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MARCH 1, 1872.]
GEOGRAPHY OF JAGADIA.
73
Between the last baithake and this temple there are marks of an enormous wall 14 or 15 feet thick, and this forms the pathway
hich leads up the mountain side. The Rajwars -the almost sole inhabitants of the wild of Raj- gir-call it Jara sandha's staircase, and tell you that he built it in a single day to assemble his troops on the mountain tops on the approach of his enemies from the west. The temple contains (besides the usual charana or footprints) two very fine and perfect figures of Buddha. The first is three feet high. Buddha is represented sitting on the lotus throne (padmasana) in the attitude of meditation. Beneath this, the Sinhasan is divided into three compartments—the two outer containing lions and the middle one the • Wheel of the Law,' (very elaborately carved) supported by two shells. The second figure is a smaller one and is surmounted by a canopy.
Eight hundred feet to the west of this temple is a similar building containing nothing of interest. Twelve or fourteen paces to the south of it, I found the ruins of a very small Buddhist temple covered with the densest jangal. It appears to have contained twelve gray stone columns about six feet high. The entrance was to the east, and in digging out the centre I found a very curious image of Buddha-very rough- ly carved. The main figure was surrounded by smaller ones, each depicting some chief episode in his life. Piercing the jangal 400 feet to the south-west of this ruin, I found the re- mains of a very large temple almost perfect. The cupola nad fallen down on all sides, forming a mound about 500 feet in circumference and 16 or 17 feet high. The entrance to the east is about 6 feet wide, and leads to a passage some 14 or 15 feet long, the roof of which was formerly supported by gray stone pillars about 6 feet high. This leads to a square chamber or hall some 23 or 24 feet square. Its roof is supported by twelve columns in the chamber, and eighteen more let into the brick work. These columns are each 7 feet high, with square bases and capitals and octagon shafts. They rested on a detached square plinth a foot high. A sur-capital, separate from the shaft, and cruciform in plan, supported the roof which was composed of enormous granite slabs laid transversely. From this room a massive doorway and a flight of three steps leads to the inner chamber---somewhat less in size than the other, but considerably loftier-the total height of its roof being 13 feet. The columns are of the same descrip-
tion as those in the outer hall, but more lofty. The detached capital are each a foot high, the base is 2, the octagonal shaft 6, and the second capital 3 feet in height. The lintel of the doorway is 2 feet broad and is carved with a rude moulding. In the centre of the lintel, is a figure of Buddha. I found no images in the temple, but it is by far the most perfect building of the kind I have yet seen. Its situation is magnificent, commanding at once a view of the highly cultivated plain of Bihar, the "solitary rock," the topes and temples of Nalanda, the walls of new Rajgir, the five hills, and the valley of Kusinagarapura.
short distance to the south of this is a very small Jaina temple dedicated to Dharmanatha and Shantinátha, the 15th and 16th T'irthankaras. It contains two images and a charana, with an inscription about 200 years old. The pujári has corrupted the names to. Dhánaji' and 'Sathadraji', and describes them as two wealthy bankers who lived in the house at the Nirmul Kund, i. e, the mound in the south-west corner of the ancient city.
Continuing to ascend the eastern slope of the hill for nearly a quarter of a mile we arrive at a Jaina temple of very considerable dimensions, It is square in form, and is surmounted by four handsome minarets and a cupola. It was built by one Pratap Singh of Murshidabad, and a passage (pradakshiná) encircles the central shrine. There is also a small octagon chapel containing charanas at each corner. The doorway has been taken from a Buddhist temple, and is covered with exquisite carving. The temple is 51 feet by 58. Some two hundred yards to the west of this is the largest temple of the group, built by one Mânikchand Seth in the middle of the last century. Manikchand was a well known character in Calcutta, and his dedication is recorded on the charana. The building consists almost entirely of Buddhist materials. It has a vestibule, the roof of which is supported by pillars somewhat smaller in size, though of the same shape as those in the temple I have described above in detail. At the north side are the remains of a Buddhist temple, probably larger than any other on the hill. Its pillars, &c., lie about in all directions, and it seems to have served as the quarry from which Mânikchand built his. A quarter of a mile further on, and near the crest of the hill, I had the good fortune to find another Buddhist temple in the jangal, about
