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APRIL 5, 1872.]
(samodhánesi) the jataka to the matter in hand: and after the explanation of the four verities, the husbandman attained the path. Dasaratha of that period is now king Suddhodana, the
CORRESPONDENCE, &c.
CORRESPONDENCE,
Dinajpur, 16th February 1872.
I SHOULD be glad if some of the readers of the Indian Antiquary would supply some information as to the history of the district of Dinajpur. The only work to which I have access on the subject is. Dr. Buchanan's Report, and the writer unfortunately omits to state from what authorities his information was derived, so that I am able to form no estimate of its value. There are scattered about the district numerous pieces of carved stone, hornblende I think, some of them highly ornamented, and apparently of about the same date, which local tradition declares to have been brought from Bánnagar, a place now a jungle, but said to have been the royal residence of Rája Bán, or Van, mentioned in the Mahábhárat. Bán-nagar is situated about sixteen miles south of the town of Dinajpur, on the Purnabhoba river, and four or five miles further down is the mart of Kordoho ("hand-burning"), said to derive its name from the burning of 998 of Bána's thousand arms by Krishna. I know of the remains of at least four highly carved doorways, and some plain ones, besides numerous stones, generally hewn on one or more sides, often with mouldings, and the marks of metal clamps for holding them together. There are also, in different places, some score of pillars, of similar workmanship, though by no means uniform pattern. Four of them are set up at the four corners of the tomb of Sultan Shah, in the middle of the Bán-nagar jungle, where there are also a number of the carved stones to which I am referring, though evidently not in the position for which they were cut, but taken by the Musalmans from some earlier building.
Some time ago I sent to the Bengal Asiatic Society a transcript of an inscription on a pillar, more richly carved than any of the others that I have seen, now lying at the Rajbari Dinajpur, and to which I hope to find the fellow, as it is said to
máyana (Book VI) in A. (páda 3; vítas'okabhayakrodho) in C. (pada 8: evamgupasamayukto), and in the Bombay edition, VI, 130, 104, in which, likewise, strange to say, only pádas 1 and 4 are found); it does not occur in Gorr. at all. Further, in the Mahábhár. VII, 2244 páda 3: sarvabhatamanahkânto). XII, 954 (páda 8; Ayodhyadhipatir bhâtva). Hariv. 2854 (páda 8; Ayodhyayam ayodhyayám). In the Mahábh. III. 11219, the second hemistich runs somewhat differently; rajyam káritaván Rámas tatah sva(r)bhavanam gatah.-The first hemistich occurs also in the first chapter of the Rám., and indeed in the whole of the texts, in Schlegel (I. 1, 93) and Gorr. (I. 1, 100), also in the editions of Serampore (I. 1, 114) and of Bombay (I. 1, 97), and in ABC.; and it is found in combination with the following second hemistich, which, in accordance with the context in which it occurs, is regarded as prophetic :
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mother (of Rama)-M a há máy á, Sitá-Ráhulamátá-Bharata, Ananda, LakkhanaSáriputta, the retinue-theattendants of Buddha, and Rám a [am] I."
NOTES, AND QUERIES.
have been broken when in course of removal in consequence of some alterations, thirty or forty years ago. The inscription,† in three lines, is as follows:Durvvárári-varúthiní-pramathane dáne cha Vidyadharaih sá nandam divi
Rámo rajyam upásys 'sau brahmalokam gamishyati. The various readings in which are-for upásya
yasya márgganagana-gráma-graho gíyáte | Kámbojánvayajena Gauda-pati
ná tenendu-maulerayam prásádo niramáyi kufjara ghata varshena bhúbhúshanah. ||
Babu Rajendralála Mitra has been good enough to send me the following translation :
"By him, whose ability in subduing the forces of his irresistible enemies, and liberality in appreciating the merits of his suitors, are sung by the Vidyadharas in celestial spheres, by that sovereign of Gauda, by him who is descended from the Kambojan line. This temple, the beauty of the earth, was erected for the selene-cephalous (Shiva) in the year 888." Babu Rájendralála further remarks: "The figures I derive from the words kunjara ghata, kunjara being equal to 8, the eight elephants of the quarters, and ghata three-fold or plural. The two dots at the end might be allowed to remain to make it correspond with the masculine prasadah, though the word bhúshana does not take the masculine affix. This appears to me to be the true meaning. But if the word varshe be a mislection of varshmano, it would mean a temple which has many elephants carved on it." The pillar in question has eight elephants carved upon it, two on each face, crouching each under a tiger, or some similar animal, which is rampant upon it. The Bábu afterwards told me that the date 888 must refer to either the Samvat or the Shaka era, and would be either A. D. 833 or A. D. 967, more probably, judging from the style of writing, the later, and that he attributed it to one of the Shaiva dynasty of Bengal.
This, if correct, shows that the remains can have nothing to do with Bána, whose story is told
upásyeha Ser., upasitvá, Schl. Bomb.; rajyam upás'rityá 'sau, B. sec. m. for brahmaloka m-vishnulokam ABC. Ser., brahmalokán Bomb., and for gamishyati-prayásyati Schl. Bomb.
*This refers to Buddha's telling the story of Ráma (as the introduction of the Játaka informs us) for the comfort of a husbandman who had lost his father, and who "overcome with grief, left off all his avocations and began to lament"; the story is told as an example from the olden time:"wise men of old, who knew the eight realities of life (attha lokadhamma) did not at all sorrow on the death of a parent." We are probably to find here therefore" a test of true Buddhism" (Max Müller on Buddhist Nihilism). This subject was undoubtedly a favonrite theme in Buddhistic preaching; compare on this point the legend (in Fausb öll, Dhammap. p. 359, 860) of the father mourning over the death of his son, as also the legend of Kiságotami
† See Plate VII.
