Indian Antiquary Vol 51

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 303

IND
779
JAH
Indrašila-guhs Mr. Laidlay has identified it with the Giriyek bill, six miles from Rajgir, which is evidently & corruption of Gairik-giri, a large portion of the stones of this hill being of red (gairik) colour. It is a spur of the Bipula range. It is the most easterly of the range of hills in which Rajgir was situated (JASB., XVII, p. 500). The Panchan or Panchanan river flows by its side, and just across the river is situated the ancient Buddhist village called Giriyek. It has two peaks : on the lower peak on the bast is situated the celebrated brick-tower called Jardsindhu-ka-Baithak which was the Hansa-stôpa of the Buddhists. In some portions the moulding of sand and plaster in niches are well preserved. It is said to be the only building in India that has any pretention to be dated before Asoka's reign (Fergusson's Cave Temples of India, p. 33). In front of it there are the remains of a monastery (Safighdráma), & dry well, two tanks and a garden. The western peak which is connected with the Hamsa-stúpa by & pavement is the higher of two : to this peak the name of Giriyek properly belongs : it contains the remains of a vihâra. It is the "Hill of the isolated rook" of Fa Hian. It was on this hill that Indra brought the heavenly musician Pascha Sikhs to play on his lute before Buddha, and questioned the latter on forty-two points, which questions he traced with hie finger on the ground (Legge's Fa Hian, p. 80). According to the Buddhist account, the cave was situated in the rook Vedi, at the north side of the Brahman village Ambasanda,
on the east of Rajagriha (Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 298). Iran-Persia, which was so-called from its colonisation by the ancient Aryans, the
ancestors of the modern Parsis, who settled there after they left the Punjab: see Ariana
(JASB., 1838, p. 420). Irana-The Runn of Cutch, the word Runn or Ran is evidently a corruption of
Irana, which means a salt land (Amara-kosha): It is the Eirinon of the Periplus of the
Erythraean Sea. Iravati-1. The Ravi (Hydraotes of the Greeks). 2. The Rapti in Oudh (Garuda P.,
oh. 81). Rapti is also said to be a corruption of Revati. Isalla-Kesariya, in the district of Champaran, where Buddha in a former birth appeared
as a Chakravartti monarch. A stúpa was raised at this place to commemorate the gift of the Alms-bowl by Buddha to the Lichchhavis when he parted with them (Fa Hian, and Arch. S. Rep. XVI, p. 16). The ruins of this stôpa are known to the people by the name of Raja Ben-ka-deord, Raja Bena being one of the Chakravartti kings of ancient time.
Jahnavi-Same as Ganga (Harivamia, I, ch. 27). See Jahng-Asrama. Jahnu-Asrama The hermitage of Jahnu Muni is at Sultangunj (E. I. Railway) on
the west of Bhagalpur. The temple of Gaibinatha Mahadeva, which is on the site of the hermitage of Jahnu Muni, is situated on a rock which comes out from the bed of the Ganges in front of Sultanganj. The river Ganges (Ganga) on her way to the ocean, was quaffed down in a draught by the Muni when interrupted in his meditation by the rush of the water, and was let out by an incision on his thigh at the interession by Bhagiratha: hence the Ganges is called Jahnavi or the daughter of Jahnu Rishi. It is the Zanghera of Martin (Indian Empire, vol. III, p. 37 and Eastern India, VOL. II, p. 37), or Jahngira which is a contraction of Jahnu-giri according to Dr. R. L. Mitra (JASB., vol. XXXIII, p. 360), and of Jahnu-griha according to General Cunningham (Arch. 8. Rep., VOL. XV, p. 21). The Pagdas of Gaibinâtha Mahadeva live in the village of Jahngira whtoh is at a short distance from the temple. The hermitage of Jahnu Muni is