as possible a mile to the south-west of the hot wells.

I have

little difficulty in identifying this with the Sattapänni cave spoken of both by Fah-Hian and Hwen Thsang. In doing so it must be borne in mind that the Baibhār hill runs due south-west— not ‘west,’ and that the Sonbhāndār is near the northern end of the mountain. Fah Hian" says, that “going in a wresterly direction five or six lis”

(i. e. from just above the hot-springs) “there is

stones lie in all

Piles of bricks and

directions.

The face of the

and 16 feet high, and is bounded on the west by a protruding rock and on the east by a narrow staircase of twenty steps cut in the cliff.

The

rock is pierced in the centre by a door 6 feet 4 inches high and about 3% feet wide. The thickness of the wall of rock is exactly 3 feet. At 11 feet 10 inches west from the door, and in a line with it is an opening in the cliff 3 feet high by 3 feet wide, which serves to light the

a stone cave situate in the northern shade of the

vault.

mountain, and called Che-ti.

feet long by 17 feet wide, with a semicircular roof

This is the place

The interior is a vaulted chamber 33

where 500 Rahats assembled after the Nirvºna of

16 feet high. The floor has been spoiled by the

Buddha to arrange the collection of sacred

water which constantly falls from the roofs. Outside the door, and three feet to the west of it, is a headless figure of Buddha cut in the rock,

books.” This coincides exactly with the posi tion of the Sonbhāndār cave, and it also agrees with Hwen Thsang, f who places it five or six li to

and close to it an inscription, in the Ashoka

the south-west of the Karandavénuvana clump ofbamboos, which both authors represent as being

character, recording the visit of some holy man

close to the hot-spings, The words of Hwen

There are also some Devanāgari inscriptions

Thsang are as follows—“au sud-Ouest du Bois

inside. Inside there is a square “chaitya” three and a half feet high, on each side of which is a

des Bambous, it fit cinq à six lis.

Au nord d'

une montagne située au midi,” (this I have pre viously explained) “au milieu d'un vaste bois de bambous ily a une grande maison en pierre. Ce fut là qu'après le Nirvâna de Jaulai, le venerable Mahā Kāshyapa et neuf cent quatre

to the cave in search of quiet and solitude.

figure of Buddha and various emblems. Leaving the cave and going a mile to the north-east one again comes to the banks of the Saraswati and the hot-springs.

(To be continued.)

THE JUNGLE FORTS OF NORTHERN OR ISSA. By JOHN BEAMES, B.C.S., M.R.A.S., MAGISTRATE OF BALASOR,

(Continued from Page 36.) The date of the building of these forts is, like that of every building in India which has no

ed by considerations derived from their geogra phical position. If it be assumed that they were

marked architectural features and contains no in

the work of kings of Orissa,—an assumption which

scriptions, very uncertain. In the present case, however, the uncertainty is to some extent limit

I shall consider immediately,–then there are only two brief periods within which they could have


 * Beal, u. s. p. 118,

f Memoires, Tom. II. p.32.